I still can't believe I saw Rammstein. A few years ago I didn't even think it was possible, especially after their first US show in a decade at Madison Square Garden,which sold out in under 5 minutes, in 2010, without future plans of returning for a full tour. Thankfully, they came back and actually played in Massachusetts on this full tour (their second since returning to touring the States, they didn't play Massachusetts on their first full tour last summer).
The opener was Joe Letz of Combichrist doing DJ remixes of Rammstein songs. To say the set was pointless would be a gross understatement. Hearing really bad electronic/dubstep remixes of Rammstein songs was awful. The set dragged and dragged along for a half-hour. It really failed as an attempt to pump the crowd up and I was really happy when it was over.
Thankfully, there was absolutely no set changeover time and Rammstein entered immediately after Joe Letz was done. They had a really elaborate intro. They came in and went over to a smaller stage in the middle of the floor then crossed over to the main stage on a huge walkway that came down from the ceiling. They were all wearing cloaks and one of the members (I think it was their bass player, but I have terrible vision so I can't swear to that) was carrying a torch. Upon reaching the stage, he used the torches to light these cauldron-like objects on either side of the stages and then they broke right into "Sonne" and the two hours of madness started. Their stage show, as expected, was the best I've ever seen. There was no shortage of fire, explosions, sparks, and other excitement that provided for non-stop entertainment throughout their set. Clearly there were a lot of highlights, but the best moments included Till Landerman standing under a shower of sparks during "Mutter", Till wearing a butcher outfit (complete with a mic that looked like a butcher knife) and lighting the cauldrons on fire with a flamethrower causing certain fireworks to fall from the ceiling with each one hitting their keyboard player as he ran around the stage during "Mein Teli", the boomerang fireworks leading to a giant explosion covering the entire stage during "Du Hast", Till crowdsurfing in a giant raft during "Haifisch", Most of the band wearing gimpsuits and being walked on leashes by their drummer Cristoph across the walkway onto the small stage before they played "Buck Dich" (which ended with Till wearing this fucking crazy mask spitting some unknown liquid on the crowd), Till wearing angel wings that shot fire during "Engel", and finally Till spraying the crowd with a giant penis cannon during set closer "Pussy". Their entire show was dynamic and just a ton of fun. I've never seen anything even close to it before in the forty plus shows I've been to. Besides their mind-blowing stage show, they also sounded great musically. Till sounded better live than on disc and the band played with a lot of energy. They played all the songs I wanted to hear. "Sehnsucht", "Feuer Frei!", "Du Hast", "Amerika" (first time this was played in a while, glad they included it), "Ich Will", and especially Mein Heirz Brent (so epic live) were the standouts of the set. Seeing Rammstein was a dream come true and they did not disappoint in the slightest.
Score
Joe Letz 2.5/10
Rammstien 9.5/10
Setlist
Rammstein:
Sonne
Wollt Ihr Das Bett In Flammen Sehen
Keine Lust
Sehnsucht
Asche
zu Asche
Feuer Frei!
Mutter
Mein Teil
Du Riechst So Gut
Links
2-3-4
Du Hast
Haifisch
Buck Dich
Mann Gegen Man
Ohne Dich
Encore:
Mein
Herz Brennt
Amerika
Ich Will
Encore 2:
Engel
Pussy
Monday, April 30, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Quick Movie Reviews: The Darkest Hour, The Descendants, The Sitter
The Darkest Hour: Surprisingly decent. The concept was pretty original for an alien movie and it was entertaining throughout. I think I ended up enjoying it as much as I did because I thought it was going to be like 2010's god awful Skyline, but thankfully it wasn't. The invisible aliens seemed to piss a lot of people off, but I was fine with it. I can't think of another time were invisible aliens have been used, so kudos to the writers for thinking a bit outside the box. The cast wasn't too shabby either. Emile Hirsch and Olivia Thrilby did a serviceable job as the main leads and the rest of the cast does a good enough job as well. It's definitely not without it's flaws, but it surpassed my expectations by far.
3/5 Stars
The Descendants: I did not expect to like this at all. This is actually the first Alexander Payne movie I've seen that I've actually liked! The acting was great and the script was smart, emotional, and funny. George Clooney was in absolute top-form. His character is left to care for his daughters after tragedy strikes and Clooney really gets into the transformation his character makes from start to finish. Shailene Woodley also gives an outstanding performance. She definitely cemented herself as a young actress to watch in the coming years. This really is a great movie that lived up to the award-buzz it garnered. Best movie out of the Oscar-nominated films from 2011 that I've seen so far (with the exception of Moneyball)
4/5 Stars
The Sitter: Slightly disappointing, but still pretty funny. Of course it's stupid and crass, but that's exactly what this movie was supposed to be. It's pretty much the R-rated version of Adventures in Babysitting. Unfortunately, most of the best parts are in the red band trailer. Not a game changing comedy at all, but still worth a watch if you're a fan of Jonah Hill.
3/5 Stars
3/5 Stars
The Descendants: I did not expect to like this at all. This is actually the first Alexander Payne movie I've seen that I've actually liked! The acting was great and the script was smart, emotional, and funny. George Clooney was in absolute top-form. His character is left to care for his daughters after tragedy strikes and Clooney really gets into the transformation his character makes from start to finish. Shailene Woodley also gives an outstanding performance. She definitely cemented herself as a young actress to watch in the coming years. This really is a great movie that lived up to the award-buzz it garnered. Best movie out of the Oscar-nominated films from 2011 that I've seen so far (with the exception of Moneyball)
4/5 Stars
The Sitter: Slightly disappointing, but still pretty funny. Of course it's stupid and crass, but that's exactly what this movie was supposed to be. It's pretty much the R-rated version of Adventures in Babysitting. Unfortunately, most of the best parts are in the red band trailer. Not a game changing comedy at all, but still worth a watch if you're a fan of Jonah Hill.
3/5 Stars
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Concert Review- New England Metal and Hardcore Festival (Day 2)- Worcester, MA-- April 21st, 2012
The second day of New England Metal and Hardcore Festival provided even more thrills than the first day. On top of all the awesome bands, it was also my 20th birthday. This was definitely one of the more memorable shows I've been to and it wrapped up my two days at the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival this year quite nicely.
My friend and I arrived at The Palladium around 12:45 just in time to catch Suidakra, the first band I was interested in seeing for the day. They are a German melodic death metal band with some folk undertones. They were a pretty cool start to the day. The folk elements to their music added to their style of old-school Gothenburg melodic death metal nicely. They only played 3 songs in their 20-minute set and the last one was a pretty epic instrumental that closed out their set perfectly. They definitely won over the scare-crowd that was watching them. I don't have a set from them because I am not too familiar with their studio stuff and their singer had such a strong accent I couldn't make out the song titles when he announced them.
Diamond Plate took the stage next. They turned out to be the pleasant surprise of the day. Their studio stuff is pretty weak in my opinion due to the grating vocals. The vocals came across a lot better in the live setting and their guitarist absolutely shreds. They got the first pits of the day started and they were pretty surprised they went over so well. Thrash always tends to sound better in a live environment and Diamond Plate proved to be no exception to the rule. I might have to reexamine their studio stuff after this performance.
Hung was up next on the Main Stage. They are probably one of the oddest bands I've ever seen. They are a melodic death metal band from New York City with really intense vocals and the beyond unusual use of an electric violin. The violin was definitely confusing, but it gave them something unique that made them standout. Their music was decent overall with occasional moments of greatness. I don't regret checking out their set, but they didn't really hook me overall. Unrelated side note: Their bass player looks like Fieldy from Korn.
