Napalm Death Fall U.S. Tour – REVIEW

We recently had the chance to check out the Chicago date of Napalm Death’s fall U.S. tour with support from Exhumed and Vektor. You can read our review of the show after the break.

SOLD OUT?! Or can you say OVER SOLD OUT?! This was the exact feeling I had at last night’s show. You could barely move but no one(including myself) didn’t seem to mind. There was that good vibe last night that tonight’s show was gonna be a stomper from top to bottom and between the bands playing and the rabid fans in attendance, everyone put their money where their mouth was.

Born and raised in the Chicago Suburbs, Smash Potater kicked things off with a deafening roar making their voices of the hometown heard loud and proud. Equipped with a dominant stage presence, these young aces damn sure know how to write a catchy song! The local scene could learn a thing or 3 from these guys. The 1st time I’ve been in awe from a hometown act in a long time! If you’re a hometown boy like me, and haven’t heard these guys, you’re messing up bad! This is YOUR calling!

Weekend Nachos followed up with their muscle bound brand of hardcore sludge and power-violence that would make Converge proud. The boys must have had a serious dose of adderall as they were jumping and kicking everywhere and even had a few close calls almost colliding into each other. In all seriousness, another band from the Chicago-land area killing it was astounding to see. The tunes on hand were punk rock short and heavier than a sledgehammer wailing at your face. Check out their newest split album they did with Lack of Interest if you want to know what they are up to!

Straight out of the hot land of Arizona was sci-fi thrashers Vektor. Yes, you read that right. SCI-FI! Vocalist/Guitarist David DiSanto looked like hall of fame shredder Slash of Guns and Roses fame as he and fellow guitarist Erik Nelson put the shred factor on maximum for the show. In a show where 4/5th’s of the band playing are straightforward fast 2 minute songs, Vektor had much longer songs and were a lot more on the technical side of things. A rare setting it was as being the odd band out they were just as well receptive as their counterparts and deservedly so! Both their albums Black Future and Outer Isolation were well represented and I hope to see them get on more big tours like this in the future!

Exhumed. Mother almighty are they a touring machine! These Californian deathgrinder’s have now hit Chicago 3 times in the last year alone! The quartet showed no signs of slowing down even after exhaustive touring for the last year and a half. They ripped through 40 minutes of gore metal Texas Chainsaw Massacre style. Limb from limb. Torso. Necrotized. All those great hits and then some made for a glorious splatter filled set of greatest hits that any fan should know and love. I must mention their kick ass cover of Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” they threw in the middle of closer “Open The Abcess”, SIMPLY AWESOME! Jaws were dropping from their incredible energy they possessed and the pits fed right off of it. It was a beautiful display of fan frenzied mosh chaos that only the chi-town metal fans could deliver! The dudes will be back next year with a new album, and more touring. So hustle and get your tickets to see them when they announce touring for 2013!

Grindcore legends Napalm Death have finally come back to Chicago after many years. A sold out Reggie’s rock club was an obvious sign everyone here has been waiting for them to come back for a long time. Opener instrumental “Circumspect” off this year’s Utilitarian straight into “Errors In The Signals” had the elbow to elbow grind fans tossing bodies into the mosh pit to end all moshes. ND aren’t your typical grind band with cliché lyrics per say topics like anti-religion and gore. These fine chap’s have a more politically charged lyrical premise with messages and ideas that give you something to think about. A salute to the Dead Kennedy’s in the vein of covering “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” display their point of view towards Nazism. It’s hard to believe these brit’s have been a unit for 3 decades cause their energy was relentless and their sound still intact and fresh unlike most of their peers who sound recycled and continue to make carbon copies of themselves. Vocalist Barney Greenway has the purest voice of a gentleman. You would never imagine that same voice come to life the way he brings it with his on stage persona with a roar that could scare lions away. The world reknowned Guinness Book of World Records for shortest song “You Suffer” is always a given to play even with it clocking in at a precise 1.316 seconds long. 20+ songs within 1 hour was a beautiful monstrosity. ND easily made up in performance and sound for the lack of their counterpart headliner Municipal Waste.

Extreme metal is alive and well! Whether it’s the grind, the gore, the sci-fi prog, hardcore sludge, or even thrash. This sold out show full of fans stuck around for all of the bands and the love of the music was really in the air as cliché as it sounds. This is the fall tour to see bar none! So wake up, slam a Red Bull, buy a ticket and get your mosh on!

Information about the review…
Tour: Napalm Death Fall U.S. Tour
Bands: Napalm Death, Exhumed, Vektor, Weekend Nachos, Smash Potater
Reviewer: Nicholas Wier
Date: November 3, 2012
Venue: Reggie’s Rock Club in Chicago, IL