(Our friend Ben Manzella caught the November 29 stop (at The Observatory venue in California) of Death to All’s Symbolic Healing Tour 2025, with support from Gorguts and Phobophilic, and he gave us the following report, along with his own great photos of the event.)
Sometimes, a mixed lineup is good and needed. I’d say more often than not, I enjoy seeing a three- or four-band lineup so that I don’t know what to expect at the beginning of each set. This past Saturday was not a night without surprises, per se, but there was a definite focus. The focus this Saturday in Santa Ana was Death Metal, and Death to All’s now-finished Symbolic Healing Tour had arrived to provide a few hours of deadly music to a variety of ages in the crowd.
I think I saw one person arrive with around three or four of his kids for the show, and you could tell he was a diehard fan of the genre. It is fun to see a night that used to be an escape when I was a kid become a family night out for some, and I would have never guessed it would be possible.
Anyway, after a slight delay in getting my ticket sorted out, I entered the venue feeling a need to rush as it was obvious Phobophilic had started their set. With one full-length released so far, Phobophilic was the newest band on the lineup and has been working to get their name out there since their 2022 record Enveloping Absurdity was released by Prosthetic Records.
Lighting challenges aside, I ended up one of the only photographers the whole night at the show, which is a rare privilege. If you’re familiar with current death metal bands like Skeletal Remains or Undeath, I would imagine you’ve heard about Phobophilic by now, but it seemed like most of the crowd was still getting to know their music. By the time they introduced their song “Cathedrals of Blood”, they had the mosh pit ready to match the collective energy of the band. I was excited to see them start the night off in a commanding way, and I look forward to hearing more from them in the future.
While Death is a very important band to me, I was most excited to see Gorguts again. After having my first chance to see them headlining the first night of Northwest Terror Fest earlier this year, I couldn’t have imagined I would see them twice in one year. Death metal was the subgenre that led me to be more curious about extreme music overall as a young teenager. I had been introduced to thrash through a cousin who was a punk fan, but death metal was all my own, and that was exciting. Around twenty years later, I still seek out bands both considered dead and somehow still alive.
As was mentioned in between songs by Luc Lemay, while Gorguts had played at other venues in southern California more recently, they had not been back to the Observatory since the Decibel Tour rolled through in 2014. While I don’t know if many in attendance on Saturday had a chance to see Gorguts in the last eleven years, I don’t think the enthusiasm would have lessened at all. There was moshing throughout their set, and other fans, like myself, were stunned by the technical prowess of each member in the band.
While I don’t care to try and predict trends of any kind, I think if Gorguts returns to the area whenever their new record is released, they will likely have fans that buy tickets based on the set they saw this last Saturday in Santa Ana.
After the first few songs of the Death to All set, Steve DiGiorgio greeted the excited crowd. Along with asking how many in the crowd had either been to a Death to All show before or who was seeing them for the first time, Steve brought the focus of the night to the forefront. As a loud chant of “Chuck!” began thundering throughout the room, it was surreal to think how close it was to what would have been Chuck Schuldiner’s 58th birthday.
Through the talent of Max Phelps, along with the skilled playing of Chuck’s former bandmates, Steve, Gene Hoglan, and Bobby Koelble, Death to All provides a great way to engage with the discography of Death, whether you saw them while Chuck was alive or only discovered the music after his passing.
While the focus of the tour was celebrating the Spiritual Healing and Symbolic albums, the 35th anniversary and 30th anniversary, respectively, there was a nostalgic wave of emotion that hit me hard as I heard the intro to “Lack of Comprehension.” I found myself tearing up a bit and then shifted quickly into enjoying one of my all-time favorite Death songs.
Whether it is at a venue like the Observatory, in a rehearsal room, or in a garage, Chuck Schuldiner’s legacy lives on without any sign of waning over time. As Chuck has been quoted to have said, “Let the metal flow!”