After Hung, my buddy and I went outside to go get something to eat because I wasn't fan of either band playing next (especially Huntress). We ran into Byron Davis from God Forbid (I have met him every single time I've seen God Forbid) who informed us they were playing earlier because of a band dropoff (it turned out to be Structures that had dropped off).
Shortly after returning to the venue, God Forbid took the stage. This is the first time I had seen them in three years and they were great. Byron Davis sounded awesome and he really knows how to work a crowd. The only thing that sucked was the 20-minute set time. Right as things picked up and they had really hit their stride, the set was over. "Go Your Own Way" was a really nice surprise. I wasn't expecting to hear a really old song in their short set time. Yet another great set from God Forbid and I really want to see them again with a lengthier set.
With Structures dropping off and God Forbid finishing earlier than expected, I was able to catch Rotting Out on the upstairs stage. Let's just say, I am really glad Structures dropped off after seeing Rotting Out's performance. These guys are one of the finest hardcore bands going and are easily one of the best hardcore bands I've ever seen live. The injection of straight punk rock into their music makes their sound fresh and their energy is insane. Their singer did not stop running the entire time they were on stage, only taking a breather to say a few words in between songs. He kept thanking the crowd and the other hardcore bands that were playing that day (Cruel Hand, Shipwreck,Naysayer, etc) and talking about how these bands were like their brothers. This made me fully aware just how genuinely tight-knit the hardcore community is. The crowd was into them, but not to insane degree like you would expect from a hardcore show (There were a few stage divers though) If you like hardcore and you haven't seen Rotting Out, you need to fix that ASAP.
After Rotting Out, my friend and I went back outside to grab some water out of his car. This is when one of the absolute funniest things that's ever happened to me at a show occurred. When we the turned the corner coming out of The Palladium going back to my friend's car, we were approached by a Himalayan monk. The guy hands my friend and I each a different book and begins to explain how it's all of the original text from the Himalayas and how he's lived in a monastery for 10 years and some other bullshit. He then says that we can keep the book if we make a donation. I said I didn't have any money (I honestly didn't), but my friend gave him 5 bucks and the monk handed him the main worship book. A couple minutes later, my buddy gets the brilliant idea to go around and have band members sign it. In about a 10-minute span, he got Slo and Ken Susi from Unearth and Vincent Bennett from The Acacia Strain to sign the book. Every one's reaction was fucking priceless and they were all laughing their asses off when they signed it. Ken Susi drew a horse dick on it and Vincent Bennett wrote 666 and drew a bunch of inverted crosses.
After those series of hilarious encounters, I went back inside and moved up to the front for Periphery. This was my 1st time seeing them since Spencer Sotelo joined the band and all I can say is wow. I was expecting to enjoy their set quite a bit, but they completely blew me away. Spencer Sotelo sounds even better live than on disc. On top of being a great vocalist, he had some pretty good stage banter and a ton of energy. The whole band was very entertaining as well. The faces Jake Bowen and Bulb make while they are playing are really funny. You can tell are having a blast up there and it really shows in their performance. The setlist, while somewhat short, was fucking awesome. "Buttersnips", "Frak the Gods" and "Letter Experiment" were the highlights for me, but the crowd went absolutely apeshit for "Icarus Lives!". That was really the only time during the whole set were the pits were crazy (although they did get a great reception overall). Periphery is an absolutely outstanding live band and I am elated to see them again on Summer Slaughter in August.
After Periphery, my friend went back outside to get more signatures on his Himalayan book. He ended up getting signatures from Matt Wicklund of God Forbid, someone from Diamond Plate (I think?), and Misha "Bulb" Mansoor from Periphery.
iwrestledabearonce played next. I've recently gotten into these guys (and girl) due to their new album Ruining it for Everybody. That being said, I still don't like their earlier stuff, so I really didn't know what to expect from their live show. They ended up being pretty good. They just crack me up on stage. They came out and played the intro to "Jump" by Van Halen before diving into their first song, which I thought was pretty damn funny. Their whole set was just a good time. They were full of energy with Krysta Cameron climbing on shit and their guitarist (who looks like Shaggy from Scooby Doo) throwing his guitar every which direction. Musically, they are pretty much what Dillinger Escape Plan or Converge would sound like if they smoked a bunch of weed and played a shitload of video games. Krysta Cameron can go from singing to full-on screaming at the drop of a hat, which is pretty damn impressive (her clean vocals are especially good live). I like their unpredictability and don't give a shit attitude when it comes to their music and live performance. iwrestledabearonce is a light-hearted, zany good time and I definitely enjoyed their set more than I expected too.
Hometown heroes Unearth played next and in typical Unearth fashion, they outdid the previous time I'd seen them. This was my fourth time seeing them and they never cease to impress the hell out of me. Their music sounds so damn good live and the energy they put behind it makes it something really special. This was the first time I had been in the front for them and the crowd was nothing short of insane. Non-stop crowd surfing and circle pits and it was the only time out of the 4 bands I watched from the very front were the crowd push was non-stop crazy. Another benefit from being in front was watching how hilarious Ken Susi is on stage. Whenever he came to the side of the stage, I was on He kept pointing at this guy in front of me and mouthing "I want to fuck you" and "Call me" to him. The setlist was standard for Unearth, but it doesn't really matter considering how amazing their performance was. I will say I was stoked to see "Arise The War Cry" still in the set and watching Buz McGrath play the intro directly in front of me gave me chills. Unearth put on the best show of the day and possibly the entire festival.
Protest The Hero was finally up next. Out of all the bands playing on the two days of the festival, they were the number one band I was most excited to see. I had ween waiting a while to see them for the first time and after their performance on Saturday, I hope it won't be a very long time before I see them again. They sounded damn near-perfect. Rody Walker is an absolutely incredible vocalist and watching Luke Hoskin hit every note on guitar from only a few feet was mesmerizing. Rody Walker is one of the funniest frontmen in all of metal.He went on a rant after "Hair-Trigger" about how some kids thought he did the female vocal parts of the song then he joked about how he was a shitty singer because his parents were related and he needed to lip-synch their entire performance. Earlier in the set, he was also talking about how he was 125 pounds the first time they played NEMHF and that he was 200 this time around, and he promised he would be 350 pounds the next time they played. The setlist was heavy on Scurrilous material, which was awesome. "Termites", "Hair-Trigger" and "C'est La Vie" were the highlights from Scurrilous and out of the older material "Bloodmeat" definitely sounded the best live. I was kind of bummed they had to cut "Blindfolds Aside" due to their 40-minute set time, but that was about the only downside to their performance. I am so glad I finally caught Protest The Hero live.
Overkill was up next. While they are far from being my favorite old-school thrash band, they are still awesome and it was a pleasure to see them for the first time. The most impressive thing about Overkill's was set was their vocalist, Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth. This guy is a god damn marvel. How he still sounds so good vocally even though is in his early 50's is astonishing. Even more crazy than his vocal work, is his energy. During almost every solo or long instrumental section, he would go to the side of the stage and drink some water, then when it was time to come back and sing he would full-on sprint back to the mic. He must of have done this 15 or 20 times. I couldn't do that at age 20, let alone age 52. I was glad I finally got a chance to see Overkill live and I would jump at the chance to see them again.
