Death Metal at the Oasis: Vader and Friends Descend
On Friday, Sept. 20, metal reigns supreme once again at the Oasis on James Island with the Back to the Black U.S. Tour as the legendary Polish death metal group Vader takes the helm. Presented by Battle Axe Booking and Promotion, Knight Booking, Precision Metal Booking, and Cindy Alexander (a.k.a. Cindy Syrup) and joined by Vital Remains (of Providence, R.I.), Sacrificial Slaughter (of Corona, Calif.), Execration (Colorado Springs, Col.), Extremely Rotten (Jacksonville, Fla.), and local boys Coffin Syrup, this line-up promises to offer some of the strongest the genre has to offer.
Alexander had already been booking bands since 2006 when she started managing Coffin Syrup. She found that paving the path for a Vader gig in the Lowcountry was surprisingly easy. “I happened to notice online that there was an open Friday night on the tour, and the route was perfect for a Charleston date,” she says. “Steve Worley is the tour manager and the frontman for Sacrificial Slaughter, which toured Europe with Coffin Syrup last year, so I just e-mailed him.”
Vader is not-for-the-faint-of-heart. With the current lineup of founding guitarist/vocalist Piotr Wiwczarek, guitarist Marek Pająk, bassist James Stewart, and drummer Tomasz Halicki, the band is on tour behind their forthcoming album Straight to Hell (Nuclear Blast), a follow-up to 2011’s Welcome to the Morbid Reich (Nuclear Blast, see clip below).
Vader is most definitely hell’s belle of the ball, but Alexander is excited to see many of the supporting bands. “Extremely Rotten have been getting some very good reviews online for this tour already. They are the kind of band that blows your mind the first time you listen to them,” she exclaims. “Execration have been a Comatose Music favorite of mine since their 2008 release A Feast for the Wretched. I didn’t go on the tour with Coffin Syrup, so I actually have not seen Sacrificial Slaughter myself yet, so I’m really looking forward to finally seeing them. I have seen Vital Remains a few times already, and they always put on a devastating show.”
With a tour like this visiting the area, it seems that the Holy City metal scene is really starting to breakaway from the underground, and as a promoter, Alexander agrees. “Other promoters and booking agents have brought similar tours here over the last few years. We have had Hate Eternal, Cannibal Corpse, Crowbar, and Eyehategod come through, just to name a few.”
In addition to the killer bill, attendees also have a chance to snag some eats from the Rib Dr. food truck and Geechie Cuisine and score tons of free merch from other metal bands, including Charleston’s Skwirl Grinda and Tripping the Mechanism.
If you’re a death metal fan, new to the local scene, or just curious, it’s pretty obvious why you should check it out. “It’s Vader,” Alexander says. “It’s Vader on tour with five other incredibly technical, brutal death metal bands that are all worth coming to see by themselves. Vader came all the way from Poland to play this tour for you. Sacrificial Slaughter came from California, Vital Remains from New York, Execration for Colorado, and Extremely Rotten came from Florida to play, and you should come, too. Bring your kids; it’s cool.”
Yep—in addition to military, out-of-town, and out-of-state discounts, kids 12 and under get in free. And you know what they say about the family that head bangs together…
The Back to the Black U.S. Tour hits the Oasis on Fri. Sept. 20. Showtime is 7 p.m. Admission is $15 Tickets can be pre-purchased at Brown Paper Tickets.
For more information on Vader and the show, links to all the bands playing and donating free merch, and the promoters presenting the show, visit the show’s Facebook event page.
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
About the Author
Jessica Mickey has considered Charleston home since she first moved here in 2001. She regularly performs improv at Theatre 99 and dabbles in stand-up comedy in various venues around the Lowcountry. Jessica has also cohosted morning radio shows on 96Wave and 98X, as well as wrote the weekly column "The Chase is On" for the Charleston City Paper. She can barely play the ukulele Ballard bought her for Christmas last year, but after a couple of drinks, she can sing the shit out of some karaoke.
Related Posts
Review and Interview: We Heard the Pixies Roar at the PAC →
The Punch List with the Space Fags’ Johnny Puke →
The Punch List with the Bushels’ Singer/Guitarist Jim Algar →
