AEG Presents Rocky Mountains/ Castrator, Sanguisugabogg, Immolation, and Cattle Decapitation December 8th, 2023, at the Gothic Theatre A night of all around epic metal! 

Photos by: Amy Asche

Article by: Lily Kinx

As I entered the Gothic Theatre on a cold December night, I was stoked for the show that was about to happen. The Gothic Theatre is one of my favorite Denver venues, being a former movie theater turned music venue, with a beautiful backdrop with an art deco style. The Gothic being a cozy venue, I love the intimacy and the nostalgia you feel as soon as you walk in. Anywhere you stand in this theater, you get the feeling of being at a personal exclusive show. The stage was set with a legendary array of instruments and equipment, with a huge banner reading CASTRATOR ready to unleash a night of epic metal music. Being a fan of all subgenres of metal, from thrash to power metal, I was ecstatic to see the four incredible bands lined up for the night. First up as you guessed it was Castrator, an all-female old-school style death metal band out of New York with strong feminist vibes, having a male guest guitar player for this tour.... I just want to start off and say what a jaw dropping opener. I had only heard of Castrator before but had never taken the time to listen to or look into them, and shame on me for not doing so! As the band members entered the stage and the vocalist back to the audience, chanting could be heard in the background…. Then HOLY SHIT! We were all smacked in the face with brutal drums and thic bass lines along with insane gutturals that took me by surprise. How did this hot petite woman manage to produce such sick deep gutturals?! The pit instantly opened up, and I was starstruck 😍! Castrator from start to finish had everyone in the building with their mouths hanging open! Especially me, as they finished their song titled “Forsaken and Deprived” I was so parched from screaming that I yelled “SPIT IN MY MOUTH!” the Security guy standing in front of me started laughing and gave me a high five and said, “Hell yeah, i’d let her spit in my mouth too!” I’m glad I wasn’t the only kinky person in the crowd! But damn, I wish she heard me, I was ready to get on my knees and do whatever this woman demanded of me! Castrator made me a new fan, and I'm sure I wasn’t the only one! Next on the roster was Sanguisgabogg, this tongue twister of a band is another one I had heard of but not listened to before, and again damn me for not doing so! Sanguisgabogg comes hailing from Columbus, OH with a previously described chuggy-muddy style death metal with pig squeals and controversial lyrics came out guns blazin’, I mean literally the vocalist Devin Swank had arms as thick as a ham hock and a stage presence to match. The crowd in the Gothic suddenly became packed wall to wall with a vengeance with heads banging and a brutal pit with sweat flying! During Sanguisgabogg’s set, Swank pulled out a football and tossed it to the crowd saying, “whoever ends up with the football at the end of this song, gets free merch!” So of course, a death match to grab the football ensued! By the end of the song the person with the football had disappeared in the crowd, leaving the vocalist confused and calling them a bitch. I can only assume they went straight to merch once they acquired the football. The rest of their set slapped hard with a hardcore vibe, every song with its own flavor. I want to see these guys again the next time they swing through Denver! Immolation was next coming on strong with that slow intense extreme Death/ Black metal that has been swelling around the metal scene for Thirty years. By this point, the crowd at the Gothic was so riled up it was hard to determine where the pit started and where it ended. Immolation being deeply rooted in the old school New York Death metal came in swinging and me being a sucker for the rhythm section, Ross Dolan being a bass player and front man, Dolan had me purring like a kitten with my tongue hanging out. Immolation was an uncompromising force to be reckoned with proving a point that these guys have been around for three decades for a reason. Horns up to these guys! I fucking love you! Ending the night with such an epic lineup before them was of course Cattle Decapitation. Cattle left no time to rest before coming on stage to an already frenzied crowd with a brutal force that has no other comparison. I’ve seen Cattle Decapitation before at other venues but being at the Gothic in an intimate setting with far better sound was what I've been needing in my life. Travis Ryan’s apocalyptic intense vocals had me doing something I've never done before…. Believe it or not, at the ripe age of Forty-three this was the first time I've ever crowd surfed let alone even considering it. My anxiety and excitement grew with the potent force of Ryan’s voice and the fervency of the drums, I pushed my way through the crowd with a magnitude of power that I had no idea existed. Bringing myself to the pit, I found the biggest guy I could find motioning “UP UP” to which the guy said “Alright, let’s do this!” For the first time in my life, with the encouragement of friends and the sheer intensity of Cattle Decapitation’s set, I crowd surfed for the first time……. After a long hard week, it was exactly what I needed. Coming to a show this legendary saved my life in many ways! Thank you AEG Presents, Gothic Theatre, and this insane lineup!