Dragonforce (unfortunately) was up next. How these guys were billed so high is beyond me. The fact they took valuable set time away from Protest The Hero and Overkill just pisses me off. Their performance was 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000x worse than than I expected. I've never been a fan of Dragonforce, but I didn't expect their set to be pure torture. I saw them once before at Mayhem Fest 08 and while still bad, at least they were amusing to watch.If any bands that played earlier in the day got up and played elevator music for an hour it would been better than watching Dragonforce play their Dungeonmaster soundtrack. Their new vocalist absolutely fucking blows. He honestly makes their old vocalist look amazing in comparison. This dude just whined through a series of painful high notes while the band played the same song over and over for an hour. Musically, they have talent, but they are so fucking bland it doesn't even matter. These guys are even awful for power metal, which is a genre full of dogshit bands imo. Unless you need a soundtrack for an intense game of D and D or larping, I really can't see how Dragonforce would be enjoyable to listen to. Dragonforce is without a doubt, amongst the worst live bands I've ever seen and they easily provided the worst performance of the weekend.
All That Remains closed out the weekend (for me at least). I haven't listened to All That Remains on a regular basis for a couple of years now, but I was still excited to see them again for the first time since Mayhem 09. They put on a very good show. The crowd reaction was explosive for All That Remains. It's been a while since they have done a headlining set in Massachusetts and the hometown crowd went completely nuts from start to finish. Phil Labonte is a great frontman who really knows how to amp up the crowd. He was very surprised and appreciative at just how many people were still there at the end of the night for their set. He said he told Scott Lee (the guy who runs the fest) that they would gladly headline Saturday, but everyone would be drunk and asleep by 11 so they would be playing to pretty much no one. Clearly, he was wrong. On top of his great stage presence, he sounded spot-on vocally. I almost forgot how good he can scream until the death-growl filled end section of "Some of the People, All of the Time". Easily the highlight of the set for me was the 2 songs from This Darkened Heart and The Fall of Ideals material. The presence of "Tattered on My Sleeve" in their set was a very welcome surprise and was without a doubt, the best song of the set. My only complaint is I wish they played more older material and "Two Weeks" as a closer. If they had thrown in a song like "Become the Catalyst", "The Weak Willed" or "Whispers (I Hear You)", the set would have been much better. "Two Weeks", while not a bad song, is a pretty anticlimactic closer. "This Calling" or "Six" would have been much better suited to close out the set. All in All, it was still a good set from ATR and they finished off the amazing 2 days I spent at NEMHF this year on a high note.
Scores:
Suidakra 7.5/10
Diamond Plate 7.5/10
Hung 6.5/10
God Forbid 8.5/10
Rotting Out 8/10
Periphery 9/10
iwrestledabearonce 7/10
Unearth 9.5/10
Protest The Hero 9.5/10
Overkill 8.5/10
Dragonforce 1/10
All That Remains 8/10
Setlists:
God Forbid:
The End of the World
Where We Come From
Go Your Own Way
Don't Tell Me What to Dream
Rotting Out included:
Street Prowl (opener)
God Damn
Faith and Failure
Vandalized
Laugh Now, Die Later (closer)
Periphery:
Zyglorox
Frak The Gods
Buttersnips
Letter Experiment
Icarus Lives!
The Walk
iwrestledabearonce:
You Know That Ain't Them Dogs Real Voices
Danger In The Manger
Ulrich Firelord: Breaker of Mountains
Karate Nipples
Alaskan Flounder Basket
You Ain't No Family
Tastes Like Kevin Bacon
Unearth:
The Great Dividers
Watch It Burn
Arise The War Cry
This Lying World
Endless
Giles
My Will Be Done
Protest The Hero:
Sex Tapes
Bloodmeat
Termites
Tongue-Splitter
Limb From Limb
Hair-Trigger
Sequoia Throne
C'est La Vie
Overkill:
Come and Get It
Bring Me The Night
Elimination
Hello from the Gutter
Ironbound
Electric Rattlesnake
Wrecking Crew
Rotten to the Core
Fuck You
Dragonforce included:
Cry Thunder
Fury of the Storm
Through the Fire and the Flames
Valley of the Damned (closer)
Other Anthems For Dungeonmasters
All That Remains:
Now Let Them Tremble
For We Are Many
The Air That I Breathe
Forever In Your Hands
Dead Wrong
Hold On
Some of the People, All of the Time
Won't Go Quietly
Aggressive Opposition
This Darkened Heart
Tattered On My Sleeve
This Calling
The Last Time
Six
Not Alone
Two Weeks
My friend and I arrived at The Palladium around 12:45 just in time to catch Suidakra, the first band I was interested in seeing for the day. They are a German melodic death metal band with some folk undertones. They were a pretty cool start to the day. The folk elements to their music added to their style of old-school Gothenburg melodic death metal nicely. They only played 3 songs in their 20-minute set and the last one was a pretty epic instrumental that closed out their set perfectly. They definitely won over the scare-crowd that was watching them. I don't have a set from them because I am not too familiar with their studio stuff and their singer had such a strong accent I couldn't make out the song titles when he announced them.
Diamond Plate took the stage next. They turned out to be the pleasant surprise of the day. Their studio stuff is pretty weak in my opinion due to the grating vocals. The vocals came across a lot better in the live setting and their guitarist absolutely shreds. They got the first pits of the day started and they were pretty surprised they went over so well. Thrash always tends to sound better in a live environment and Diamond Plate proved to be no exception to the rule. I might have to reexamine their studio stuff after this performance.
Hung was up next on the Main Stage. They are probably one of the oddest bands I've ever seen. They are a melodic death metal band from New York City with really intense vocals and the beyond unusual use of an electric violin. The violin was definitely confusing, but it gave them something unique that made them standout. Their music was decent overall with occasional moments of greatness. I don't regret checking out their set, but they didn't really hook me overall. Unrelated side note: Their bass player looks like Fieldy from Korn.
After Hung, my buddy and I went outside to go get something to eat because I wasn't fan of either band playing next (especially Huntress). We ran into Byron Davis from God Forbid (I have met him every single time I've seen God Forbid) who informed us they were playing earlier because of a band dropoff (it turned out to be Structures that had dropped off).
Shortly after returning to the venue, God Forbid took the stage. This is the first time I had seen them in three years and they were great. Byron Davis sounded awesome and he really knows how to work a crowd. The only thing that sucked was the 20-minute set time. Right as things picked up and they had really hit their stride, the set was over. "Go Your Own Way" was a really nice surprise. I wasn't expecting to hear a really old song in their short set time. Yet another great set from God Forbid and I really want to see them again with a lengthier set.
With Structures dropping off and God Forbid finishing earlier than expected, I was able to catch Rotting Out on the upstairs stage. Let's just say, I am really glad Structures dropped off after seeing Rotting Out's performance. These guys are one of the finest hardcore bands going and are easily one of the best hardcore bands I've ever seen live. The injection of straight punk rock into their music makes their sound fresh and their energy is insane. Their singer did not stop running the entire time they were on stage, only taking a breather to say a few words in between songs. He kept thanking the crowd and the other hardcore bands that were playing that day (Cruel Hand, Shipwreck,Naysayer, etc) and talking about how these bands were like their brothers. This made me fully aware just how genuinely tight-knit the hardcore community is. The crowd was into them, but not to insane degree like you would expect from a hardcore show (There were a few stage divers though) If you like hardcore and you haven't seen Rotting Out, you need to fix that ASAP.
