Almost Dead, Warcorpse, Unpassing, Deathwalker
- Hectic
- Jan 26
- 3 min read
January 23, 2026
The Knockout
San Francisco, CA
I like the Knockout, but it isn’t really a metal club, more of a punk rock club. Meaning that is kind of an “unserious” venue – it tends to be behind schedule, the sound isn’t often very good, and the stage is very small. The club itself certainly doesn’t have space for the equipment of 4 metal bands – especially when they aren’t sharing drum sets.
This particular Friday night was no different, with a bartender who could seldom be bothered to look up from his phone and no one else working the place seeming to care much (except for the door guy). Boo hoo for me, but when I am clearly drinking hard after a long workweek and a bartender isn’t picking up on it to be there for me (at a dive bar no less), that ain’t right.
The Knockout is in my hood though, and has a nice parklet to have a drink in out front (if you don’t mind the 14 Mission bus flying by just feet from you), but is definitely a better fit for 3 or 4 piece punk bands.
Anyway, the show must have started more or less on time, since I got there during Deathwalker’s last song, but was expecting to catch most of their set. Sorry guys. I did see them open the only show I went to last year at the Knockout too, though.
Up second was Unpassing, a young Bay Area death metal outfit who really delivered an intense set. Despite a less than ideal mix, they were heavy as heck. This was my first time seeing them, but I definitely want to see them again, maybe on a larger stage like the DNA Lounge.
Unpassing just dropped their debut EP Pyrophoria the day after Christmas 2025. Good stuff, give it a listen.
In the support slot was WarCorpse from Watsonville, California. Another band I hadn’t seen before but enjoyed thoroughly. Since there were big breaks in between acts, as one band had to totally break down and get off the small stage, and another then set up a drum set from scratch, they wisely did most of a Sepultura song as their sound check, bringing the crowd front and center to the stage. At which point the singer came out of the crowd to try to squeeze on the stage – a 5 piece band is tough in that narrow space.
WarCorpse played a heavy thrash with some blast beats and modern metal sounds thrown in for good measure. I could have done without all the cheezy keyboard intros and samples that were entirely too long to keep my attention, but the metal was heavy and their delivery on point once they got to it. Another solid band.
Headliner Almost Dead were killer just like the last time I saw them, last June at the DNA. They definitely had the best sound of all the bands, not sure if it was their professional gear / touring experience, or their more spare sound with a single guitarist, or all of the above. But they sounded great.
Almost Dead is a band I wouldn’t think I’d like as much as I do, with a more modern sound than the old school thrash and death metal I tend to gravitate towards. Though I’ve always enjoyed the thrashier, heavier groove metal bands like Skinlab, so maybe that’s part of why I like them.
Almost Dead has lots of heavy, slow breakdowns, some weird horror movie sounding metal, then straight into aggressive fast parts with hardcore influences. There is a lot of variety in their set, and they look more like a New York hardcore / metal band than a bunch of metalheads from Martinez, California, but it works.
–Hectic
