Line-up

Venue

House of Blues - Chicago

329 N. Dearborn St., 60654, Chicago, IL, US

www.houseofblues.com/chicago

Capacity: 1,300

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Additional details

Doors open: 17:30

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Dying Fetus biography

Dying Fetus are an American death metal band, hailing from Upper Marlboro, Maryland. They were formed in 1991. They have a long association with Relapse Records.

With a name like Dying Fetus, it probably goes without saying that anybody who likes to while away their spare time watching videos of cute kittens on YouTube is best advised to steer well clear. You’ll certainly struggle to find anything in the vein of ‘Walkin’ on Sunshine’ in their back catalogue, but what you might uncover - assuming you’re that way inclined - is a slew of some of the most impressive technical death metal records of the past couple of decades. The Maryland trio - comprised currently of John Gallagher, the only remaining founding member, on guitar and vocals, Sean Beasley on bass and vocals and Trey Williams behind the kit - are among the pioneers of this particularly complex offshoot of the death metal genre.

Their records, which include the likes of 2007’s ‘War of Attrition’, 2009’s ‘Descend into Depravity’ and 2012’s ‘Reign Supreme’, are characterized by intense, furious guitar work, Gallagher’s hellish vocal delivery, and unerringly sophisticated percussive work. The former two of those records introduced a move, in the group’s sound, towards groove-based metal, but with ‘Reign Supreme’, they made the decision to return to their roots - much to the delight of their international fanbase, which they regularly perform in front of - the band are regular fixtures on both the U.S. and UK touring circuits.

Crowbar biography

Crowbar (formed 1989) is an American slow and brooding heavy metal band, often referred to as a sludge metal band, hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.

Prior to forming Crowbar, guitarist and vocalist Kirk Windstein joined the band Shell Shock alongside drummer Jimmy Bower. When the band’s guitarist Mike Hatch committed suicide, Windstein and Bower carried the band on as Aftershock and experimented with a more doom metal sound. After a series of name and personnel changes, by mid 1991 the band was renamed Crowbar with a line-up consisting of Windstein, bassist Todd Strange, drummer Craig Nunenmacher, and lead guitarist Kevin Noonan.

Crowbar’s debut came in 1992 with the album “Obedience Through Suffering” and signed with Pavement Music. Crowbar’s subsequent self-titled album in 1993 and “Time Heals Nothing” in 1995, were issued by the new label, the former of which earned national promotion on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball. After the release of “Time Heals Nothing” Nunenmacher left the group, and was replaced by Jimmy Bower for the albums “Broken Glass” in 1996 and “Odd Fellows Rest” in 1998. Choosing to focus on his other project Eyehategod, Bower left shortly after and was replaced by Sid Montz who recorded drums on 2000’s “Equilibrium”.

In 2001 with a line-up consisting of Windstein, Sammy Duet on lead guitar, Jeff Okoneski on bass, and Tony Constanza on drums, Crowbar released their seventh studio album “Sonic Excess in its Purest Form” on Spitfire Records. The band supported the album with an extensive touring schedule, and with Crowbar plagued with tumultuous line-up changes, often members of other bands needed to fill in. The band has subsequently released the albums “Lifesblood for the Downtrodden” in 2005, “Sever the Wicked Hand” in 2011, and “Symmetry in Black” in 2014.

Live reviews

Dying Fetus is quite evidently from the name, a death metal band from America. The group formed in 1991, when it was put together by guitar player/ vocalist, John Gallagher and their bass player, Jason Netherton. In 1996 they released their first album called 'Purification through Violence', again a very death metal sounding title. The group gained a lot of attention throughout their time playing gigs, collecting a lot of loyal death metal fans along the way, it also helped that Morbid Records gave them a lot of promotion in the death metal underground. Due to their growing success they went on their first US tour, which gained them the name - the 'Underground Terrorism' tour. The band struggled with seeing a few members leave the group for personal reasons and had to go about recruiting new members during their career, which could be fatal for a band, but it didn't seem to affect them as they went on to release their fourth album and started another tour. If you're a big metal fan then this group is probably right up your street. Although some of the death metal bands I have seen live have been head banging like there's no tomorrow, diving around the stage like they're in a fight with a huge crowd of invisible people and screaming their lungs out. A performance I saw that they did in 2013 saw them stand still for the majority of the performance, and when they did bound around the stage it wasn't with as much enthusiasm as I would have expected. I've never really understood this music scene because it's nearly impossible to understand what they are saying, but when you're in an audience watching this kind of gig, the need to dive around like a mad man is almost infectious. You can tell they are good at what they do, probably not a band for everyone but worth checking out.

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ehubb93

I’ve been to many metal shows, and listen to a lot of music in the genre, but Crowbar are the only sludge metal band I follow, and I know that some people are put off the slow pace of some of the tracks, but the way that the band intertwine their sound with the fast paced hardcore punk sections keeps it fresh and exciting. When I saw Crowbar perform most recently, it was just after the addition of Jeff Golden on bass, and he totally rocked it, and the entire band looked like they’d been playing together since their beginnings in the early 90s.
One of the tings that stands out for me every time I see them perform live, is the way that they command the stage. Although they’re often facing away from the audience to play their music to each other, the way that they jump and throw themselves around the stage is electric and massively contagious, and had everyone dancing from start to finish.
They opened their set with Self-Inflicted, which had everyone singing along right away, and getting really into the music. They played a great combination of their old and newer material, catering for all the fans there. The show was nearly 2 hours long, and I don’t think the band stopped for a breather once, switching between epic solos and playing awesome tight sets together, but their energy didn’t drop once. For their finale, they played a mash up of some of their hits, and it was mind blowing. They were shouting out to us in the audience, and it was great to be so involved with the end of the show.

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