After Rotting Out, my friend and I went back outside to grab some water out of his car. This is when one of the absolute funniest things that's ever happened to me at a show occurred. When we the turned the corner coming out of The Palladium going back to my friend's car, we were approached by a Himalayan monk. The guy hands my friend and I each a different book and begins to explain how it's all of the original text from the Himalayas and how he's lived in a monastery for 10 years and some other bullshit. He then says that we can keep the book if we make a donation. I said I didn't have any money (I honestly didn't), but my friend gave him 5 bucks and the monk handed him the main worship book. A couple minutes later, my buddy gets the brilliant idea to go around and have band members sign it. In about a 10-minute span, he got Slo and Ken Susi from Unearth and Vincent Bennett from The Acacia Strain to sign the book. Every one's reaction was fucking priceless and they were all laughing their asses off when they signed it. Ken Susi drew a horse dick on it and Vincent Bennett wrote 666 and drew a bunch of inverted crosses.
After those series of hilarious encounters, I went back inside and moved up to the front for Periphery. This was my 1st time seeing them since Spencer Sotelo joined the band and all I can say is wow. I was expecting to enjoy their set quite a bit, but they completely blew me away. Spencer Sotelo sounds even better live than on disc. On top of being a great vocalist, he had some pretty good stage banter and a ton of energy. The whole band was very entertaining as well. The faces Jake Bowen and Bulb make while they are playing are really funny. You can tell are having a blast up there and it really shows in their performance. The setlist, while somewhat short, was fucking awesome. "Buttersnips", "Frak the Gods" and "Letter Experiment" were the highlights for me, but the crowd went absolutely apeshit for "Icarus Lives!". That was really the only time during the whole set were the pits were crazy (although they did get a great reception overall). Periphery is an absolutely outstanding live band and I am elated to see them again on Summer Slaughter in August.
After Periphery, my friend went back outside to get more signatures on his Himalayan book. He ended up getting signatures from Matt Wicklund of God Forbid, someone from Diamond Plate (I think?), and Misha "Bulb" Mansoor from Periphery.
iwrestledabearonce played next. I've recently gotten into these guys (and girl) due to their new album Ruining it for Everybody. That being said, I still don't like their earlier stuff, so I really didn't know what to expect from their live show. They ended up being pretty good. They just crack me up on stage. They came out and played the intro to "Jump" by Van Halen before diving into their first song, which I thought was pretty damn funny. Their whole set was just a good time. They were full of energy with Krysta Cameron climbing on shit and their guitarist (who looks like Shaggy from Scooby Doo) throwing his guitar every which direction. Musically, they are pretty much what Dillinger Escape Plan or Converge would sound like if they smoked a bunch of weed and played a shitload of video games. Krysta Cameron can go from singing to full-on screaming at the drop of a hat, which is pretty damn impressive (her clean vocals are especially good live). I like their unpredictability and don't give a shit attitude when it comes to their music and live performance. iwrestledabearonce is a light-hearted, zany good time and I definitely enjoyed their set more than I expected too.
Hometown heroes Unearth played next and in typical Unearth fashion, they outdid the previous time I'd seen them. This was my fourth time seeing them and they never cease to impress the hell out of me. Their music sounds so damn good live and the energy they put behind it makes it something really special. This was the first time I had been in the front for them and the crowd was nothing short of insane. Non-stop crowd surfing and circle pits and it was the only time out of the 4 bands I watched from the very front were the crowd push was non-stop crazy. Another benefit from being in front was watching how hilarious Ken Susi is on stage. Whenever he came to the side of the stage, I was on He kept pointing at this guy in front of me and mouthing "I want to fuck you" and "Call me" to him. The setlist was standard for Unearth, but it doesn't really matter considering how amazing their performance was. I will say I was stoked to see "Arise The War Cry" still in the set and watching Buz McGrath play the intro directly in front of me gave me chills. Unearth put on the best show of the day and possibly the entire festival.
Protest The Hero was finally up next. Out of all the bands playing on the two days of the festival, they were the number one band I was most excited to see. I had ween waiting a while to see them for the first time and after their performance on Saturday, I hope it won't be a very long time before I see them again. They sounded damn near-perfect. Rody Walker is an absolutely incredible vocalist and watching Luke Hoskin hit every note on guitar from only a few feet was mesmerizing. Rody Walker is one of the funniest frontmen in all of metal.He went on a rant after "Hair-Trigger" about how some kids thought he did the female vocal parts of the song then he joked about how he was a shitty singer because his parents were related and he needed to lip-synch their entire performance. Earlier in the set, he was also talking about how he was 125 pounds the first time they played NEMHF and that he was 200 this time around, and he promised he would be 350 pounds the next time they played. The setlist was heavy on Scurrilous material, which was awesome. "Termites", "Hair-Trigger" and "C'est La Vie" were the highlights from Scurrilous and out of the older material "Bloodmeat" definitely sounded the best live. I was kind of bummed they had to cut "Blindfolds Aside" due to their 40-minute set time, but that was about the only downside to their performance. I am so glad I finally caught Protest The Hero live.
Overkill was up next. While they are far from being my favorite old-school thrash band, they are still awesome and it was a pleasure to see them for the first time. The most impressive thing about Overkill's was set was their vocalist, Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth. This guy is a god damn marvel. How he still sounds so good vocally even though is in his early 50's is astonishing. Even more crazy than his vocal work, is his energy. During almost every solo or long instrumental section, he would go to the side of the stage and drink some water, then when it was time to come back and sing he would full-on sprint back to the mic. He must of have done this 15 or 20 times. I couldn't do that at age 20, let alone age 52. I was glad I finally got a chance to see Overkill live and I would jump at the chance to see them again.
Dragonforce (unfortunately) was up next. How these guys were billed so high is beyond me. The fact they took valuable set time away from Protest The Hero and Overkill just pisses me off. Their performance was 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000x worse than than I expected. I've never been a fan of Dragonforce, but I didn't expect their set to be pure torture. I saw them once before at Mayhem Fest 08 and while still bad, at least they were amusing to watch.If any bands that played earlier in the day got up and played elevator music for an hour it would been better than watching Dragonforce play their Dungeonmaster soundtrack. Their new vocalist absolutely fucking blows. He honestly makes their old vocalist look amazing in comparison. This dude just whined through a series of painful high notes while the band played the same song over and over for an hour. Musically, they have talent, but they are so fucking bland it doesn't even matter. These guys are even awful for power metal, which is a genre full of dogshit bands imo. Unless you need a soundtrack for an intense game of D and D or larping, I really can't see how Dragonforce would be enjoyable to listen to. Dragonforce is without a doubt, amongst the worst live bands I've ever seen and they easily provided the worst performance of the weekend.
All That Remains closed out the weekend (for me at least). I haven't listened to All That Remains on a regular basis for a couple of years now, but I was still excited to see them again for the first time since Mayhem 09. They put on a very good show. The crowd reaction was explosive for All That Remains. It's been a while since they have done a headlining set in Massachusetts and the hometown crowd went completely nuts from start to finish. Phil Labonte is a great frontman who really knows how to amp up the crowd. He was very surprised and appreciative at just how many people were still there at the end of the night for their set. He said he told Scott Lee (the guy who runs the fest) that they would gladly headline Saturday, but everyone would be drunk and asleep by 11 so they would be playing to pretty much no one. Clearly, he was wrong. On top of his great stage presence, he sounded spot-on vocally. I almost forgot how good he can scream until the death-growl filled end section of "Some of the People, All of the Time". Easily the highlight of the set for me was the 2 songs from This Darkened Heart and The Fall of Ideals material. The presence of "Tattered on My Sleeve" in their set was a very welcome surprise and was without a doubt, the best song of the set. My only complaint is I wish they played more older material and "Two Weeks" as a closer. If they had thrown in a song like "Become the Catalyst", "The Weak Willed" or "Whispers (I Hear You)", the set would have been much better. "Two Weeks", while not a bad song, is a pretty anticlimactic closer. "This Calling" or "Six" would have been much better suited to close out the set. All in All, it was still a good set from ATR and they finished off the amazing 2 days I spent at NEMHF this year on a high note.
