Saturday July 21, 2001,
The Intersection in Grand Rapids, Michigan

First up was Grand Rapids death metal band called Struck Animosity. Struck was ok. To my understanding they are just starting out, which would explain some things in their set. The guitars weren't tuned to each other very well so there would be a vibration in the sound. The tightness wasn't there, especially in ending each song. Struck has some good ideas in their music and hopefully with a little time and some more practice on the tightness, they could be a killer band. The singers vox are pretty guttural and the patterns went pretty decently with the music. So my constructive criticism (who am I anyway haha) would be to buckle down on the tightness and listen for the tuning and you could definitely crush. Band two was one of Michigan's better known death metal acts that have been around for years, Exploding Zombies. They brought their Zombie dummies and other stage effects including singer Brian's butchery apron plastered with blood. EZ sounded really good. Tight as hell and just crushin out the grooves with the ultra guttural growls as the forefront. They didn't play very long but what they did play tore shit up.

Third band up was a band called Gavin Black. I wouldn't exactly call them death metal though. They were more hardcore. They did good for what they do. I'm not into that too much, but I will give them that. They were tight, pissed and full of aggression.

Band four to drop the Intersection to the bowels of the undead was Psychomancer, who hails from Michigan City, Indiana. These guys are killer. Their oldschool death metal mixed with new death elements pounded in my chest like someone was sticking their fist right through it. They have almost a midpaced tempo but they had the groove that just knocked you on your ass. Shawn McCormick (Vokills) ranges between the killer death grunts to blackened shreeks straight from the pits of hell. Shawn's vocal patterns and annunciations of each word drove people to slam around a bit. Since no one knew anything about them everyone wanted to check them out more than start a pit. Give it a couple more shows up here and people will be fuckin each other up in the pit. I'd love to see these brutal fuckers play in their hometown to see how their following reacts to their live shows. I bet it's brutal as shit. Look for a review on their 6 song disc as I picked one up last night at the show. Also look for an interview with Shawn soon after that here at SickenedZine.

The vicious, brutal finale. Sadomasochism. Grand Rapid's awesome death metal act that basically came out of nowhere. Their live show ranks up with some of the best I've seen. Tight as a virgin asshole and more brutal than the mp3's that you might hear, the live show is simply one that you have to see to get the full on brutal effect. Jason Kandea (drums) rips out some fierce double bass footwork while keeping his blasts right in time right into some very punishing groove pace. Jason Salmer and Ed Ryan (lead guitars) rip through each solo like they were born with a guitar in their hands. Seeing these two trade licks back and forth is an awesome site to see. They don't just stand around lookin at the crowd either. They get into what's goin on around them. Bassist Ray Kandea is vicious when playing live. I'm suprised that dude's head don't fall off his body. Other than his brother Jason (drums) I think he's the most energetic member of Sado. Brother J. has to be energetic and have a huge endurance rate to do the shit he does. John Rios (vokills) belts out his death grunts with rage and hate against religion. John's eye contact with crowd members shoots through your soul like you're being possessed and between songs he does a killer job gettin the crowd goin. Half of the crowd last night was nothin but a big pit for Sado. They have a tremendous crowd following in Grand Rapids who are loyal to their awesome stage presence and songs. Look for an interview with Jason Salmer, Ed Ryan and Jason Kandea here at SickenedZine very soon. And if you ever get the chance to see Sadomasochism or Psychomancer where you're at, I urge you to do so. Totally devastating.

Review Done By: Eric (SickenedZine)