Live Review: Shred Fest 2025 at Gramercy Theatre (2025/05/01)
featuring Atheist, Origin, Decrepit Birth and Fractal Universe
Ticket Price: $38.50
Another death metal show, which seems to be the general trend so far this year, featuring some real antique bands from the genre. Although it was Saint Vitus event, this show was sort of the red-headed step-child of the event going on across town in Times Square. I actually considered attending the “Chaos and Carnage” tour to see Dying Fetus but I wasn’t interested enough in the other bands and I was curious to check out the up-and-coming band Fractal Universe. Gramercy Theatre is so much better than Palladium Times Square as well.
I just recently discovered Fractal Universe, a French progressive metal band, and I enjoyed their 2019 album enough to want to see them open at 6 PM on a work day. They released a new album at the beginning of April that was decent, though not as strong as some of their previous work. Overall they were good and clearly very talented musicians. I like that the lead guitarist/vocalist also plays saxophone during some of their songs. Something that became very apparent is how much of a difference it makes when bands play with real amps versus running directly to the front-of-house. It gives the live performance a totally different experience when you can physically feel the sound waves hitting your body. With such a small audience in a decent size theater it felt more like a soundcheck than a live gig for most of their set. They still played great, having clearly put in a lot of preparation to get ready for this tour. It’s not easy playing this spot on a tour that is already going to be struggling to get bodies in the door.
The next band was intriguing to me because they are one of the OG Cali death metal bands from the early 2000s, whose front-man, Bill Robinson, looks like a heavy metal caveman. They really embody the sound of that time, with no shortage of blast beats and insanely fast tremolo picking to complement. I am not very familiar with their music and only recognized a couple of songs, however, it was fun to see them live.
The next two bands were also out of my normal rotation but continued to showcase the technical part of technical death metal, especially the bass players. The bass player from Origin was actually insane to watch. I couldn’t believe how fast his hands were moving. It was almost silly to watch because it didn’t even look real. I loved seeing the bass players get a chance to shine tonight though because so many bands now aren’t even touring with bass players anymore, instead substituting them with more strings on their guitars and dropped tuning. The bass players for Decrepit Birth, Origin and Atheist were all stellar.
I decided to stay for one more set before calling it a night, given the early start and my lack of food intake on the day. More venues should serve food. I thought Atheist was the most entertaining of the evening up to that point. I don’t know much of their history. After a quick search, I learned they are one of the original bands from the late 1980s scene and it appears the original vocalist, Kelly Shaefer, got a bunch of young kids to dust off a few old singles and go on tour. No shortage of talent on stage and their vocalist was a funny dude to watch. He’s no spry chicken but he was still having a good time. The bass player had enough energy for the whole band, with his 360-degree spins, karate kicks and yelling to hype up the crowd. Another solid performance even if the old school stuff isn’t as much of my jam.
I didn’t stay for the headliner but I don’t feel like I missed out on much more. I am not a huge fan of Obscura and the new album they were accused of plagiarizing songs isn’t even that great. If you’re going to steal at least write some bangers. It gave me a good excuse to duck out early and get home at a reasonable hour.
Cheers and keep rocking!