Scores:
Suidakra 7.5/10
Diamond Plate 7.5/10
Hung 6.5/10
God Forbid 8.5/10
Rotting Out 8/10
Periphery 9/10
iwrestledabearonce 7/10
Unearth 9.5/10
Protest The Hero 9.5/10
Overkill 8.5/10
Dragonforce 1/10
All That Remains 8/10
Setlists:
God Forbid:
The End of the World
Where We Come From
Go Your Own Way
Don't Tell Me What to Dream
Rotting Out included:
Street Prowl (opener)
God Damn
Faith and Failure
Vandalized
Laugh Now, Die Later (closer)
Periphery:
Zyglorox
Frak The Gods
Buttersnips
Letter Experiment
Icarus Lives!
The Walk
iwrestledabearonce:
You Know That Ain't Them Dogs Real Voices
Danger In The Manger
Ulrich Firelord: Breaker of Mountains
Karate Nipples
Alaskan Flounder Basket
You Ain't No Family
Tastes Like Kevin Bacon
Unearth:
The Great Dividers
Watch It Burn
Arise The War Cry
This Lying World
Endless
Giles
My Will Be Done
Protest The Hero:
Sex Tapes
Bloodmeat
Termites
Tongue-Splitter
Limb From Limb
Hair-Trigger
Sequoia Throne
C'est La Vie
Overkill:
Come and Get It
Bring Me The Night
Elimination
Hello from the Gutter
Ironbound
Electric Rattlesnake
Wrecking Crew
Rotten to the Core
Fuck You
Dragonforce included:
Cry Thunder
Fury of the Storm
Through the Fire and the Flames
Valley of the Damned (closer)
Other Anthems For Dungeonmasters
All That Remains:
Now Let Them Tremble
For We Are Many
The Air That I Breathe
Forever In Your Hands
Dead Wrong
Hold On
Some of the People, All of the Time
Won't Go Quietly
Aggressive Opposition
This Darkened Heart
Tattered On My Sleeve
This Calling
The Last Time
Six
Not Alone
Two Weeks
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Concert Review: New England Metal and Hardcore Festival-- Worcester, MA-- April 20th, 2012
I had a great weekend at the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival. This was the first time I had went two days in a year. The review for Saturday should be up tomorrow, but for right now here is my review for Friday.
There was unforeseen complications which forced me to get there a bit late.Hour of Penance and Conducting From the Grave were the only bands I wanted to see that I had to miss. Considering the circumstances, it wasn't really a big deal.
Obey The Brave was the first band I actually caught for the day. They are Alex Erian's (former co-vocalist of Despised Icon) new band. They really weren't anything special. By-the numbers hardcore that kind of sounded like Terror meets The Ghost Inside without the intensity or catchiness of either band. The crowd didn't get too into it either. Most of the time people were just yelling for Despised Icon songs. Really mediocre and uninspired hardcore.
The Contortionist, the first band of the band the day that actually I wanted to see, was up next. This was my second time seeing them, but it was the first time I actually got to catch a full set from them. I was very impressed. Their live show was tight and precise. I've gotten a lot more into them since I saw them at last year's NEMHF and that definitely contributed to my enjoyment of their set. They played two new songs, which both sound fantastic. They seem to going in a lot more of a progressive death metal direction and they even have some weird Between The Buried and Me-esque sections. I'm very excited to hear the new record in the next few months. I actually just found out they are playing the Worcester date of Summer Slaughter as well, which is awesome and completes the near-perfect lineup for that tour.
After a brief break to get some dinner, I returned to see Fleshgod Apocalypse. They had some major technical difficulties, which always seems to be the case with them. The first time I saw them, their drums were fucked up and they had to use someone else's equipment, the second time you couldn't hear the clean vocals, and this time their guitar monitors kept going out which caused them to start late. Even with these problems, Fleshgod was still great. The sound mix was a lot better this time around than at Summer Slaughter last year. The better sound made this performance the best I've seen from them. The only think that sucked is their set got cut short due to the technical problems before their set started. I want to see them again with a longer than 20 minute set.
I went to upstairs stage to avoid Carnifex and I caught First Blood. I have never listened to First Blood before so I was going in completely blind. They are some pretty good beatdown hardcore. I was surprised the crowd was not going apeshit. This type of hardcore thrives from explosive crowds and relentless energy from the band and their set had neither. That being said, they were still enjoyable and I wouldn't mind seeing them again.
I came back downstairs to catch the almighty Skeletonwitch and as always, they crushed. This was my fourth time seeing them and they never get old. Even with a short, twenty-minute set they put 110% energy into their set. They went full-steam ahead playing seven songs leaving the audience with almost no time to breathe. They didn't get the greatest crowd reception ever, but people were still into them feeding off their whirlwind energy. The lack of "Within My Blood" was kind of a buzzkill since it's such a key part of every Skeletonwitch show, but it didn't take too much away from their performance. One of the best live bands going and I look forward to seeing them again soon (hopefully with a longer set).
Oceano was up next. Unforunately, I couldn't escape them since it was past re-entry time and the upstairs stage had wrapped up for the day. This was supposed to be their last show until a few weeks ago when they (unforunately) announced they were not disbanding. I didn't think it was possible, but they were even worse than at Summer Slaughter last year. They had the worst sound not only of the show, but out of any performance I've ever seen. Their set sounded like a large hive of bees had been disturbed. The number one thing that pisses off about them is their vocalist Adam Warren. His stage-bante and presence is just fucking stupid. He actually promotes violence. He kept telling the crowd to choke each other and calling the crowd pussies and vaginas for not having violent enough pits. Fuck this band and I hope I don't have to see them ever again.
All Shall Perish was up next. This was my fourth time seeing them and they were quite good. Note to Oceano: This is how deathcore is meant to be played. They were a lot better than they were at Mayhem Fest last year. Eddie Hermida sounded great and his high screams were a lot better than they were at Mayhem. The band was spot-on as usual and they were more energetic than they normally are. Their set was pretty varied and "Deconstruction" was nice surprise. The highlight of their set for me was Mikey Powell from Conducting From the Grave coming out and doing "There Is No Business To Be Done on a Dead Planet" with Eddie. His screams complimented Eddie's very well and it made the song even more crushing. I wish they had a longer set (their full headlining set they have playing on this tour has been awesome) and played more off This Where It Ends and didn't completely abandon Awaken the Dreamers, but their show was still great.
Nile was up next. Nile was the only band of the entire day that I wanted to see that I hadn't see before. They did not disappoint in the slightest. From the minute they got on the stage to the minute they got off, they dominated the stage with their exceptionally heavy brand of death metal. Another note to Oceano: If you want to be heavy with no bullshit and no garbage breakdowns you might want to emulate these guys. They don't need to call the crowd pussies and demand violence to get intense pits. "Kafir!" was the perfect opener, and "Lashed to the Slave Stick" is one of the heaviest live songs ever. During "Black Seeds of Vengeance" members of Hour of Penance and Skeletonwitch came out which was awesome and the vocalist of Hour of Penance screamed the last part of the song, which was a badass way to close out their set. I was happy their set from their tour with Black Dahlia wasn't cut at all. With their new album coming out this year, I hope I can see them again in the near future.
The Acacia Strain was up next. This was my fourth time seeing them and it was easily the worst. They put on the most disappointing performance of the entire day. Their set was plagued by poor sound, which is a major reason their set wasnn as good as usual. I honestly couldn't make out a couple of songs because of the weak sound. Vincent's vocals also weren't quite as sharp as usual. They were still good and very heavy, but they weren't quite up to par with the other times I've seen them.
