Since opening its doors in 1982, The Brass Mug in Tampa, Florida, has long been the area’s hub for both local metal bands to cut their teeth and for fans of heavy music to catch their favorite national touring acts. If you’re into hardcore, metal, or punk and live in the area, chances are you’ve seen a show at The Mug. It’s been an institution for over four decades, serving as a springboard for bands like Morbid Angel, Obituary, and Cannibal Corpse. Despite its long history and pedigree, the venue still feels very DIY, and the sense of community within its walls is palpable. With no stage barriers and the chance to grab a beer and chat with the bands, it’s a space that feels refreshingly open.
It’s only fitting that when Dallas Toler-Wade, former guitarist and vocalist of death metal legends Nile, rolled into town with his band Narcotic Wasteland, The Brass Mug put together a stacked lineup of both local and regional favorites. Five bands on a Friday night might sound daunting, enough to make even the most limber of us reach for some ibuprofen between sets, but as always with The Brass Mug, you know you’re getting plenty of bang for your buck.
Tampa slam heavyweights Law of Causality opened up the show with their signature brand of brutality, delivering yet another crushing set. Slam may not be the kind of music you stick on for a Sunday drive, but live? That’s where it thrives. It’s nearly impossible to listen to without your nose flaring, the involuntary stink-face slowly taking over, and your neck becoming more elastic as the set goes on.
It was an infectious set with plenty of motion from the crowd. I’ve seen them before, and I’ll probably catch them again before the year’s out. Law of Causality is as heavy as a freight train and twice as unstoppable. They’ll be taking their carnage on the road this November with stops in Buffalo, Detroit, and Houston.
Next on the night were the coverall-wearing gardeners in the Orlando nu metal band, Mulch. These guys all but proved my working theory that Zoomers yearn to return to the simpler times of the early 2000s, including (despite our previous warnings) bringing back nu metal. Instead of yelling at a cloud like the old man that I am, I decided to relive my own youth a bit during their set, and very quickly, it totally clicked.
Take one part Slipknot circa 1999 stripped down to its bare essentials, a pinch of ‘L.D.50’ era Mudvayne, and throw a bit of Wayne Static-inspired vocals in the mix, and you essentially have Mulch. This is far from a reductive dig at the band, because I think they’re pulling those ingredients together into something fresh, fun, and feral.
The band got huge crowd pops during their set, including some laughs during their ironic cover of Sixpence None The Richer’s ‘Kiss Me’. Mulch is bursting with potential and already knows how to deliver an energetic, fun live show. Their first EP, ‘(sucks)’, dropped earlier this year.
The Orlando representation continued when melodic death metal quintet Insectile took the stage. What struck me first was how unbelievably tight the drumming was. I’d listened to some of their tracks beforehand and found them super technical and precise, so much so that I figured the drums were probably programmed. Turns out, drummer Chris Helme was just putting three decades of experience on full display, sounding more machine than man.
Another standout for me was vocalist Elijah Levy, who showed off an impressive range from guttural lows to piercing highs while bringing a ton of energy to the music. The rest of the band matched that intensity with incredible shredding and heavy, technical riffs that had everyone banging their heads.
They were joined by vocalist Sebastian Garcia of Mulch for the song ‘Vespidum Verum’, and the back-and-forth between both frontmen was really something to behold. Insectile feels like Orlando’s best-kept secret, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them on bigger and bigger stages soon.
The penultimate act on the night was Tampa’s own Eternal Culling. The death-thrash trio proves that not only is age just a number, but that you don’t necessarily need bass to be heavy as all hell. These guys continue to channel a similar energy that spawned many bands in the early ’90s in the Tampa Bay area, but do a great job of bringing an original sound to the mix.
It was made all the more impressive that Chas Clingon could make the band sound as heavy as it did with a lack of bass, just him holding it down as the lone guitarist. This is a classic case of ‘addition by subtraction’. By limiting themselves in this way, they have distilled their sound into pure, condensed brutality. By no means does that mean that it’s nothing but rhythmic chugging, either, because boy, can he shred.
Vocalist Donny Hamilton continues to be an absolute force to be reckoned with on stage, providing some of the most impressive death growls I’ve heard. Brock Miller, last but not least, brought both an impressive speed and tenacity to the drums that held the whole performance together. These guys are always a joy to see live, and I can’t recommend them enough.
Finally, we reached the point of the night that everyone was waiting for. Nile was in constant rotation during my death metal era of high school, and Toler-Wade contributed to what I consider to be some of their best material, so it was a bit of a bucket list opportunity to catch him perform some of those songs alongside his original work in Narcotic Wasteland.
Before they even began to play, bassist Kenji Tsunami brought out onto the stage an instrument that I immediately took a picture of and sent to a group chat. ‘What the hell is this thing? Is it a bass? Is it a guitar? Both?!’. A friend who had access to faster internet than I did quickly found the info we were looking for: an NS/Stick, an 8-string bass that allows for incredible note range. Seeing something out of the ordinary like this is enough to make everyone notice, because I wasn’t the only one who was taking photos or pointing it out. It’s the sort of thing that makes you wonder if you’re about to see something special.
And to cut straight to the point: it was. Absolutely incredible. Kenji was mesmerizing, with total command over an instrument I’d barely seen before. On top of that, he also utilized a Roland organ pedal to play synth parts with his feet, sometimes doing both at the same time. It was the kind of performance you need to experience to fully understand.
As mind-boggling as the bass performance was, the rest of the band didn’t let Kenji hog all the spotlight. Joseph Howard was impeccable on drums, while also doing backup vocals at the same time. Dallas Toler-Wade was effortless on guitar while delivering his signature deep guttural vocals. All of their individual performances added up to make a wildly impressive set.
The band played through a bunch of original material, like ‘Barbarian’, ‘Sex, Lies, & DNA’, as well as plenty of other songs off their most recent albums. They also played two Nile covers off of the 2005 release (and maybe my favorite Nile album), ‘Annihilation of the Wicked’. Both ‘Lashed to the Slave Stick’ and ‘The Burning Pits of Duat’ got a great reception from the crowd. I was really surprised (in a good way) by the reaction to all the songs, as it seemed the crowd was there primarily to see original material, with the Nile covers as the sugar on top.
They ended the night with another original song, ‘Introspective Nightmares’, and got a huge send-off from the crowd. It’s really hard to put into perspective the level of musicianship on display from the band, but it was a level of technicality and execution that I rarely see live. All of the songs hit like a jackhammer and, even though I was wearing earplugs, my head was ringing for a few hours after the set.
It was an impressive night for all the bands involved, maybe the most impressive showcase of bands I’ve seen at The Brass Mug in quite some time, proving once again that if there’s a place to catch your favorite metal bands and your soon-to-be-favorite metal bands, look no further than an inconspicuous-looking bar on Skipper Road in Tampa.
