Psycho Fest Las Vegas-Saturday

I awake Saturday with a heavy feeling overall. Just feel damn tired. My buddy is not in much better shape. So, we don't get off to an early start. Too tired to walk, we call Uber. Wanted to see Indian, and Greenbeard, but due to the late start we missed both bands. Frozen soul set starts about 1:30pm at the Rose Ballroom. Wow, what a pile of crap...haha...This band sucks more than a crack addict on a pipe. This was my first time hearing them. I keep seeing reviews comparing them to Bolt Thrower. Wrong. Fail. These guys could not hold a candle to Bolt Thrower at their worst. In fact, besides the low tuning, and mid-tempo parts, I heard none of the melody, catchiness, or power of the English legends. Average death metal, on the boring side. The horror of horrors was the singer. He had maybe the worst stage banter I have ever heard. At one point yelling between a guitar break, to "f**k shit up!". He announced one song by saying, " I better see a f**king pit going, I want 200 pushups, f**k". Early in the set, he had a long speech about depression, and not being alone. He said, "to anyone in the crowd feeling this shit, depression, the members of Frozen Soul are here for ya. You can call us any time if you need someone to talk to." Now, this seems nice, but also really moronic. First of all, anyone suffering from real depression, go to a certified mental health expert. Do not, I repeat, do not call a crappy death metal band. WTF? I feel like tracking down the singer's phone number and calling him 2 am on a Thursday night. "Hey bro, caught your set at Psycho. I'm really bummed out; can you give me some good advice? What's your fav Bolt Thrower album?". Avoid this band at all costs. Beelzebong played at the Dawg House bar, around 2:30pm. Much better. Really grooving stoner sounds from Poland. Instrumental, with a few moments of Psych leanings, most evident on the lead breaks of the guitarist. Liked them so much, bought a shirt and 10" vinyl! Back to Rose Ballroom for Blood Incantation. They took to the stage around 4 pm. I think I missed 1 song, but I was impressed overall. Good death metal, a little like Gorguts, or latter period Death. Some of the slow breakdowns even reminded me of early Suffocation. The best part of the set came when guitarist/vocalist Paul Reidl, had some technical problems with his guitar. He told the crowd," Everytime we play near the Luxor, or any Pyramids we have guitar problems." Classic. Bone-thugs-n-harmony was playing next door during the set. To whoever booked Psycho this year, stop. I get it, you're trying to get the broadest audience possible to sell more tickets. But in the year 2022, who the hell wants to see some over the hill, crappy hip hop group? Not any metalheads I know. Caught a few minutes of Primitive Man, boring. Good time for dinner. We went to the Famous Foods area. It is a nice set up. You place an order on any of the many displays. They send a text to your phone when the food is ready. I tried these Malaysian stir fried noodles. Hokkien noodles. Godly. Big udon type noodles, fat shrimp, pork, garlic, and some Bok choy. Topped with a spicy chili paste. Damn good. Next stopped to see a minute of the grind band No Mas. Actually, pretty good. But I wanted to catch Abbath and Bombers at the Ayu day club by the pool. My buddy decided to stick around for a few songs, big mistake. Bombers ruled, one of the highlights of the festival. I regret wasting time with No Mas. I got stuck in a pretty long line. Missed most of the first song. Some metalheads in line were talking about seeing Bombers at Wacken open air in Germany. I guess Abbath was so drunk, he missed a lot of lyrics. This happened today, but not too much. Lot of the classic songs were played: "Jailbait", "Ace of Spades", "The Chase is Better than the Catch", "Bomber". I "loved Killed by Death". Still one of my fav Motorhead tracks." Shoot You in the Back "was total, awesome, bad ass. Hella good! And Abbath sounded like Lemmy! Wow, I did not expect that. Even playing on a Rickenbacker bass. More fat slobs, headbanging in the pool, made for a great back drop...lol. I looked over, and the singer for Motorbabe was standing by me, rocking out. I let her know I liked her band form the prior days set they played. Left with a high five. What a rush seeing Bombers. Rushed over to the Rose Ballroom to catch Tribulation around 8:30pm. They were ok. Kind of like a mix of Bathory/Sisters of Mercy. Yeah, lazy take, but not in the mood to dig into the influences more. Decent set, but zero stage presence. One of the big mistakes of the night was not staying by the pool after Bombers to see Gatecreeper. Caught the last song and 1/2. What a shame. They sounded massive, and ultra-heavy. God damn it! Some you win, some you lose. That is the problem at a festival, when several bands are playing at the same time. Oh well. One good decision was getting to Famous Foods, to watch Church of the Cosmic Skull. Like a cross between Fleetwood Mac and Black Sabbath. Not really. But it was hard to pick out their influences. All the way from Nottingham, England. Just a good vibe. Rock with 2 female backup singers. A good way to cleanse the palate. Visually, really good image. Dressed all in white. With the singer wearing a suit. Somehow, I lost track of time. At the Gates were playing at about 11:45pm at the Ayu pool. By the time I got there, the line was huge. People started leaving saying you are not getting in. I actually made it for the last 2 songs. Lucky for me, I saw them several years ago in Portland. I guess they played mostly songs off Slaughter of the Soul, one of my least favorite albums of their catalog. Did meet a cool dude from LA while waiting in line. I guess his wife had stayed inside to catch the beginning of their set. Smart. He said he did a one-man black metal band, Oskoreiem. Will check it out soon. 2 bands I wanted to see were Boris, and Warpaint. Just couldn't fit them in on the schedule. Ended the night seeing Elder at the Dawg House bar. My buddy drank too much so he faded after a few songs. Lesson, to older metalheads, do not start drinking hard liquor at 6pm, if the festival goes late into the evening. But my new friend Mac(Tampa!) showed up, so we got a close-up spot by the small stage. Really cool band. Long as hell songs with a prog edge. I tried coming up with influences. Really difficult. For sure prog, and some Maiden twin guitar. Maybe a touch of Solstice from England, but not that doomy. Great stuff. Good way to end the night. Decided to walk home. My feet are killing me again. Good god. Need to catch some sleep for tomorrow.

Samael photo-Aaron Garland