The Black Dahlia Murder finished up the night. They closed out the day in dominant fashion. Black Dahlia just rips up the stage with off-the walls energy and their expert musicianship. The amount of fun they are having on stage is just infectious. Trevor Strnad is one of the best frontmen in metal. He gets the crowd amped, he is extremely funny, he is clearly having the time of his life night in and night out, and most importantly, he does a spectacular job on vocals. They played a lot of stuff off of their new album Ritual, which was fucking awesome because that is my favorite album of theirs. A lot of the stuff they played at Summer Slaughter, but the songs I hadn't heard before were amazing. "On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood" was incredibly heavy, "Conspiring With the Damned" was badass, and "Den of the Picquerist" was chaotic and fast. The set was also filled with Black Dahlia set staples including "A Vulgar Picture", "Miasma" and "What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse" which was paired very nicely with the new material. These guys are the most important death metal band of their generation and their performance on Friday hammered that point home even further.
Scores
Obey the Brave 5/10
The Contortionist 8.5/10
Fleshgod Apocalypse 8.5/10
First Blood 7/10
Skeletonwitch 9/10
Oceano 1.5/10
All Shall Perish 8.5/10
Nile 8.5/10
The Acacia Strain 7.5/10
The Black Dahlia Murder 9.5/10
Setlists:
The Contortionist:
Flourish
New Song
Oscillator
New Song
Fleshgod Apocalypse:
The Hypocrisy
The Egoism
The Violation
First Blood included:
Enemy
Next Time I See You, You're Dead
Suffocate
First Blood
Skeletonwitch:
Erased and Forgotten
Submit to the Suffering
Reduced to the Failure of Prayer
Beyond the Permafrost
Of Ash and Torment
Crushed Beyond Dust
This Horrifying Force (The Desire To Kill)
Oceano included:
Weaponized
Empathy for Leviathan
District of Misery
All Shall Perish:
Eradication
The Day of Justice
There Is No Business To Be Done On A Dead Planet (w/Mikey Powell from Conducting From the Grave)
Royalty Into Exile
Deconstruction
Wage Slaves
Nile:
Kafir!
Sacrifice Unto Sebek
Hittite Dung Incantation
Ithyphallic
Sarcophagus
Permitting the Noble Dead to Descend to the Underworld
Lashed to the Slave Stick
Black Seeds of Vengeance
The Acacia Strain:
Carbomb
JFC
Dr.Doom
Brown Noise
The Hills Have Eyes
Beast
4x4
?
The Impaler
Whoa! Shut It Down
The Black Dahlia Murder:
A Shrine to Madness
Moonlight Equilibrium
What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse
A Vulgar Picture
Malenchantments of the Necrosphere
Conspiring With the Damned
Necropolis
Den of the Picquerist
Carbonized in Cruciform
Everything Went Black
Miasma
On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood
I Will Return
Blood in the Ink
Deathmask Divine
Unhallowed
Funeral Thirst
There was unforeseen complications which forced me to get there a bit late.Hour of Penance and Conducting From the Grave were the only bands I wanted to see that I had to miss. Considering the circumstances, it wasn't really a big deal.
Obey The Brave was the first band I actually caught for the day. They are Alex Erian's (former co-vocalist of Despised Icon) new band. They really weren't anything special. By-the numbers hardcore that kind of sounded like Terror meets The Ghost Inside without the intensity or catchiness of either band. The crowd didn't get too into it either. Most of the time people were just yelling for Despised Icon songs. Really mediocre and uninspired hardcore.
The Contortionist, the first band of the band the day that actually I wanted to see, was up next. This was my second time seeing them, but it was the first time I actually got to catch a full set from them. I was very impressed. Their live show was tight and precise. I've gotten a lot more into them since I saw them at last year's NEMHF and that definitely contributed to my enjoyment of their set. They played two new songs, which both sound fantastic. They seem to going in a lot more of a progressive death metal direction and they even have some weird Between The Buried and Me-esque sections. I'm very excited to hear the new record in the next few months. I actually just found out they are playing the Worcester date of Summer Slaughter as well, which is awesome and completes the near-perfect lineup for that tour.
After a brief break to get some dinner, I returned to see Fleshgod Apocalypse. They had some major technical difficulties, which always seems to be the case with them. The first time I saw them, their drums were fucked up and they had to use someone else's equipment, the second time you couldn't hear the clean vocals, and this time their guitar monitors kept going out which caused them to start late. Even with these problems, Fleshgod was still great. The sound mix was a lot better this time around than at Summer Slaughter last year. The better sound made this performance the best I've seen from them. The only think that sucked is their set got cut short due to the technical problems before their set started. I want to see them again with a longer than 20 minute set.
I went to upstairs stage to avoid Carnifex and I caught First Blood. I have never listened to First Blood before so I was going in completely blind. They are some pretty good beatdown hardcore. I was surprised the crowd was not going apeshit. This type of hardcore thrives from explosive crowds and relentless energy from the band and their set had neither. That being said, they were still enjoyable and I wouldn't mind seeing them again.
I came back downstairs to catch the almighty Skeletonwitch and as always, they crushed. This was my fourth time seeing them and they never get old. Even with a short, twenty-minute set they put 110% energy into their set. They went full-steam ahead playing seven songs leaving the audience with almost no time to breathe. They didn't get the greatest crowd reception ever, but people were still into them feeding off their whirlwind energy. The lack of "Within My Blood" was kind of a buzzkill since it's such a key part of every Skeletonwitch show, but it didn't take too much away from their performance. One of the best live bands going and I look forward to seeing them again soon (hopefully with a longer set).
Oceano was up next. Unforunately, I couldn't escape them since it was past re-entry time and the upstairs stage had wrapped up for the day. This was supposed to be their last show until a few weeks ago when they (unforunately) announced they were not disbanding. I didn't think it was possible, but they were even worse than at Summer Slaughter last year. They had the worst sound not only of the show, but out of any performance I've ever seen. Their set sounded like a large hive of bees had been disturbed. The number one thing that pisses off about them is their vocalist Adam Warren. His stage-bante and presence is just fucking stupid. He actually promotes violence. He kept telling the crowd to choke each other and calling the crowd pussies and vaginas for not having violent enough pits. Fuck this band and I hope I don't have to see them ever again.
All Shall Perish was up next. This was my fourth time seeing them and they were quite good. Note to Oceano: This is how deathcore is meant to be played. They were a lot better than they were at Mayhem Fest last year. Eddie Hermida sounded great and his high screams were a lot better than they were at Mayhem. The band was spot-on as usual and they were more energetic than they normally are. Their set was pretty varied and "Deconstruction" was nice surprise. The highlight of their set for me was Mikey Powell from Conducting From the Grave coming out and doing "There Is No Business To Be Done on a Dead Planet" with Eddie. His screams complimented Eddie's very well and it made the song even more crushing. I wish they had a longer set (their full headlining set they have playing on this tour has been awesome) and played more off This Where It Ends and didn't completely abandon Awaken the Dreamers, but their show was still great.
Nile was up next. Nile was the only band of the entire day that I wanted to see that I hadn't see before. They did not disappoint in the slightest. From the minute they got on the stage to the minute they got off, they dominated the stage with their exceptionally heavy brand of death metal. Another note to Oceano: If you want to be heavy with no bullshit and no garbage breakdowns you might want to emulate these guys. They don't need to call the crowd pussies and demand violence to get intense pits. "Kafir!" was the perfect opener, and "Lashed to the Slave Stick" is one of the heaviest live songs ever. During "Black Seeds of Vengeance" members of Hour of Penance and Skeletonwitch came out which was awesome and the vocalist of Hour of Penance screamed the last part of the song, which was a badass way to close out their set. I was happy their set from their tour with Black Dahlia wasn't cut at all. With their new album coming out this year, I hope I can see them again in the near future.
