Almost Dead, Cultural Warfare, Phantom Witch, Apraxia, Dungeon Crawl
- Hectic
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
June 5, 2025
DNA Lounge
San Francisco, CA
Thursday night at the DNA Lounge, for a showcase of 5 Bay Area thrash and death metal bands! A good time for sure, a full bill of excellent local bands and sendoff for Almost Dead, a thrash / groove metal outfit from Martinez, California. This was the first night of Almost Dead’s “Summer Destruction Tour 2025”, a 14 show tour across the west and midwestern US.
The DNA was not very full, but there was an interesting mix of some of the usual SF metalheads who rarely miss a show, East Bay death core fans, and even quite a few young people (concerts at the DNA are all ages). It was the first time I’ve ever seen high schoolers hanging out in the men's room working on their hair (pro tip: it isn’t punk to work on your hair that hard. You’re young, just get in the pit!)
The night started with Dungeon Crawl. Unfortunately I just caught their last song, but these guys were epic as usual. I saw them at Thee Parkside back in April, and really dig their Dungeons & Dragons campaign themed thrash metal with some symphonic backing tracks. I was hoping to pick up some of their vinyl at the end of the night, but I think they might have started the long drive back to San Jose a bit early.
Apraxia was up second, and I was excited to see them for the first time. This 3 piece death metal band is composed of half of Frolic, with Edgar doing duty on the drums (a change from Frolic, where he is on guitar and vocals), and Lenny on guitar and vocals.
Apraxia’s brand of death metal comes from a place of fun and humor – “This next song’s about death” announced Lenny before every single song in the set. But the causes of death as best I could understand related to very dark topics such as farts, Sponge Bob, and one song titled “C4 chastity belt.” They reminded me a bit of Old Grandad, being a heavy 3 piece band with silly song subject matter, though the musical style was different. Definitely a fun and satirical set.
Phantom Witch was up next, also on my list of bands I’d been meaning to see. They did not disappoint, playing with great intensity and speed. Travis Ochoa (also of Way II Stoned) is a great guitarist to watch do his thing, while founding member Q Minor tore things up on the drums. It was even the other guitarist Jeromy Ray’s birthday (“I’m almost a senior citizen”) but there was no lack of energy coming off this 5 piece classic example of Bay Area Thrash Metal.
Supporting the headliner was Oakland’s Cultural Warfare, who I was not previously familiar with. They had some complexity and melodic edges to their particular brand of modern thrash metal. It wasn’t just the edibles kicking in hard, the band was tight and heavy, but also had some compositions that established their own sound. Really enjoyed their set.
Finally the headliner Almost Dead took the stage, to put on an aggressive performance and close out the night. Their thrash infused sound reminded me a bit of the groove metal of Skinlab, but with a more hardcore / death core vocal style. Definitely a lot of energy on the first night of their tour. It was a great way to end quite a serious showcase of local Bay Area metal.
–Hectic
