Show Coverage: Eyehategod – Sanctuary Detroit, April 18, 2023

Event: EYEHATEGOD – 30 Years of Take As Needed For Pain Spring Tour

Venue: Sanctuary Detroit, Hamtramck, Michigan

Date: April 18, 2023

Artists Performed: Graboids, Fell Ruin, Goatwhore, EYEHATEGOD

On a cold winter-like spring evening the people in Hamtramck, Michigan people lined up for a sold-out show at Sanctuary Detroit featuring two legendary bands from New Orleans, Louisiana. While technically the venue is not in Detroit it is within Detroit, in a small town, called Hamtramck, which is an enclave of the city.

The night started out with Graboids, a band fronted by Phil, a regular at the venue. They are self-described as Detroit Sludge, a combination of doom metal and hardcore punk, which is a fair and accurate description. Since these are local people with local friends, who know them and their music, it was no surprise that the crowd was really into the set.

Up next was Fell Ruin, another local Detroit band with a lot of local support. They have played several shows at Sanctuary. As a black and doom metal band, that they brought a dark and heavy sound that included fast drums and low growls that got the crowd to start getting a bit more into moshing. They have been a band since 2014 with 4 members, Jeff on bass, August on drums, Rob Radtke on guitars, and Brian on vocals who have not changed over time. It is easy to see that they all meld well together in their sound and on stage.

The third band up was the American extreme metal band, Goatwhore. They were the first band of the night from New Orleans, Louisiana. They started out the night with “Chaos Arcane” from their 2017 album Vengeful Ascension. The next song up was “The Bestowal of Abomination.” It was the first of the night from their newest 2022 album Angels Hung from the Arches of Heaven. Of the twelve songs played that night, five were from the new album including “Born of Satan’s Flesh,” “Angels Hung From the Arches of Heaven,” “Death From Above,” and “Nihil.” Music from other albums included Collapse in Eternal Worth, Constricting Rage of the Merciless, Carving Out the Eyes of God, Funeral Dirge for the Rotting Sun, and Blood for the Master. The set was stacked with amazing heavy and dark songs that were perfect for getting the metal crowd hyped and for encouragement to keep moshing the whole time.

The current lineup of the band includes vocalist Ben Falgoust II, bassist Robert “Trans Am” Coleman, guitarist Sammy Duet, and drummer Zack Simmons. During the set Ben gave a shout-out to Detroit and the Detroit Red Wings. It got a lot of cheers from the crowd, where there were a lot of Red Wings fans. While their lyrics and songs categorize them as a satanic band with many anti-Christianity and occult themes, they are really nice guys. After their set they spent the rest of the evening watching the headliner and standing in the crowd talking to fans and friends. This is probably obvious to anyone deep in the metal scene or anyone who knows them but to people outside of the loop it may come as a surprise of just how friendly they are.

It was then time for EYEHATEGOD (EHG), an American sludge metal band from New Orleans, Louisiana. Sludge metal is not one of the major subgenres, it is instead a unique and wonderful blend of hardcore punk with doom metal. EHG are considered the founders of this sound and it is obvious that they own it well when they are on stage. The band members on stage were drummer and founding member Aaron Hill, Mike Williams on vocals, Jimmy Bower on guitar, and Gary Mader on bass.

For their set they chose a solid mix of songs that covered all their albums. They started the night off with songs from their 1993 album Take as Needed for Pain. After a few songs they took a quick pause to check in on the crowd and make sure everyone was doing ok in the dark, hot room. They resumed quickly and went back to work keeping the room lively and moving around. Later into the set they took a small break to give some amazing shout-outs to Sanctuary, reminiscing of the old days when it was Paycheck’s Lounge, Hamtramck (and he pronounced it properly!) and the city’s connections to legends like The Stooges and Negative Approach, and gave a special thanks to John Brannon, front man for Negative Approach, for being at the show. Then as they started wrapping up the 16-song set vocalist Mike told everyone he was glad they came to the show that night and said they “came here because you didn’t kill yourself earlier today. Glad we could help.” Then they closed out the night with the song “Run it Into the Ground” from the 1990 album In the Name of Suffering. Overall, the night was amazing, everyone left very alive, and glad they had chosen to stop by Hamtramck for the night.