Venue: House of Blues, Boston, MA
The Black Dahlia Murder: There's no bigger party in death metal than The Black Dahlia Murder. No matter where they're placed on the bill or who they're playing in front of, vocalist Trevor Strand is going to be armed with a huge grin, rhythm guitarist/backing vocalist Brian Eschbach will be yelling goofy shit at the crowd in between songs and their blistering melodeath jams are going to inspire circle pits galore. Consistency, a true roaddog mentality and the childlike joy playing music for a living brings them will define their legacy long after their days of delivering evil music with a smile are over. May the Immortals never die (or at least not lose all of the aforementioned qualities they've displayed since their inception).
Meshuggah: I'm always in awe of just how damn heavy Meshuggah is live. Their records are more than suitably crushing, but in person shit just gets silly. Every song hits with the sonic force of an AC-130 and basking in that level of aural devastation is enough to fill any extreme metal enthusiast with a tremendous amount of glee.
Unrelenting heaviness and the precision in which its delivered may be the primary attraction of a Meshuggah performance, but I made a point to hone in on some of the complementary parts of their show that get buried behind all of the monstrous riffs this time around.
First off, their light show is simply unreal. A friend of a friend who also does lighting for touring bands told me a few years back that the guy in charge of Meshuggah's lights is his idol in the business and after observing the visual sorcery that was going on around the band, I began to understand that admiration. The light show is honestly every bit as intricate the music being performed on stage. Their setup, which features a trio of massive custom light rigs nestled right behind the members of the band that are standing at the front of the stage along with the house lights, syncs up to each tempo change and is even color-coded to reflect the tone of the passage that's currently being played (darker colors for the extreme parts, lighter colors for the atmospheric sections). Paying such close attention to what was going on around Meshuggah made me realize that I need to be giving more credit to the people responsible for handling the lights at shows. Lighting is every bit as important to the concert experience as the music itself-especially when you're dealing with an artist that emphasizes establishing a particular atmosphere at their shows.
Secondly, I tried to watch Tomas Haake as much as possible. Haake is arguably one of the most respected drummers in metal history, so his talent is far from being slept-on. However, I felt like I never appreciated just how great he was until last night. To put it simply, the dude is superhuman. He's busting out unorthodox fills and patterns that are completely unique and unbelievably complex like they're the most routine thing you can do on the drums. Greatness is defined by making the the difficult look effortless and being in the presence of someone who possesses it is always staggering.
Meshuggah may not be a band I listen constantly, but the sheer force they produce when they take the stage combined with their relatively infrequent touring of the United States make them a must-see every time they play in the Boston-area.
Grades:
The Black Dahlia Murder: A-
Meshuggah: A-
Setlists:
The Black Dahlia Murder:
Widowmaker
Jars
Contagion
Malenchantments of the Necrosphere
As Good as Dead
Miasma
Statutory Ape
Nightbringers
What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse
On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood
Kings of the Nightworld
Everything Went Black
Meshuggah:
Pravus
Born in Dissonance
The Hurt That Finds You First
Rational Gaze
Future Breed Machine
Stengah
Straws Pulled at Random
Clockworks
Violent Sleep of Reason
Lethargica
Encore:
Bleed
Demiurge
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