Report

Death To All Plays Set Encompassing Every Album

Death To All has been a functional unit for a couple of years. The band or cover band, if you will, toured in 2012 and 2013 with the “Human” era lineup. The band’s stop in Austin, thanks to Come And Take It Productions, included members from the progressive era of the band. This lineup included Steve DiGiorgio (“Human,” “Individual Thought Patterns”) bass and Bobby Koelbe (“Symbolic”) guitar. Gene Hoglan (“Individual Thought Patterns,” “Symbolic”) replaced Sein Reifert on drums and Max Phelps of Cynic once again played the role of Chuck Schuldiner on guitar and vocals.

Before this ensemble of former Death members took the stage to play at least one song off all Death’s albums, there was local support. Fall drove all the way from Portland, Texas, near the coast, to open the show with their brand of prog-melo death metal. Dirty Dog Bar familiars Dead Earth Politics didn’t have to drive nearly as far to pump up the crowd with thrashing grooves. Headcrusher is also a familiar site at Dirty Dog Bar. They are one of the bands that cleared the way for metal to play in said bar. Tonight they seemed a bit different as Mauro Gonzales of Bonded By Blood assumed vocals duties for the second time. His screams and animations kept the band in good graces as they wait for vocalist Gustavo "Kike" Valderrama to return to the fold. San Marcos Cerebral Desecration played death-laden thrash metal. Their singer displayed big lungs, often stepping into the crowd on top of the tables positioned in front of the stage.

Death to All began their set with a track that found acclaim via Headbanger’s Ball “The Philosopher.” Even if Beavis and Butthead made fun of this song, it’s still great due to its mix of slick finger tapping and heavy groove. Max Phelps handled the vocals superbly on this song and throughout the set. His voice brought to life Chuck. The band revisited “Leprosy” with the title track and “Left to Die.” Then they played a news bit about Jack Kevorkian launching into “Suicide Machine.” “Living Monstrosity,” a song about coke babies came next and then the band didn’t jump around albums as much. They played two songs from “Individual Thought Patterns”—“Overactive Imagination” and “In Human Form” and the first two songs on Symbolic—“Symbolic” and “Zero Tolerance.”

Death To All only played one song, not the one I wanted to hear, “Bite the Pain” from “The Sound of Perseverance” and then walked off the stage. This couldn’t be the end because they had not yet played something from “Scream Bloody Gore.” Sure enough, they stepped back on to the stage and played a track from their album, “Zombie Ritual.” They played “Crystal Mountain,” another “Symbolic” track. By this time fans started shouting “Pull The Plug” as Death traditionally closed with that song. Sure enough, the crowd got what it asked for as the band pulled the plug on the night.

Other than only playing one song from “The Sound of Perseverance,” Death To All played a set of crowd favorites. It was not just seeing this great band resurrected, it was the tremendous skill each musician possessed. Besides Phelps who did a tremendous job filling Chuck’s shoes, all of the musicians had played in Death. DiGiorgio and Hoglan have both made names for their selves playing in a myriad of projects. They played a tight and complex rhythm section, but their legend doesn’t need to be told. Phelps and Koelbe’s guitar play was nothing short of excellent. The two stood in front of each other pushing each other to play faster and faster. Of course, their solos were phenomenal. It’s understandable hearing some fans of Death say this is only a cover band. That may be so to a certain extent, but this is one hell of a cover band playing sounds like sound so close to Chuck’s original. Death To All is worth every penny spent!