Live Review: Vital Remains @ The Blue Pig, Cudahy, Wi 09.10.12

Its been a while since I've been out to The Blue Pig in Cudahy, Wisconsin, not so much due to any ill feelings towards the place, but simply because every time a decent gig was afoot there I was always working. Honestly, this was my first time there since it changed names from Vnuk's to The Blue Pig and I went to a ton of shows when it was under the old banner and it was good to see that this decently sized bar/venue has really only changed in name since my last visit. But, never mind all that rot, let's get to the review.

Devolving Messiah / A Night At The Chalet / Micawber:
The three bands above opened the night up around 7 PM, although I missed the first two due to spending some time drinking at my place and blasting Abhorrence at unnaturally high volumes. In any case, Devolving Messiah is a relatively new tech death band from Milwaukee, Wi made up of four young dudes in their late teens. I've never seen them before, but what I heard on their facebook page sounded up to par and if you dig that sort of sound then give 'em a go. A Night At The Chalet on the other hand is some sort of deathcore/whatever with skinny jeans and bad hair cuts galore. Not my thing. Micawber from Two Rivers, Wi was the first band I actually saw tonight and they brought modern day brutal death metal with perhaps some technicality and grindiness to the stage. While not really something I'd purchase and spend time at home listening to it was however obvious just a few songs in that these guys knew what they were doing with decent stage presence, hard growling vocals, pummeling drums and hard hitting guitar work.

Burial Ritual:
Burial Ritual from Milwaukee, Wi has been at it since 2005 and with an EP and two albums behind them I seem to only remember seeing them once years ago when they first started playing, though about two years ago down in Chicago I photographed singer Chris Brooks when he hoped on stage and growled with old Vital Remains singer Scott Wily, but that doesn't quite count as having seen Burial Ritual now does it. Anyway, the five members of BR bring somewhat old school death metal to the stage with them and if I had to make a comparison at least onstage it sounded like Suffocation was a notable influence, though I might think differently if I hear one of their albums. The band had a lot of energy onstage and although they kept their set to just 5-6 songs they really got the crowd going. Between the devastating blasting coming from Pete's massive drum set to the flattening guitars and Chris' brutal growls it made for a quick but enjoyable set. Hopefully the next time I see them I'll be a bit more familiar with their songs.

Vital Remains:
I'm not by any means the biggest Vital Remains fan out there, but I have one of their early albums and I've heard and enjoyed some of the newer records and of course the aforementioned gig in Chicago two years ago was quite good too. Also nowadays VR has a fella named Brian Werner (ex-Inferneaon, ex-Monstrosity) growling for them and since I somewhat knew the guy when he lived in Milwaukee a decade or so ago it seemed best to finally see what he's capable of onstage. As far as I could tell the band mostly stuck to playing songs off of their last two records, 'Dechristianize' from '03 and 'Icons of Evil' from '07, though my friend yelled out for a song from, 'Into Cold Darkness,' which Brian seemed eager to do, but I guess the band wasn't rehearsing those songs.

At any rate, the set opened in the darkness with a long sample before the band exploded onstage with 'Icons Of Evil,' and for the next several minutes things got completely chaotic, both onstage and within the small moshing area. The band also ripped through songs like, 'Dechristianize,' 'Infidel,' 'Devoured Elysium' and 'Hammer Down The Nails,' which started with the wall of death within the mosh pit. Brian's onstage presence was immense, a truly great growler with enough commanding viciousness while performing and even entertaining to watch and listen to during the between song banter, especially the whole part about the Green Bay Packers was amusing. Besides that guitarists Tony Lazaro and Wisconsin native Brian Weber did a fantastic job pounding out the riffs and nailing the solos and crafty guitar work rather flawlessly, while bassist Gator Collier did his part well, including some hellish backing vocals and drummer Jack Blackburn pretty much destroyed the kit. Maybe the only set back was that the gig was on a Monday and not a whole lot of people came out and as such there wasn't as much constant chaos that I'm sure the band usually draws, but I guess that's fine since I took my chances in the pit when things did get wild. All in all a really great set and an enjoyable way to spend my Monday off from work. Definitely give these guys a chance if they come to your town!