A High and Beautiful Wave: Psycho Las Vegas 2019

“So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.” ~ Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

With the country’s current political climate putting its populous in divided disarray, one has to wonder if the American dream has remained intact and not fallen by the wayside as so many once credible ideas and institutions have. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson performed a drug fueled pilgrimage down the mainline vein of the country, the dusty connective highways between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, in search for the heart of the American dream and like a lethal dose of adrenochrome, he came bursting on the scene. What the good doctor found was both life and death, decency and depravity, all wrapped into one gaudy American nightmare churned out by the 24 hour fantasy machine of Vegas. Today, if Thompson was alive, he would think Psycho Las Vegas was the climax of the dream he was looking for, a wellspring of underground music taking over the Mandalay Bay Casino & Resort, a luxury casino made infamous by a tragic mass shooting at a previous music festival.

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I had a long-running debate with a fellow contributor over who the best modern stoner/doom band was. It was my contention that Sleep was king of the hill, it was his that Electric Wizard was the best. As much as I love Sleep, after this show, I can’t help but change my mind. Electric Wizard simply have the total package. Everything a hesher could ever want out of a show. Fat, fuzzy riffs. Vintage horror and porn films projected behind them. An affinity for all things macabre and nocturnal. Stage banter that perks up the ears of people too high to exist and makes them question what they just heard until that question develops into total confusion as to what is reality. This was the peak of everything doom metal could be. The metal head’s American dream.

My night finished with Phil Anselmo’s En Minor performing their 2nd show ever. I had heard this project was Phil’s heart poured out onto music. It was his softer side, a more Nick Cave vibe than shredding, groove metal. Dressed in a suit and looking like a suave Mike Patton, Phil had the audience in the palm of his hand. We were willing to take whatever journey he wanted us on. We all knew Phil Anselmo had poetry in his heart but perhaps not to this great extent.

Day 2

There’s no better way to start a Saturday than with brutal death metal. The sun was blazing but while Las Vegas melted, I was underground in the House of Blues, shrouded in darkness during Tomb Mold‘s insanely heavy death metal set. This is the kind of band that gives great hope for the future of the genre. Taking from the greats in their tradition, Tomb Mold carries the torch and plays the death metal the true fan die and kill to hear.

Continuing to the main stage, I got to see the crushing doom trio known as Old Man Gloom, Caleb Scofield’s (RIP) band. I can’t remember another doom band that ever felt this crushing, I could feel the minerals in my blood vibrate with each stomping riff. It’s music you brace with multiple utterances of “holy shit” during a set.

Next was the reason I came to Psycho Las Vegas: Triumph of Death‘s first North American show. Triumph of Death, named after a painting by Pieter Bruegel, is Tom Gabriel Warrior’s ode to his first band, Hellhammer, the progenitors of extreme metal. From dark bars in Switzerland to the main stage at one of America’s greatest metal festivals, Hellhammer finally got the due they deserved. Their set was absolutely ravenous. Last year I was able to see Tryptikon perform a set of Celtic Frost songs, now having seen Tom G. Warrior perform Hellhammer, I feel I’ve come as close to experiencing that metal icon’s contribution without ever having seen Celtic Frost in concert.

Following one legendary act was another with Carcass taking the stage to perform their surgically precise grind. From early grindcore tracks to the melodic-death of Heartwork, the set spanned the band’s whole catalogue. Carcass, like no other extreme metal band, has a certain vintage rock and roll, psychedelic edge to it, most likely thanks to the guitar work of Bill Steer and his bell bottoms.