Phantom Witch, Drowning in Blood, Parabellum, Viscelator
- Hectic
- May 9
- 3 min read
DNA Lounge
San Francisco, CA
May 7, 2026
Thursday night thrash metal extravaganza at the DNA Lounge. Three local Bay Area thrash bands, plus a touring band from Montreal. The show was upstairs at the DNA, since in the main room they were showing the 1988 movie They Live with some sort of themed dance party afterwards. No idea what that was about, but I liked the signs promoting it:
I’m normally not a fan of the upstairs space for thrash or death metal. It is too narrow to accommodate a pit without everyone getting pushed to the very back or the front corners of the stage, and us old folks need to avoid collisions. But tonight there was a comfortable amount of space, with somewhere between 30-50 people attending the show, maybe more if you count the bands. Not bad for a mostly local showcase, perhaps not super well attended as several of these bands are playing shows in the Bay more than once a month.
Oakland’s Viscelator opened the show. I’ve seen them a bunch of times, going back a few years to the Golden Bull (RIP) in 2023. They always put on a solid thrash show, a very aggressive sound which I enjoy. Hopefully one of these days they’ll have a CD or tape available, but judging from their Bandcamp they haven’t spent much time in the studio. They do have cool t-shirts, but not in fat guy sizes on this particular evening at least.
Up second was Parabellum, a rising thrash metal band from Lincoln, California. I’ve seen these guys 3 times, including opening for Testament / Destruction last month at the UC Theatre (quite a bit different than this small show!) They are a great young thrash band, with a lot of Machine Head influence / harmonics and more modern metal sounds thrown in. Great band, impressive drummer too. Parabellum has 2 albums out already, with a new one in the works being produced by Gary Holt.
The one non-Bay Area thrash band, Drowning in Blood, played in the support slot. This thrash metal 4-piece from Montreal, Canada was pretty good, and entertaining to watch. Their set was a bit all over the place though, even though it was tight.
I was drinking with a friend pretty seriously that evening, though we were fairly good since work the next morning (only one whiskey, and beers don’t count, right?) But I still could have done without the Johnny Cash cover “Sunday Morning Coming Down.” They reminded me more of Social Distortion than a metal band, but when they were back to their more rocking thrash numbers they had some great energy. I picked up their CD for the Hectic/Bleeding Priest office.
Capping off the night was Phantom Witch, who I’ve now seen 4 times, three of them this year! Opening for Zetro earlier this year, as well as the afterparty for Nefarious / Defiance that started this year off way back on January 3. Is it really only May?
This year’s shows were especially good, the new singer and Zach from Frolic on the bass have solidified the lineup. Tonight I believe they had a friend filling in for one of the guitarists as well. Sounded great, if somehow you have managed to miss Phantom Witch, or haven’t seen them recently, check ‘em out for sure.
–Hectic
