Warbringer, Allegaeon, Skeletal Remains, Summoning the Lich
- Bleeding Priest
- Apr 15
- 4 min read
April 11, 2025
DNA Lounge
San Francisco, CA
Ok, second night in a row at the DNA (the night before being Enforcer/Hellhunter/Trencher) at the end of a week chock full of Metal shows. One every night to be exact. Being in my 50’s I didn’t think I still had it in me to go out every night of the week but here we are.
Usually when there’s so many shows in such a short amount of time, some of the gigs suffer in terms of attendance. You would think the Bay Area Metal crowds would get spread thin. Not the case this week. Having either attended, performed or DJ’d a show every night of the week I can assure you that the Metal scene here in The Bay is alive and well. I’d wager it’s the healthiest it’s been since the very early 90’s.
First band up was Summoning The Lich. While watching them soundcheck I noticed the absence of a bass player on stage. Something that seems to be becoming a trend in modern Metal. Are these bands all acolytes of And Justice For All or what? But these guys took it one step further with a prerecorded bass track ala Motley Crue. They get the Nikki Sixx stamp of approval. At first, when they were dialing the bass in I thought maybe their bassist was playing through a wireless out of sight but nope. This bass was coming from the push of a button from an onstage laptop manned by the vocalist. Because of this I played Pin-Bot for the majority of their set.
From what I could hear their style was reminiscent of latter day Suffocation with the occasional banshee style clean vocals in line with the singer of 3 Inches Of Blood. I did watch their first song and after the vocalist told the sound guy (who totally failed with a capital F) that there was too much bass onstage it was followed by an audience member shouting “YOU DON’T HAVE A BASS PLAYER!” Oh the ironing.
Up next was the always awesome Skeletal Remains. After what seemed to be an eternity getting them set up (again due to the sound guy totally choking) they kicked into their ripping brand of Death Metal. Wait a second, are my eyes (and ears) playing tricks on me? There’s no bass player onstage. What the hell is going on with the Metal world these days? I get it. Bass is the least important, usually least audible instrument in Metal but c’mon, it still serves a purpose.
Having seen these dudes many times before I know they had a bassist at one point. After the set I inquired. Apparently one of their guitarists left the tour a few days earlier and the bassist switched from bass to second guitar to finish out the last few shows of the run. I guess that’s the right choice in playing dual guitar Death Metal. I completely respect and live by the motto “The show must go on”. Skeletal Remains’ sound didn’t suffer too much with the absence of bass and they played a solid set.
Next was Denver’s Allegaeon and they were pretty fucking killer. I was reminded that I DJ’d a show they played last year but I have no recollection. They play a style of Death Metal that is broad in range and scope. Very melodic at times and technically proficient. The guitarists (one of whom was sitting on a stool for the whole set, which looked very odd) were phenomenal on the fretboard. Every solo had my full attention which is saying a lot coming from a drummer. The vocalist was top notch as well and very entertaining to watch. You don’t see many Death Metal dudes groove and sway the way he did too often. It was refreshing. I loved every second of their set.
Lastly was the mighty Warbringer. First off I was shocked to not see Carlos Cruz behind the kit. I know he’s been moonlighting with the band Nails but I didn’t realize the tours were overlapping. A fear all multi-band drummers have, myself included. The timing of it is kinda weird being that Warbringer just released a new album and this is the first tour in support of it.
As bummed as I was to not see Carlos do his thing, I was also thrilled to see Blake Anderson (formerly of Vektor and current Hammers Of Misfortune drummer) filling in. He’s beyond qualified to man the ship and did a fantastic job. It was a pleasure finally meeting him after the show. Being that he replaced me in Hammers I’ve always wanted to meet him. Great guy.
Warbringer killed it as always and had the biggest pit of the night by the set's end. In fact it was one of the biggest pits I’ve seen in a while. Warbringer have proven time and again that they are the absolute best of the “new” Thrash bands. Lead vocalist John Kevill actually addressed the fact that they’re still considered a new band even after being around for 20 years. I guess there’s worse stigmas to have.
An odd night all around with missing bassists, a stool sitting guitarist and fill in drummer but the music was great and like I said earlier, THE SHOW MUST GO ON!
–Bleeding Priest
