Show Report: Crom/ACxDC/Shitbrains (3) @ Zebulon, 3/9/2025 (#16)
Hot Los Angeles Nights
"It takes your house burning down to get to play with Crom," Shitbrains drummer/vocalist Anthony said to the early birds in the Zebulon crowd, who were about to be treated to the best set of the night. Indeed, Anthony and guitarist/vocalist Emi’s house burned down in the Eaton fire, one of those things that still feels surreal, as I see both frequently around the LA grind scene. (Emi also plays in Morgue Breath and Guilt Dispenser.) As I’ve said previously, everyone knows someone who lost everything. And the impact of the fires keeps reverberating outward. LA still doesn’t feel the same. How could it?
And yet, the people keep coming together to help those in need. This show that also brought Antichrist Demoncore and Crom out was a benefit show for said fires, one of many I’ve been to in the aftermath. And the vibe was the same: it was good being in the room with other people. I won’t say this fostered any sense of connectivity or goodwill — I’m still mostly annoyed with show audiences' myriad faux pas. But just the fact that we’re out here at all is a testament to something. I think everyone is still processing what exactly that something is.
Anyway, Shitbrains rips. Its grinding, stop-start, fastcore-derived mayhem was the highlight of this show, these microbursts of extreme violence. The dual-vocal attack is perfect and pings your head from one singer to the other like a dog watching a tennis match. Emi and Anthony play this stuff with a fluidity as if the tight, precise disorder is flowing through them. It's the same no-thought-just-go performance that a running back puts on as they unconsciously juke through a defense. It also sets up this undeniable kineticism that’s magnified by the blasts. It’s one of my favorite strains of music right now, matching the external chaos of the world. My brain just sounds like Shitbrains, and it felt great feeling someone else locked into that frequency.
The last time I saw ACxDC, I was writing for Invisible Oranges. Been a bit. (I'm not tallying that date because it occurred before my show-going resurrection). While Crom said ACxDC hadn't played in years, I think that was either tongue-in-cheek or an over-exaggeration, seeing as the band played a bunch of dates in 2024. (Crom also said the thoroughly Los Angeleno ACxDC was from Canada. ...OK! That joke is soaring over my head like a condor.) But it certainly was a long time for me. Unsurprisingly, the ACxDC still brings it, playing a high-calorie-burning variant of the kind of powerviolence acts like Lack of Interest brought to the table: fast, boisterous, and with a bruising toughness suggesting ACxDC knew precisely where they were taking us despite the nearly-off-the-rails twists and turns. Ultimately, I burned out on this stuff back when I was writing for Invisible Oranges. But this was a pleasant stroll (mosh?) down memory lane.
Crom, at least its Cocaine Wars incarnation, is one of those powerviolence-ish bands I never thought I’d see live, primarily because, as I intimated above, I don't go to these kinds of shows anymore. Outside of a surprise Crossed Out reunion or an out-of-nowhere No Comment set, they were one of the last bands standing on my PV checklist. Gotta say: what a fun setlist. Backed by an A/V element that played mostly B-movie detritus and memes, Crom turned the Wheel of Pain and milled a set of equally fast and slow parts, that quintessential sound of Crom-ish PV cum heavy metal cum sludge. Think of an even more austere Infest was all-in on Manowar.
The highlight of the night was an extended outro I’d feel bad ruining, so I won’t. How long can you keep the Conan bit going? About an hour, turns out. And the fellow elder PV idiots surrounding me on the Zebulon bleachers all agreed Crom was a good hang. Sucks it took a fire and a house burning down to bring us all together.
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