Date: Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004
Location: Cat Club (aka Lucifer's Hammer), San Francisco, California
Other Bands:

[HORDES OF DARKNESS West Coast Tour]

WOW!!!  This was a fantastic show, what a night.  This was our first true Black Metal show that we have attended and it is one we will never forget.  Although I have Nokturne at the top of this review, I must point out to you that none of the bands were actually the headliner.  The bands have been on tour for a few weeks swapping around the line-up so that each band got to be first, second, third or the last band on stage.  That made it fair for everyone.  The line-up for this night was (starting from first to last): Sumeria, Nokturne, Anal Blast and Demon Sword.  This was also our first visit to Lucifer's Hammer.  Small but just perfect and the sound was fantastic.  The stage itself was just big enough for the bands playing tonight.  It was about 18" higher than the main floor with no security stopping anyone from doing anything, and nothing did happen except good music and good times, brilliant!  

Sumeria took the stage somewhere around 9:30 pm.  Right from the start it was intense Black Metal with the corpsepainted warriors on stage crushing us with their music.  Lord Daishe (Terror & Dark Sumerian Magik/vocalist) informed us before beginning that he had laryngitis and that Morgul (War Leader of Hammer Assault/drummer) would take over if necessary, but it never happened.  We are not to familiar with Sumeria, as far as what songs they play, but that didn't matter as we were blown away with this band.  They were on stage for about 45 minutes (maybe longer) with about 30 people in the back watching them, while others enjoyed the music in the bar area.  We talked to the band members afterwards and thanked them for putting on such a great show.  Sumeria hail from Southern California and this proves that Black Metal bands do exist on the west coast, so we don't have to go east (including to Europe) to find them.

Nokturne was next.  Another Black Metal band hailing from Southern California (L.A.).  Prior to them taking the stage we talked with Azmodeus (Regurgitated Screams of Nekrohate/vocalist) about the show and he explained to us that they have had a great time with the tour and have met many true fans of Black Metal along the way.  He also thanked us for coming out tonight and told us that their is more to come.  We were in the bar area when we first heard the band starting, guitars and drums warming up.  So we entered the back room to find Azmodeus in the middle of the room, now with painted face, cutting his skin (face and chest areas) with a razor blade allowing his blood to flow.  This got everyone in a frenzy and then they began the onslaught of what they do best, brutal raw Black Metal music poured out from the entire band.  At times it may have looked like everyone was out of control but it was not the case, everyone in the room was having a great time listening and watching a great band.  Members of the other bands were present as well.  They were on stage for about 45 minutes as well with 30~40 people in the room.

Anal Blast took the stage next.  Now I will admit this was the only band that we did not care for.  A bit too grind for us and so we took a break and stayed in the bar area.  We could still hear the band and they were good.  Not sure how many people were in the back room watching them but probably about the same as the others before them.  We had been in discussion with others that were at the show and a few of them we could tell were die-hard Anal blast fans, and that is good.  Because they do not play Black Metal they did not really fit in, but it added a small twist to the nights enjoyment.

Demon Sword on last.  Although it was after midnight, the atmosphere of everyone in the place was that the night was not over yet.  We did not know anything about this band other than they are from Nevada and they also play Black Metal.  We noticed however that the vocalist from Sumeria was now on guitars for this band and so was the drummer from Sumeria was on drums.  This was a good sign.  This band was fantastic!  More Black Metal thrown our way with corpsepainted warriors on stage.  The whole place went crazy for these guys, us included.  The music just kept on coming.  Azmodeus was in the crowd and let's just say he was having a good time.  Demon Sword played until it was 1:00 am.  Anyone that was still there was not disappointed at all by this band.

In closing this review; for those of us that attended this show we were not disappointed at all.  We were rewarded with a night of true Black Metal music.  For those of you who live in the San Francisco bay area, who listen to Black Metal or claim to be Black Metal fans and did not attend, you missed a show that you will regret missing! Black Metal is underground music, and so it requires us fans supporting bands such as these so that they can continue to make the music we like to listen to, and now and then have them present it to us live.  So the next time you hear that any of these bands are coming to your area...GO!!!  If not, at least buy their music, you will not be disappointed!

Written by:  Steven Ansell and Patrick O'Connor