Metal heavyweights Anaal Nathrakh launched their North American tour in Sacramento Monday night, and they displayed their excellent taste by exalting our city’s own heavyweight, Ground Chuck.

Ground Chuck is known around town for being the most hyped and most charming dude in the punk and metal scene for decades (in addition to being the creator of some consistently badass chalk art outside venues). Last night, he showed up in full-on King Diamond corpse paint, which complemented his multiple King Diamond tattoos fabulously.

The two core members of Anaal Nathrakh, Dave Hunt and Mick Kenney, couldn’t help but repeatedly bring him up to the stage and launch him into the roiling pit for multiple rounds of crowd surfing. On Chuck’s second visit to the stage, Hunt passed him the mic, giving Chuck the chance to shriek out, in full King Diamond falsetto, “COME TO THE SABBAAAAAAAAATH!”

The band was so impressed that they dedicated the next song they performed, “Of Fire, and Fucking Pigs,” to Chuck.

As much as I want to say, “You shoulda been there,” there seems like a good chance that you actually might have been. Starlite Lounge was loaded, especially for a Monday night show, and between the black/death/industrial/damn-near-fantasy metal vibe of Anaal Nathrakh, the stomping post-thrash style of Incite, the atmosmospheric melodic doom of Oakland’s Secrets of the Sky and the black/grind/crust of Sacramento’s very own Plague Widow, it was a rager that people oughta remember for a good while.

If you missed Monday’s show and feel bad about it, no worries! More metal awaits. Tonight, you’ve got Sepultura, Destruction, Arsis and more at Ace of Spades. On Wednesday, you’ve got Seattle doom downers Samothrace and doom/death-rock droners Atriarch with local doom stars (waning) and Church opening at Starlite. Both totally excellent options, but I’m saving my money for Wednesday. Whatever you do, get out there!

(all trash photos of Ground Chuck’s rad chalk drawings from Monday night taken by Anthony Siino)