(Live Review) PSYCHOFEST 2022, DAY 2 - Las Vegas, August 19/22
Review by: Mark McQueen
After a quick five hours of sleep, Little Johnny and I arose, had breakfast, and proceeded to draw up our schedules for another long day running around between 6-stages. We realized we would be apart during portions of the day/night, but did have a number of the same shows slated to cover, including band number one of the day.
Day 2 began at 11:00am with the death metal punch in the face of:
SANGUISUGBOGG
Nope, I don’t have any idea what it means either. What I do know is for an 11:00am death metal band these guys packed in a spacious room. Props for that.
Johnny is running around already trying to start a circle pit. Easy dude. Long long day to go.
For death metal (my second least favorite subgenre), I have to say this is not bad. Indistinguishable vocals barked over rapid-fire double bass drums. Songs are probably about death and/or Satan, but since I cannot really understand them, they might as well be singing about gardening or drywall installation. Although, with song titles like “Pissed,” probably not.
What the hell, in the end they did what they do, and the crowd dug them. That is a good set and a good band to me.
83/100
Next up, Johnny and I split allegiances as he remained for DevilMaster, while for The Beard, it is a trip back across the resort to the Dawghouse for:
OLD FASHIONNED ASSASSIN
Pretty average stoner band. Just some guys playing decent stoner music on one of the secondary stages. In a local club they are probably good, but after seeing Elder yesterday, I had to relegate these guys to "just okay". I can enjoy the set, but in an hour I will not remember any of it.
77/100
DREADNOUGHT
And their prog metal stylings. Dreadnought are two female vocalist harmonizing, one with the higher opera voice the other lower and clearer. The music is progressive rock. Hard, but not too heavy. Johnny would already be out of here, but with the plethora of black metal bands on the agenda today, this seemed initially just another symphonic pallet cleanser.
Until the one girl just went full on death metal voice. Okay now it’s a party!
Interesting, the back and forth of vocal styles is kind of Sylvaine-like stuff. Surprise, it is what makes seeing new acts intriguing.
Johnny missed out on these guys. When the Beauty and the Beast lyrics both come out of the same girl, one has to think “wow, I’ll bet she’s an entertaining lover".
I liked the surprise and thus I liked Dreadnought, so I am calling an
84/100
MGLA
As I settled into the seats in the Event Center VIP section, there was Johnny (IPA in hand). You better not be expensing those to my account little dude.
MGLA are dark and brooding (despite the Event Centers massive light show), The Polish black metalers brought their brand of cold desolate 90’s era black metal. Like Behemoth, Darkthrone, and Emperor ... MGLA ARE BLACK!
Sometimes this style gets repetitive to me because I cannot understand the lyrics, but I am pleased to get a rare chance to see a world-famous European band here in America. Acts like this are why we pay the big bucks for Psychofest and I enjoyed listening to MGLA tell me just how horrible life is and that we are all likely to die miserably. Good afternoon fun in Vegas.
87/100
Next up Johnny was off to see the all-girl Motorhead band Motorbabe, while for me it is all the way back to the other side of the resort to catch band five on the day:
WAND
Garage/Psyche rock. This show was sparsely attended as there were heavier options out there playing (like Wolves in the Throne Room), but The Beard is trying to check out some new and distinctive styles, so there you go. Additionally, the second half of tonight is a slab of heavy, so I’ll take this for a quick 45-minute break.
I genuinely liked the jam portions, although not the vocals or the needless noodling between songs. Vocal sound was almost Beatles-esque, and although that 60’s sound is fine and even can be enjoyable, on the heels of an hour of MGLA’s blackness, I just could not perk back up to this.
81/100 seems fair, maybe even a little generous.
KING WOMAN
Not too far into this one, and I am not a fan of either the voice or the ambiance. This ends up my first “audible” of the weekend, meaning off I go before the set is over.
70/100
Also, since this venue is located directly above the Zouke nightclub, I figure can quickly slip down there for the High Roller mixer. A chance to get my High Roller tchotchke AND a free shot of Jamison.
I will not be telling Johnny about this though, as growing up at the orphanage and on the mean streets of his home country, Johnny and Jamison’s are not a good combination. Makes him crazy. I’ll just slip down here solo and….