The Acacia Strain was up next. This was my fourth time seeing them and it was easily the worst. They put on the most disappointing performance of the entire day. Their set was plagued by poor sound, which is a major reason their set wasnn as good as usual. I honestly couldn't make out a couple of songs because of the weak sound. Vincent's vocals also weren't quite as sharp as usual. They were still good and very heavy, but they weren't quite up to par with the other times I've seen them.
The Black Dahlia Murder finished up the night. They closed out the day in dominant fashion. Black Dahlia just rips up the stage with off-the walls energy and their expert musicianship. The amount of fun they are having on stage is just infectious. Trevor Strnad is one of the best frontmen in metal. He gets the crowd amped, he is extremely funny, he is clearly having the time of his life night in and night out, and most importantly, he does a spectacular job on vocals. They played a lot of stuff off of their new album Ritual, which was fucking awesome because that is my favorite album of theirs. A lot of the stuff they played at Summer Slaughter, but the songs I hadn't heard before were amazing. "On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood" was incredibly heavy, "Conspiring With the Damned" was badass, and "Den of the Picquerist" was chaotic and fast. The set was also filled with Black Dahlia set staples including "A Vulgar Picture", "Miasma" and "What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse" which was paired very nicely with the new material. These guys are the most important death metal band of their generation and their performance on Friday hammered that point home even further.
Scores
Obey the Brave 5/10
The Contortionist 8.5/10
Fleshgod Apocalypse 8.5/10
First Blood 7/10
Skeletonwitch 9/10
Oceano 1.5/10
All Shall Perish 8.5/10
Nile 8.5/10
The Acacia Strain 7.5/10
The Black Dahlia Murder 9.5/10
Setlists:
The Contortionist:
Flourish
New Song
Oscillator
New Song
Fleshgod Apocalypse:
The Hypocrisy
The Egoism
The Violation
First Blood included:
Enemy
Next Time I See You, You're Dead
Suffocate
First Blood
Skeletonwitch:
Erased and Forgotten
Submit to the Suffering
Reduced to the Failure of Prayer
Beyond the Permafrost
Of Ash and Torment
Crushed Beyond Dust
This Horrifying Force (The Desire To Kill)
Oceano included:
Weaponized
Empathy for Leviathan
District of Misery
All Shall Perish:
Eradication
The Day of Justice
There Is No Business To Be Done On A Dead Planet (w/Mikey Powell from Conducting From the Grave)
Royalty Into Exile
Deconstruction
Wage Slaves
Nile:
Kafir!
Sacrifice Unto Sebek
Hittite Dung Incantation
Ithyphallic
Sarcophagus
Permitting the Noble Dead to Descend to the Underworld
Lashed to the Slave Stick
Black Seeds of Vengeance
The Acacia Strain:
Carbomb
JFC
Dr.Doom
Brown Noise
The Hills Have Eyes
Beast
4x4
?
The Impaler
Whoa! Shut It Down
The Black Dahlia Murder:
A Shrine to Madness
Moonlight Equilibrium
What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse
A Vulgar Picture
Malenchantments of the Necrosphere
Conspiring With the Damned
Necropolis
Den of the Picquerist
Carbonized in Cruciform
Everything Went Black
Miasma
On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood
I Will Return
Blood in the Ink
Deathmask Divine
Unhallowed
Funeral Thirst
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Quick Album Reviews: Overkill-The Electric Age, 3 Inches of Blood-Long Live Heavy Metal, Municipal Waste-The Fatal Feast: Waste In Space, Hour of Penance-Sedition
Here are some quick reviews of albums I heard while my computer was messed up for the past two weeks.
Overkill-The Electric Age: New Jersey thrash icons Overkill still have it after all these years. Despite not being my favorite thrash band ever, since the dawn of the new millennium they have been the most consistent old-school thrash band. The Electric Age continues Overkill's trend of kicking ass well into their third decade. While not quite reaching the heights of their amazing last effort Ironbound, The Electric Age has a very similar feel and an almost equal end-result. This album is full of speed, catchy riffs and hooks, and Blitz's trademark snarl. The laggy midsection of "Wish You Were Dead", "Black Daze", and "Save Yourself" bring down the incendiary opening duo of "Come and Get It" and "Electric Rattlesnake" and temporarily derail the momentum of the album. Thankfully the second half is thoroughly consistent and just as good, if not better than the first two tracks. I know it's early, but I doubt we will hear finer thrash this year than The Electric Age.
4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.All Over But the Shouting
2.Come and Get It
3.Electric Rattlesnake
3 Inches of Blood-Long Live Heavy Metal: The album title say it all: 3 Inches of Blood is a band that is hellbent on keeping traditional heavy metal alive. This record is a throwback to their earlier days and they are able to recapture the magic of their earlier albums. The riffs on this record are absolutely killer. Their last record Here Waits Thy Doom was lacking the thrashy and classic metal riffs they are known for so it's awesome that they brought it back. The thrash influences are turned up to the level they were on Fire Up The Blades. The thrash-edge to their sound is when they are at their absolute best. "Leave it on the Ice" might be the thrashiest song in their catalogue, it sounds almost exactly like 80's Metallica (from a riff-standpoint). Cam Pipes's vocals have declined a bit, but he still maintains his over-the top awesome style very well. 3 Inches of Blood still is not for everyone, but this is an absolute must-listen for fans of classic heavy metal. Their best since Fire Up The Blades.
4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Leave it on the Ice
2.Die For Gold (Upon The Boiling Bridge IV)
3.Look Out
Municipal Waste-The Fatal Feast: Waste in Space: This record didn't really make that much of an impression on me, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. The lead single "The Fatal Feast" was pretty weak, so I was glad to hear the rest of the record that was better. The odd thing is the the instrumentation is a lot stronger here than on Massive Agressive, but Tony Foresta's vocals have definitely gone down in quality. At times he sounds fine, but at others he sounds pretty weak. Still solid, fun, crossover thrash, but the Waste has definitely seen better days.
3.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Covered In Sick/The Barfer
2.Jesus Freaks
3.Standards and Practices
Hour of Penance-Sedition: My main thought while listening to Sedition was why I haven't to Hour of Penance sooner? This some seriously badass brutal/technical death metal. They combine the two sides brilliantly and effortlessly and it makes for extreme metal bliss. They remind me a lot of Behemoth and Fleshgod Apocalypse (which makes complete sense considering how many members of Fleshgod were once in Hour of Penance). "Ascension" is one of the best songs I've heard all year. The groove-esque riff in the middle is guaranteed to start crazy pits in the live setting. Sedition is great stuff and I will be delving more into Hour of Penance's discography soon.
4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Ascension
2.The Cannibal Gods
3.Decimate the Ancestry of the Only God
Overkill-The Electric Age: New Jersey thrash icons Overkill still have it after all these years. Despite not being my favorite thrash band ever, since the dawn of the new millennium they have been the most consistent old-school thrash band. The Electric Age continues Overkill's trend of kicking ass well into their third decade. While not quite reaching the heights of their amazing last effort Ironbound, The Electric Age has a very similar feel and an almost equal end-result. This album is full of speed, catchy riffs and hooks, and Blitz's trademark snarl. The laggy midsection of "Wish You Were Dead", "Black Daze", and "Save Yourself" bring down the incendiary opening duo of "Come and Get It" and "Electric Rattlesnake" and temporarily derail the momentum of the album. Thankfully the second half is thoroughly consistent and just as good, if not better than the first two tracks. I know it's early, but I doubt we will hear finer thrash this year than The Electric Age.
