review by: Roberto Martinelli

Wacken? Bay Area metallers don’t need no stinkin’ Wacken. Why, we’ve got our own outdoor metal festival, Tidal Wave.

Ok, so it’s a far, far, FAR cry from Wacken. But there are similarities.

Like, it’s outdoors! And...

You get to sit on the grass! And drink beer!

And it’s over the course of two days!

Ok, so Wacken kills this in both quality and quantity. But at least Tidal Wave is free. That is, unless a mixture of pity and coercion leads you to buy one of the official Tidal Wave t-shirts for $17.

   

Also, after being metalled-out, you can just go back to your comfy home and not have to worry about some drunk guy tripping over your tent wires.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware of day one of the fest. I came to see Morbosidad. Here’s what else happened on day two:

Marching up the hill of the park’s south entrance, I didn’t need to do a lot of searching... just let the familiar sounds of fast, downtuned guitars and harsh vocals lead the way. I got there to check out Soultorn’s set of thrashy death metal. The group came up from Southern California to play here, and they were good.

Kuru (below) were next. The music seemed like it was strangely lacking in vocals. Indeed, the bassist mentioned that the regular vocalist couldn’t make it, or something. Seemed plausible. But checking out the insert of Kuru’s CD showed that they didn’t have a main vocalist on that, either.

              

Whether he truly exists or not Kuru desperately needed a frontman on this day. Or at least someone who can talk to the crowd on stage. The bassist’s attempt to explain to the crowd what the name of his band meant came off as someone botching the lead up to a joke’s punchline. And in this case, the punchline had guitar feedback all over it.

Kuru also needs to write music that is less hazy and more interesting. The fellow festival goers around me agreed.

Depressor was next. I’d heard about this band trying to get off the ground a year or two ago, and it’s cool that they’ve found their personnel. Their mix of punk and black metal was good.

It’s curious how Morbosidad and Kuru essentially play the same genre of monotonous, rumbling metal. Curious because while Kuru’s version is boring, Morbosidad’s is great.

I believe that Morboso’s set had the best, most pronounced bass guitar sound I think I may ever hear at an extreme metal concert. It was clear as a bell, and perhaps even more important than the guitar sound. It was a nice change of pace.

   

Tomaso Stench’s vocals and performance were as morbid as ever, something that mirrored the stage props and get ups well. The best set for last, as it should be.

                 

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