Death to All/ Exhumed/ Anciients @ Fillmore, Silver Spring 4/26/2013

Milla and I went to see the Death to All tour in Silver Spring, where late added Exhumed (whom I had seen the day before!), and newcomers Anciients opened. We saw a number of people there- Dorothy, Lindsey, Ruby, Marysol, Henry and his Latin buddy, hrm well that's all I can recall...

A Couple Other Reviews: Better Writer  and Another good writer
The first thing I noticed was that there were not a lot of people in attendance. The second was the way that the Fillmore disguised/closed up the place. They had the 'VIP seats down on the floor in front of the sound board, curtains up on the left, obscuring the bar, and on the right, hiding that bar completely, and a black ceiling curtain on the top. This was presumably to hide the fact that there was a balcony and that it was closed this evening. Overall, there were over a few hundred people there I estimate. Comfortably crowded. I dunno if it didn't sell well or what (they even had a BOGO offer at some point- which I got tickets for 18 a piece (after fees), instead of 28 a piece (30 day of show)). So who knows, maybe if they charged less, more people would come? Or if Death had someone else on the package (Exhumed was added late, like a week before the show) there would have been a better draw?

There was a bit of merch, but nothing really caught my eye. CDs were all $15, but I kind of wanted to get them cheaper. None of the Death shirts looked particularly striking. Anciients had more merch than expected. Exhumed had the same stuff as the day before.  There was also a Cynic shirt with the Death stuff.

Anciients was on first, contrary to the reports I heard (but this made way more sense, because Anciients are a new band, and who the hells knows thems?). They had a kind of somber vibe to them, the laid back progressive/stoner mix they had was pretty good, but not great. They had one faster song that was really good, but most of their songs were slower, jam oriented. They are more Opeth/Mastodon sounding. The crowd seemed to like them, judging by the applause, but not their movements (I only saw a handful of people bobbing their heads). I may investigate them later, they are one of those bands that if they get a slot on the Opeth/Mastodon circuit, I can see them getting a larger fan base. There were kind of dead spots in between the songs, like they had not planned any crowd banter (or didn't know how).

Exhumed was next and they played a very similar set to the night before at Empire. They had the same antics (chainsaw! defibrillator! severed head!), but the chainsaw guy was running around in the crowd at some point. They sounded better at the Fillmore, because they have better sound system than Jaxx/Empire. The crowd seemed to be more into them, but still their reactions seemed kind of subdued, IMO. Their applause, again, undermined their overall lack of reaction. So this was a first, the same band twice in two days.


Death to All/Death/Death cover band/whatever headlined to a very vocal crowd. People filled the floor a bit more at this point, and there were slightly bigger pits as well. They sounded great technically and from what I am familiar with about Death, they sounded pretty spot on, even the vocalist did a good job of emulating Chuck. I unfortunately had the last few albums and was not as familiar with the first 4, from which they only drew from this night.

Near the end, they had a video screen come down and play clips of Death and Chuck from back in the day. Near the end they showed all the albums, each of which got increasing ovation. They shoulda played from the last 3 (which got the most applause) instead, IMO! Pretty interesting and touching-a few people even raised their lighters high \m/

As good a show that they put on, Death To All was missing something. I dunno if it was the theatrical element, the static nature of the band's movements, unfamiliarity with the material, or the sangria, but something was a little (dare I say it)...boring. I don't know. Overall a good show, but I was just really sleepy by the end.


Photos:

Anciients
Exhumed band
Exhumed - Chainsaw
Exhumed II
Exhumed- reviving
Exhumed III
Death
Death to All w/ tribute video

Setlists:

Anciients (7:30- 8)

• ?
• ?
• ?
• Overthrone
• Faith and Oath
• ?

Exhumed (8:20-9:08)

• The Beginning After the End
• Dis-assembly Line
• ?
• Under the Knife
• Torso
• Limb from Limb
• Guitar solo
• ?
• ?
• The Rotting
• Matter of the Splatter

Death to All (9:35-10:57)

• Flattening of Emotions
• Leprosy
• Suicide Machine
• Left to Die
• Spiritual Healing / Within the Mind
• Together as One
• Baptized in Blood
• Secret Face
• Cosmic Sea
•  
• Chuck Schuldiner Tribute Video (Archival video footage of Chuck & Death)
• Zombie Ritual
• Living Monstrosity 
• Lack of Comprehension 
•  
• Pull the Plug