In the world of modern extreme metal, there's few bands that have followings as rabid as The Black Dahlia Murder and Suicide Silence. These two powerhouse acts first-ever U.S. tour together hit the Paradise Rock Club in Boston last night and the results were exactly as insane as you would expect from this pairing.
California tech-death upstarts Alterbeast kicked off the evening bright and early at 6:45. I checked out their debut album, Immortal, after this tour got announced in mid-August and I was very impressed; so I was really looking forward to see them live. Unsurprisingly, Alterbeast absolutely ripped live. Their mind-numbing technical prowess and nuances of their music really came alive in a live setting. Their somewhat melodic approach to tech-death reminds me a lot of genre icons Necrophagist. Since the third Necrophagist album is the death metal equivalent of Chinese Democracy, their fans should check out Alterbeast to make the seemingly eternal wait for that album a little less painful. The most noteworthy aspect of Alterbeast's live show was vocalist Monte Bernard. His high and low screams are refreshingly gritty for the genre and don't lose any of their power or uniqueness live. Not only is he an exceptional vocalist, he has an incredible stage presence. Aside from Trevor Strnad of The Black Dahlia Murder, I've never seen a death metal frontman that is so stoked to be on-stage. He didn't stop grinning, high-fiving fans and joking around with the crowd in-between songs for the entirety of their 25-minute set. Alterbeast's combination of energy, musical precision and relentless brutality made them an absolute joy to watch. I really hope this tour gives them the exposure they deserve.
Chelsea Grin is up next. My hatred of Chelsea Grin is well-documented and despite the fact they've appeared at a handful of shows I've been to over the past five years, I'd managed to avoid seeing them. My luck ran out last night as I was subjected to Utah's finest export since Wilford "Diabeetus" Brimley for the first time live. As I expected, their abundance of one-note breakdowns and piss-poor vocals was every bit as redundant and painful live as they are on disc. With the plodding nature of their material, every song bled into one another and made the set feel like it five times longer than it actually was. Every once in a while, there was some half-decent guitarwork from ex-Born of Osiris axeman Jason Richardson-who needs to stop wasting his talent in this garbage band- but that wasn't nearly enough to make their set even remotely tolerable. About the only sincere enjoyment I got out of Chelsea Grin was watching these faux-macho dinguses go full-on crabcore during most of the breakdowns. Their synchronized crab moves had the elegance and grace of a top-flight production of Swan Lake. Seriously, I want to hire these guys to choreograph the one-man ballet version of Flubber I'm currently writing. Maroon 5 needs to make a sequel to "Moves Like Jagger" about these lords of the dance ASAP. So thank you Chelsea Grin for keeping crabcore alive. The guys from Attack Attack! would be proud. Chelsea Grin isn't the absolute worst live band I've ever seen, but they are they are the worst band I've seen since I was ear-fucked by future Rhodes Scholar Chris Fronzak and his band of rocket scientists in Atilla at Warped Tour last year.
After a surprisingly long 25-minute gap, Suicide Silence took the stage. I'm not exactly the biggest fan of these guys, but I was mildly curious to see what they would sound like with Eddie Hermida (formerly of All Shall Perish) on vocals. Even with Hermida leading the charge, Suicide Silence is the exact same live act that they were when Mitch Lucker was the frontman. They're a fun band to watch for a brief time, but they ultimately grow old fast due to the similar nature of all of their songs. They certainly shows flashes of real potential on tracks like "Sacred Words" and "Disengage, but they revert to deathcore clichés too often to build up any real momentum. The only serious issue I had with their set was the high vocals of Hermida. Hermida was trying far too hard to imitate the late Lucker's high screams on the older tracks. I'd seen Hermida perform with his former band All Shall Perish numerous times, so it was extremely disappointing to see him try to amend his style to match Lucker's from the original recordings. I get that Lucker left behind a hell of a legacy and that Suicide Silence would not be where they are today without his contributions, but Hermida has got to really make these songs his own if he wants the Lucker-era songs to work live. Suicide Silence definitely brings the energy and the crowd always goes nuts for them, but they are far too pedestrian to be anything above a decent live band in my eyes.
The Black Dahlia Murder closed out the evening in typically impressive fashion. This was the seventh time I've seen The Black Dahlia Murder live and the level of consistency in their performances is astonishing. They give it their all every single night and I believe that's a large part of why they've built up such a strong following over the past decade. This setlist was interesting because they focused a majority of their attention on their first three albums: Unhallowed, Miasma and Nocturnal. There wasn't exactly a lot of surprises along the way as they ripped through their biggest "hits" including "Everything Went Black", "Statutory Ape" and "What A Horrible Night to Have a Curse", but that didn't deter from how ridiculously enjoyable they were. All of these longtime set staples are amongst my favorite tracks in Black Dahlia Murder's catalog. Would of I liked to see old-school rarities like "Virally Yours" and "Thy Horror Cosmic" in the set? Absolutely. But I'll never complain about Black Dahlia playing their more well-known songs because they all destroy live and consistently get strong reactions from the crowd. The only track they played that surprised me was "Miasma", and that ended up being the best song of the night. "Miasma" was the song that turned me onto this band (and death metal on the whole) in 2006, so I was pumped to hear it live for the first time since 2012. The Black Dahlia Murder remain the most lethal force in modern death metal-especially live- and it was awesome to see them close out their touring cycle for Everblack with a set loaded with material from the records that made me fall in love with their music in the mid-to-late 2000's.
Side Notes:
-The drum fill before the first verse of "Miasma" still gives me chills after all these years.
-The show featured the two saddest wall of death attempts I've ever seen. No one ran into each other during Chelsea Grin's while the Suicide Silence one was featured probably only 20 people.
-While Eddie Hermida did a poor job with most of the older Suicide Silence songs, his work on "Bludgeoned to Death" was fantastic and far better than the original.
-Alex Kohler of Chelsea Grin seems like the bastard offspring of Frankie Palmeri and Chris Fronzak in both appearance and overall douchiness.
-My friends and I were able to convince a (most likely) intoxicated girl that we were in a breakdancing group.
-We also unsuccessfully attempted to start an "Ebola" chant while Suicide Silence was setting up.
Scores:
Alterbeast 8.5/10
Chelsea Grin 2/10
Suicide Silence 6.5/10
The Black Dahlia Murder 9/10
Setlists:
Alterbeast:
Flesh Bound Text
Mutilated Marvel
Of Decimus Divine
Vile Remnants
Throne of Maggots
Suicide Silence:
Inherit the Crown
Cease to Exist
No Pity for a Coward
Wake Up
Unanswered
Fuck Everything
Bludgeoned to Death
Slaves to Substance
Disengage
Sacred Words
You Can't Stop Me
You Only Live Once
The Black Dahlia Murder:
In Hell is Where She Waits for Me
Elder Misanthropy
A Vulgar Picture
Everything Went Black
On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood
Closed Casket Requiem
Miasma
Deathmask Divine
Moonlight Equilibrium
Unhallowed
Funeral Thirst
Statutory Ape
What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse
I Will Return
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