4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.All Over But the Shouting
2.Come and Get It
3.Electric Rattlesnake
3 Inches of Blood-Long Live Heavy Metal: The album title say it all: 3 Inches of Blood is a band that is hellbent on keeping traditional heavy metal alive. This record is a throwback to their earlier days and they are able to recapture the magic of their earlier albums. The riffs on this record are absolutely killer. Their last record Here Waits Thy Doom was lacking the thrashy and classic metal riffs they are known for so it's awesome that they brought it back. The thrash influences are turned up to the level they were on Fire Up The Blades. The thrash-edge to their sound is when they are at their absolute best. "Leave it on the Ice" might be the thrashiest song in their catalogue, it sounds almost exactly like 80's Metallica (from a riff-standpoint). Cam Pipes's vocals have declined a bit, but he still maintains his over-the top awesome style very well. 3 Inches of Blood still is not for everyone, but this is an absolute must-listen for fans of classic heavy metal. Their best since Fire Up The Blades.
4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Leave it on the Ice
2.Die For Gold (Upon The Boiling Bridge IV)
3.Look Out
Municipal Waste-The Fatal Feast: Waste in Space: This record didn't really make that much of an impression on me, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. The lead single "The Fatal Feast" was pretty weak, so I was glad to hear the rest of the record that was better. The odd thing is the the instrumentation is a lot stronger here than on Massive Agressive, but Tony Foresta's vocals have definitely gone down in quality. At times he sounds fine, but at others he sounds pretty weak. Still solid, fun, crossover thrash, but the Waste has definitely seen better days.
3.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Covered In Sick/The Barfer
2.Jesus Freaks
3.Standards and Practices
Hour of Penance-Sedition: My main thought while listening to Sedition was why I haven't to Hour of Penance sooner? This some seriously badass brutal/technical death metal. They combine the two sides brilliantly and effortlessly and it makes for extreme metal bliss. They remind me a lot of Behemoth and Fleshgod Apocalypse (which makes complete sense considering how many members of Fleshgod were once in Hour of Penance). "Ascension" is one of the best songs I've heard all year. The groove-esque riff in the middle is guaranteed to start crazy pits in the live setting. Sedition is great stuff and I will be delving more into Hour of Penance's discography soon.
4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Ascension
2.The Cannibal Gods
3.Decimate the Ancestry of the Only God
I Have Returned!
After two long weeks, I am back! To make up for this lost time, I am going to do two posts with condensed reviews of the albums I listened to and movies I saw during that time. Very glad to be back and I appreciate your patience during my absence.
Chris Maitland
Chris Maitland
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Album Review: God Forbid-Equilibrium
Veteran New Jersey metalcore/thrash band God Forbid has been one of the most consistent bands in the game when it comes to quality of their music and retaining members. Shortly after the release of their last record Earthsblood, they had their first member change in their almost 15 years as a band when rhythm guitarist/clean vocalist Dallas Coyle left the band. God Forbid has regrouped and picked up Matt Wicklund to handle the rhythm guitar duties and they just released Equilibrium, which might be their finest work to date.
Equilibrium picks up right where Earthsblood left off. The album continues the melodic sound established on Earthsblood and expands upon it even further. The melodic sound really works for God Forbid. The best moments of this record is when Doc Coyle and Matt Wicklund are trading off melodic riffs and solos. God Forbid was always more of a band based around speed (which is still very much present), but when they slow things down it's something special. One of the biggest concerns about this album from a lot of fans were how the clean vocals would be on this record. Let me just say that Doc Coyle does a great job. He completely holds his own replacing Dallas and I actually think he does a better job overall. The hooks on this album (especially on the title track and “This Is Who I Am”) are catchy as hell and just flat-out great. These new found fantastic hooks provides a key new element to their sound that make this album that much more enjoyable to listen to.
It's not all about melody with Equilibrium though. God Forbid can still play fast with the best of them and they often do on this record. Byron Davis is screaming his ass off as usual and Coyle is laying some very impressive solos (“Move On” is in contention for best solo on any God Forbid song). Album opener “Don't Tell What To Dream” combines speed with almost djent type sound that makes for a really unexpected and cool opener. The more traditional thrash elements come out later on the record. “Conquer”, “Pages”, and “Where We Come From” are really fast and aggressive even for God Forbid. It was nice to see God Forbid mix things up even more than usual. The mix of slower, melodic songs and fast, pissed-off ragers shows off their continued growth in the songwriting department.
Equilibrium is another excellent release from God Forbid. Their first member change in the history didn't seem to effect them in the least bit. There is more of a overall melodic and varied sound throughout the record. The more diverse songwriting works almost to perfection for them and some their immense maturity as a band. Doc Coyle does a great job taking over clean vocal duties and providing some outstanding melodic riffs. God Forbid has flown under the radar for way too long and hopefully Equilibrium will give them their long-deserved time in the spotlight.
4.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Equilibrium
2.Move On
3.This Is Who I Am
April In Film
April is the last month before the start of the summer season. As usual, April has a lot of solid-looking fare as well a lot of films that look god awful. Here is my thoughts on the whole pack of April films.
Films I want to see
4.Lockout(4/13)- This looks like a pretty solid, over-the top sci-fi action film. Luc Besson's presence is also encouraging. Sure the concept is dumb, but it also a lot of potential to be fun as all hell.
3.Safe(4/27)- Big surprise that I want to see this right? Jason Statham is in it, so I'm sold right off the bat. The trailer is actually really good and this could be one of the best Statham films in recent years.
2.The Five Year-Engagement(4/27)-Jason Segel and Nicolas Stoller team up yet again and if it's anything like their previous collaborations, it should be spectacular. The concept looks to be very unconventional for romantic comedies and that's always refreshing. Very excited for this one.
1.American Reunion(4/6)-This month looks great for comedies and American Reunion, the latest entry in the American Pie series should headline this. It's just awesome that they bringing this series back after all these years. The entire original cast being back should really add to the fun and nostalgia value of this film. Having the directing/writing team of the last couple Harold and Kumar films is also great for this film's potential. The early reception has been great as well. Hopefully this lives up to the hype and continues the trend of great comedies in 2012.
Film I'm unsure about
The Cabin in the Woods(4/13)-The early reception has been extremely positive, but the trailer is still average looking. That being said, now that I know this is a horror-comedy and not a straight-up horror film I could very well end up loving this movie.
The Raven(4/27)-A thriller centered around Edgar Allan Poe solving murders based on his stories is kind of dumb, but the director and cast is pretty good, so it could be alright.
The Pirates! Band of Misfits(4/27)-I haven't see the trailer or any ad's for this so I can't make a judgement on this.
Film's I have zero interest in seeing
The Three Stooges(4/13)-I wasn't a fan of the original Three Stooges, but this looks like an absolute abomination. It looks like they are completely shitting on the source material with grade-F slapstick that no one over the age of 8 will find funny. It's a shame that talent like the Farrelly brothers are behind this.
The Lucky One(4/20)-Another Nicolas Sparks adaptation? No thanks. This looks ridiculous even for a Nicolas Sparks movie.
Think Like A Man(4/20)-This looks like an absolutely repulsive comedy. From the looks of it, not even the hilarious Kevin Hart can save it.
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