THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER is always a good reason to take a walk downtown and pay a visit to Texas Necropolis. Reaching the club at 21:00 (door opening time), I saw a lot of people waiting outside. A couple of hours later I had two thoughts spinning in my mind. The first one was that I was expecting less people to attend, even though it turned out that they weren't so many. The second one was... WHY THE FUCK DO I HAVE TO STAND FOR 2 HOURS AND WAIT TO SEE A LIVE THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO START MUCH EARLIER?

Anyway, entering the club UNMASKING THE BETRAYER had already hit the stage. The group consists of 5 really young kids that as every young metalhead try to look and sound like their idols. This modern Hardcore_Grind sound with the technical breaks that this band played was not that bad, but it couldn't really attract my attention at times. I guess that it sometimes ended up sounding like we're blasting for no real reason. The fact is that they are really young and they have the skills and talent to do many things in the future. Their set was also really short so I can't have a clear image of the band...

The next band to take on the hard role of warming up the crowd was KARMA VIOLENS. Well, do you know something about these guys? Forget what I said while reviewing their Katara EP. Their stage performance is 150 times better! It really felt like it was a different band. The Athenian Metalcore act got on stage and what followed was chaos (unfortunately not from the crowd who was there only for the headliners as it seems). The band has obviously worked hard on its music presenting a harsh and heavy as fuck mixture of modern Metalcore, melodic Death Metal and some more old school elements like some Chuck Schuldiner melodies that hit me like a thunder. With a clearer sound than UTB, the band played many new songs from its upcoming album (that is being recorded by the band as we speak) and I can say one thing, just wait for the guys to unleash their new material out there, your sorry ass will be kicked! When their set ended, I was left with some brutal memories... and a KARMA VIOLENS t-shirt!

The third band, and -last before the headliners-, was SCREAMINAL. Even though the quintet has worked a lot, presenting some tight and modern brutality, I can't really say that I was attracted by their sound. Since I have said my opinion on Metalcore many times, I can't say that SCREAMINAL do something unique or groundbreaking for the scene. Their stage presence was really energetic and I saw many heads banging down there, so I guess that this HEAVEN SHALL BURN meets DESPISED ICON thingie was exactly what that night needed. In my humble opinion if this band works a bit more on its sound and tries to present some more original ideas, they will gain much more fans. What made a really negative impression on me is that when the drummer lost_broke one of his sticks (I didn't really understand what happened) the band stopped asking for one stick. Dunno...

And it was about time after a long intro for THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER to hit the stage and tear everything apart! First of all, Trevor (vocals) is one of the most friendly guys I have ever met. He was always hanging around talking to people, taking photos etc. Anyway, from the very first notes that Brian's guitar spit, everyone went mad. Headbaning, mosh-pit and crowd surfing were only a few things from the warzone in front of the stage. The audience was screaming all the time, singing along and despite the fact that the band was pretty tired (they were leaving at 5:00 in the morning) they gave their best to deliver a hell of a brutal show. Songs like Miasma (fuck, my neck still hurts), Everything Went Black, What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse, Funeral Thirst and many more caused a total holocaust in front of the stage, and may I add here that the sound was more than decent, something I didn't really expect. For all of you who weren't there, I have to tell you that you missed a show with energy flowing everywhere around and a sick US act that almost destroyed the stage.

All in all, the delay before the show was more than irritating, but THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER managed to make us forget about everything and give our best to leave Texas Necropolis with bloodied noses and bruises. One more live show with good memories and great brutality. Let's just hope that the Greek reality isn't there once again to leave its mark on a good night. See you next times mates...

(photos by Velz Evouli)

KARMA VIOLENS

SCREAMINAL

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER