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Venue

UC Theatre

2036 University Ave., 94704, Berkeley, CA, US

www.theuctheatre.org/

Capacity: 1,400

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Additional details

Doors open: 18:30

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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.

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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