Saturday June 17th in Reading, PA proved to be a very heavy night indeed. With a lineup that looked diverse on paper proved this to be the case in practice.
The first of three openers was a little Virginia band called Let This Be Ours. They had a tinge of southern charm to them. Next was New Jersey’s Cranley Gardens, a blend of deathcore and technical riffing. The thin crowd was beginning to fill in the bar area at this point. Eye of the Destroyer was a mask-clad band that sounded a little bit like Six Feet Under with slightly less intelligible lyrics.
Things started to kick off in earnest with Long Island’s Moon Tooth. They are a blues yet chaotic and riff-tastic band that fought through some technical difficulties to put together and overall impressive performance. Their rhythm section was tight, the singer was joking with the crowd (avoid the tomato soup at his house) and the guitars were deliciously assertive.
Next up was Tombs from Brooklyn. Led by Mike Hill (singer-guitarist), the band brought a pummeling set. It mixed in tracks from their latest The Grand Annihilation and some older selections though the energy was consistently uptempo. Visually, the entire venue was filled with smoke and everything was bathed in a purple/blue hue. Combined with flashing lights, it was a feast for the eyes and ears. By now, the pit area had a respectable crowd.
It was clear that most in attendance had come for Fit For An Autopsy, because by the time they began, the front of the stage was populated by some very aggressive moshers and a crowd befitting a tour of this size. They had either all moved up from the back bar area or there were a number of late arrivals. Either way, FFAA brought their brand of straightforward death metal (no clean vocals or regrettable nu-metal detours to be found).
Before all of this, I had the pleasure of speaking with Mike Hill. We talked about The Grand Annihilation, his multiple podcasts, MMA, the perishable nature of coffee, horror movies and more.
Seriously, keep up with him at Everything Went Black Media
The additional voice you hear throughout the interview is Ted, a fellow metal enthusiast (and Moon Tooth fanatic) whose photographs will eventually grace this article.
Words/ Interview: JJ Ellis
Photos: n/a
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