Obituary, Nails, Terror, Spirit World, Pest Control
- Hectic
- May 7
- 4 min read
April 27, 2025
UC Theatre
Berkeley, CA
Sunday night show, and not only was this old man working on Monday, but I was still a bit tired from the Exodus show on Friday night.
But when Obituary comes through town, I don't miss seeing them live. There’s probably 5-10 bands in that category, but for old school Death Metal (OSDM), Obituary is probably my favorite. And not only that, but it was a 35th anniversary tour for Cause of Death, perhaps their most popular album. Though they have a lot of good albums, as a band they are nothing if not consistent – both live performances and recordings.
I missed seeing Pest Control, since they went on at 6 PM. Five bands, wow that is quite a tour. Certainly no room for a home opener on the bill. Maybe if I mention Pest Control enough, on a website about San Francisco Bay Area heavy metal, I can make some money selling leads to San Francisco Pest Control companies? Pest Control, weird name for a band, I can’t tell you what they were like live. Pest Control.
Spirit World from Las Vegas was up second, and I was there in time to see them. Luckily I knew a bit about the band and their Western theme, otherwise I would have been shocked to see a bunch of dudes in white cowboy suits on stage, like they thought they were playing the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Their brand of "death-western" music (not to be confused with Best Western) leaned more toward the thrash side. I thought they were pretty good, nothing terribly unique musically (other than the outfits), but solid set all around.
Up third was Terror, a straight up hardcore band from LA. While I am a hardcore and punk fan, having grown up in Boston on a steady diet of Slapshot, Murphys Law, Cro-Mags and others, it felt somewhat out of place to have a hardcore band on a metal tour (with not even a crossover band on the tour). Plus I’m no great fan of seeing punk and hardcore bands in large concert venues, the frontman trying to get the crowd riled up from a 15 foot high stage far away. Still I thought Terror was pretty good live, they played a fast and aggressive set. This song was so good live I embedded it for you:
Supporting Obituary was Nails. I’d listened to some of their stuff and thought it was good, but they impressed me more live than I expected. There was certainly a lot of variety as well – some super fast songs, and heavy slower songs too. Melt your face off almost grindcore one second, heavy as fuck slower riffs the next. All of it noisy with brutal vocals. I need to go back and listen to these guys more, they put on a great show and were worthy of their spot on the tour to be sure.
Finally the headliner Obituary came on. I almost never miss Obituary when they come through – last year supporting Sepultura at the Warfield, in 2023 at the UC Theatre again with Immolation supporting. I’m all about catchy metal riffs, which rhythm guitarist Trevor Perez and Obituary deliver in spades.
Obituary was seriously fucking loud, with the kick drum punching through everything and the bass feeding back a bit (this is the UC Theatre, not their sound guy I think). I was down on the floor for the first half of their set, which in that venue means being in line with the speakers if you don’t want to be in the pit. After feeling my jeans moving to the riffs for awhile, I decided to retreat to one of the upper levels for the rest of their set - I ain’t got that much more hearing to lose!
The Wrong Time (embedded below) off their most recent album Dying of Everything was particularly brutal as the fourth song, featuring that cool double drumming intro with the drum tech (I’m assuming) playing the Tympani like he was in the death metal orchestra.
After that of course, since this was the 35th anniversary tour for Cause of Death, they played all but 2 of its songs, with a combination medley of Chopped in Half / Turned Inside Out. When Obituary launched into Dying it was totally off the hook and a bit faster than the recording (I think). The crowd went wild.
Obituary Setlist
April 27, 2025
UC Theatre, Berkeley, CA
Redneck Stomp
Sentence Day
A Lesson in Vengeance
The Wrong Time
Infected
Body Bag
Dying
Cause of Death
Circle of the Tyrants (Celtic Frost Cover)
Chopped in Half / Turned Inside Out
I'm in Pain
Slowly We Rot
One thing that was a bit different was that Obituary had all stage lights off for breaks every couple of songs, so the stage was in total darkness – something you don’t often see. It wasn't quite clear if/when we should be cheering for an encore at the end. But if there is one thing Obituary delivers with incredible reliability it is old school death metal, so while there aren’t any surprises in their set, they put on a master class in metal every time.
–Hectic
