Color of Death, Astral Flesh
- Bleeding Priest
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
January 2, 2026
Winters Tavern
Pacifica, CA
So at the last minute on a rainy Friday night I decided to go out to Winters in Pacifica to check out some “death metal” bands I had never seen or heard before.
I was pretty shocked on how well attended the gig was honestly. Winters is always a gamble plus with the storm in full effect I was expecting crickets but folks came out.
The first and best band of the night, Astral Flesh were already on when I got there. These guys weren’t bad at all. They played a straight forward, almost knuckle dragging approach to Death Metal that was refreshing actually. They had good riffs, the drummer had some good chops and the guttural vocals fit the music well.
You could tell these guys are a new(ish) band and they were certainly rough around the edges but they had good ideas and I quite enjoyed them. They almost reminded me of when Old Grandad first started out. Not so much musically but the fact that they’re a trio playing semi-basic music but with left of center ideas that made it unique. I see a lot of potential here. Keep your eyes open for Astral Flesh.
Apparently the opener had canceled so instead a trio of dudes (the guitarist being in the next band) came on stage and did a freeform improv jam that lasted about 10 minutes on the headliners gear. Now this is the Winters I’m familiar with.
All things considered it wasn’t half bad BUT the one thing I could’ve lived without was the bassist’s reading of poetry before they started into the “song”. It was really unnecessary and came off kinda pretentious. Actually someone took a Nefarious flyer and made a paper airplane out of it and sailed it at said poetry reader. Someone should’ve bought that guy a beer and you know what? They did. I had a Corona.
Up last was the band Color Of Death. Great name. I wonder if it was inspired by the Acid Bath song “What Color Is Death”? These guys delayed their start unnecessarily. I don’t know if they were expecting a mad 10 o’clock rush or what…but it never happened. When you’re the last band playing on a rainy Friday night you might want to hit the stage while the crowd is still there.
Anyhoo, when they did hit the stage the singer said “I hope you’re ready for some Death Metal”. I was ready. The stuff they played certainly had Death Metal inspired vocals but musically I didn’t hear too much DM going on. That’s not to say these guys were bad in any way. They were actually quite good but they probably shouldn’t wave the DM flag until they have more Death Metal like tunes to offer.
Musically I would say they were more in the groove Metal realm with some definite technical flare. They had really cool, interesting riffs with some unusual time signatures happening throughout. There were a lot of influences going on here and most of it worked well.
I would say to get to that next level they would greatly benefit from writing some parts that fit the vocalists growl and band name a bit more. I was told this was only Color of Death’s 4th show or something so they’re off to a very promising start. I’d see them again.
–Bleeding Priest
