Full of Hell and Blood Incantation played Middle East Downstairs – 10/5

Colorado death metal quartet and east coast grind masters Full of Hell topped a five-band bill in Cambridge earlier this month.

Five bands on a weeknight can present a trial to even the most seasoned concertgoer, but at the end of the day, who doesn’t love a great package tour? A Wednesday night at the Middle East a few weeks back presented a platonic ideal of such a thing, serving up a quintet of heavy hitters with a spread of subgenres balanced like an expertly-crafted multi-course meal.

Our appetizer for the night (I’m done with this bit I swear) was God Is War, the industrial noise project of L.A. musician Mackenzie Chami. Preceding a night of blast-beats, the ominous pulse was a great scene-setter.

Up next were Bay Area death metal crew Mortuous and Denver rippers Vermin Womb. Mortuous’ doom-tinged, old-school death was right up my alley, and Vermin Womb contrasted the suffocating sludge of guitarist/vocalist Ethan Lee McCarthy’s main band Primitive Man with a frantic, grinding gallop.

First co-headliners Blood Incantation took the fourth spot, playing a fairly similar set to the last Cambridge show of theirs that I caught. They trimmed a song or two to account for the stuffed bill, but sacrificed none of their atmospheric, intergalactic death metal punch.

And much as I do love Blood and the Incantations, Full of Hell might’ve stolen the show for me in their closing set. The last time I saw the band was over seven years ago (upstairs at the Mid East, with The Body), and they’ve really honed their craft (in addition to dropping a number of excellent records) in the meantime. Their ferocious, noise-battered onslaught was a thrill, centering vocalist Dylan Walker as the night’s truest frontman amid the sonic shrapnel.

Check out photos from all five sets below.