UNDEATH Concert Review Nile Theater 05-13-22


UNDEATH Concert Review, Nile Theater 05-13-22 By Roc Boyum

Undeath slammed the Nile Theater with a solid set of their aggressive brand of no nonsense death metal on May 13, 2022. The headliner for this show was the mighty Dying Fetus with Undeath as the first opening band of the night. I must say that when I arrived it was quite impressive to see that the venue was at near capacity when Undeath hit the stage. From the moment Undeath hit the stage it was abundantly clear that the Undeath fans had arrived.

The band’s musical style honors many of the death metal legends while adding some serious technical proficiency and complex riffing, that’s not typically found in this genre. The band hammered down a crushing seven song set with six songs from their latest and highly acclaimed LP, It’s time…To Rise From The Grave that was released on Prosthetic Records, April 22, 2022.

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L to R, Guitarist-Jared Welch, Bassist-Tommy Wall, Singer-Alex Jones, Drummer-Matt Browning (Not Pictured) Guitarist-Kyle Beam

The opening song, “Lesions of a Different Kind” hit the audience with a wall of sound that had crushing vocals, insane drumming blast beats, and lightning fast bass and rhythm guitars, all of which were not lost in the mix. These guys managed to pull off a sound that was a combination of articulated guitar lines and demonic vocals that rode on top of a relentless wave of brutal rhythms that churned underneath; brilliant sound mix!

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Jared Welch-Tommy Wall-Alex Jones

“Rise From The Grave” which is the de facto title track from their latest LP, opens with the brilliant guitar lines of Jared Welch and Kyle Beam that are punctuated by some heavy rhythm section accents. The song quickly moves into a killer riff section before diving into a blistering double bass drum assault with singer Jones jumping into the mix with his deep growling vocals and commanding presence.

Singer Jones wasted no time in firing up the audience, telling the audience; I want a pit, let’s get this shit going!

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L to R-Jared Welch, Tommy Wall and Alex Jones

The band continued with ” Necrobionics” “Enhancing the Dead,” “The Funeral Within” and “Defiled Again” before unleashing their last song, “Human Chandelier,” the latter song is perhaps one of their best songs to date. “Human Chandelier” opens with an all-out rhythmic assault by each band member that drives forward with an uncompromising force. Around the fifty second mark in the song, guitarists Welch and Beam deliver some brilliant, memorable and epic guitar riffs; the kind of riffs you can sing to. One doesn’t usually think of singing to a guitar riff in a death metal song but these guys have managed to intermix a classic and brutal death sound along with technically proficient lead and rhythm lines that are some really sick shit that sticks in your head. These singable guitar lines will come back near the song’s end just before the abrupt and conclusive end; FN brilliant!

Given that “Human Chandelier” was released less than a month ago from the release of this article and fans have yet to have had a chance to fully absorb the material from their It’s Time LP, it won’t be long before audiences will be singing the hook guitar lines to this song...oh-oh-oooh! …..oooh, oooh! From there, the song kicks into overdrive with blistering speed that is a relentless and unstoppable force. Towards the song’s end, there’s a breakdown that repeats several times, where guitarists Welch and Beam along with bassist Wall, all work together to simultaneously throw down an onslaught of massively heavy chords followed by their rapid fire riffs. The song concludes with a refrain back to the singable opening guitar riff with the rhythm section churning out an under current of pedaling 32nd notes that are truly thunderous while singer Jones drives the audience into a final thrashing frenzy with his commanding vocal delivery.

Undeath’s, It’s Time…..To Rise From The Dead LP is a brilliant fusion of old school death metal and a modern approach of technically proficient and complex riffs that makes this band, one to keep your eyes on. It’s the band’s songwriting, arrangements and technical abilities that sets them apart from their contemporaries. If their writing keeps progressing as it has on “It’s Time”, these guys will continue on their meteoric rise as they blaze a new path forward for the death metal genre.

Check out the Undeath Nile Theater Photo Gallery Here!

Check out Undeath on bandcamp here!

The Undeath Nile Theater Set List Was:

Lesions of a Different Kind

Rise From the Grave

Enhancing the Dead

The Funeral Within

Defield Again

Human Chandlier