Hanging Ten With Ghoul

April 10, 2014; Soda Bar, San Diego, CA--By far one of the most enjoyable shows I have ever been to since moving to San Diego was the Weapons of Mosh Destruction tour featuring Occultist, Iron Reagan, and the fiendish demons of Ghoul.  The Soda Bar is such an intimate venue and one in which you would think a metal show would just be a giant disaster.  And although the already miniature aisles of the venue were crowded with gothic punks and brutish metalheads, the show was a radical success.  The "venue" has a puny 2 inch platform for a stage, but in a sense this made the show more intense, as it was all too easy to pounce onto the speakers and sing "Cycle of Violence" with Iron Reagan's Tony Foresta.

Hailing from Virginia, The Occultist kicked off the night with a medley of metal tunes that directly reflected who the band was trying to imitate.  The frontwoman seemed to strain her vocals in an attempt to sound like a crossover between Angela Gossow and Tony Foresta while the guitarist seemed to thrive more in his Chris Barnes backing vocal moments than when actually holding down a solid melodic riff.  While every other song was a blur to me, maybe because I wasn't up front or maybe because the muddled sound and the plain aesthetics of the band just put me off, I will give them credit for the title song off of their LP Death Sigils.  I think I may just have to go back and listen to some studio work before making a completely negative judgment about the band.

https://www.facebook.com/0ccultist/info

Audience reaction surprisingly took a while to climb to its full potential when Iron Reagan came front-and-center.  The high energy hardcore/punk crossover band is lead by Tony Foresta, whose energy is all but infectious.  While it is difficult to mosh with the steel pole obnoxiously structured in the middle of the room, there was very minimal headbanging.  Two minutes (which is the equivalent of three songs for the band) later, Foresta yelled "WAKE THE FUCK UP" multiple times; indirectly it felt like he was saying "Fuck that pole, it's just a pole, NOW MOSH."  The place erupted into a beautifully violent mosh pit, and the band continued the rest of their set in fiery fury.   Ryan Parrish was berserk on the drums, Rob Skotis killed on bass, and Mark and Landphil were the dynamic guitar duo of the night.

Setlist:
1) Mini Lights 
2) Drop the Gun                      
3) Insanity Plea(se)                    
4) Walking Out                                     
5) Paycheck                         
6) Snake Chopper 
7) Rats in a Cage     
8) Tongue Tied    
9) The Living Skull   
10) Zero Gain     
11) Spoiled Identity      
12) The Hungry Male (of Wall St)
13) Cycle of Violence
14) I Ripped that Testament a New Asshole 
15) Eyes Piss Tears 
16) Eat Shit and Live 



Finally, the devilish ensemble of Ghoul raided the stage with raggedy vests, polished instruments, and the punk-ass attitudes that make them so popular with our local rowdy metalhead brothers.  Demon babies' throats were slit, rapidly gushing blood all over the crowd.  A few songs later, the Swamp Hag appeared with a bucket of god-knows-what and dumped THAT all over the ecstatic blood-soaked crowd.  With every absurd character interaction, the fervor of the crowd only grew more and more vigorous.

Setlist:
1) The Midnight Ride of Cannibals MC                   
2) Inner Sanctum
3) Sewer Chewer
4) The Mark of Voodoo
5) Brain Jerk
6) Maniaxe
7) Blow Up the Embassy
8) Rise, Killbot, Rise!!!
9) Destructor
10) Spill Your Guts
11) Gutbucket Blues
12) As Your Casket Closes
13) Metallicus Ex Mortus 
14) Americanized (Dave Brockie tribute)

Encore: Numbskull

And while you're still here, check out the interview I conducted with Ghoul's witty and brutally sarcastic bassist/vocalist Cremator at the link below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADUJ07hPpqg