Editor's Note: Due to time constraints, this is an abbreviated review. I apologize for the short review and I assure that this will not be a regular occurrence. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this abridged review of the Allston, Massachusetts stop of "The Deathless Tour" featuring Revocation, Archspire and Black Fast.
Coagula: Ironically, these guys were also the local opener the last time I saw Revocation headline at The Middle East Upstairs in April. While they were pretty solid when I saw them in April, they were much better this time around thanks to a much clearer sound mix and sharper vocal performance. Coagula is one of the few bright spots in Boston's metal scene at the moment and I hope they get more opportunities to open big shows in the future.
Black Fast: Really solid blackened thrash (their new record, Terms of Surrender, is a must-listen for any thrash fan) that kind of reminds me of Toxic Holocaust with more of a traditional thrash influence. The vocals weren't as crisp as they are on record, but the guitarwork and drumming were excellent and their frontman Aaron Akin's good-natured persona and high-energy level was infectious. Once these up-and-comers get another release or two under their belts, they could very well become one of the premier acts in modern thrash.
Archspire: This was the band I was most excited to see on the bill and they managed to blow the doors off of my absurdly high expectations. The whole band sounded incredible, as they managed to nail every note of their extremely technical music and Oli Peters' vocals were even more sinister and spastic in a live setting. Their setlist was damn near perfect as they played a majority of the best material ("Fathom Infinite Depth", "Scream Feeding", "Seven Crowns and the Oblivion Chain") off of their excellent 2014 album The Lucid Collective as well as a couple of prime cuts off of their 2011 debut All Shall Align. These beautiful Canadian bastards put on one of the best shows I've seen in 2015 so far and I hope they'll return to the United States soon.
Revocation: Consistency is becoming more and more scarce in today's live music landscape, which is why you have to cherish a band like Revocation who comes out and delivers every time they take the stage. This show marked my eighth time seeing them and at every single one of those shows they've been technically-precise, generated a raucous response from their hometown crowd, and most importantly, been fun as hell to watch. The only downside of this particular show was the setlist. While it was great to hear Deathless standout "Scorched Earth Policy" and the fantastic instrumental track "Alliance and Tyranny" from their 2008 debut Empire of the Obscene live for the first time, the complete lack of material from 2011's Chaos of Forms and their 2013 self-titled album was a bit disappointing. It's clear from their recent setlists that they aren't overly fond of either of those releases, but for the sake of diversity, it would be cool to see a few tracks from those albums make their way into the setlist during their next touring cycle. Regardless of minor setlist deficiencies, Revocation put on another excellent performance and I will continue to go see them every time they play in the Boston-area.
Scores:
Coagula 8/10
Black Fast 7.5/10
Archspire 9/10
Revocation 9/10
Setlists:
Black Fast:
Haunted Vigil
Progenitors of Predation
To Propagate the Void
Tongues of Sliver
The Fall
Archspire:
Fathom Infinite Depth
Deathless Ringing
Seven Crowns and the Oblivion Chain
Scream Feeding
Rapid Elemental Dissolve
Lucid Collective Somnambulation
Revocation:
A Debt Owed to the Grave
Scorched Earth Policy
Enter the Hall
Bound by Desire
Leviathan Awaits
Alliance and Tyranny
Empire of the Obscene
Madness Opus
Dismantle the Dictator
Witch Trials
Showing posts with label revocation allston review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label revocation allston review. Show all posts
Monday, October 5, 2015
Monday, July 15, 2013
Concert Review: Revocation (Music Video Shoot)-- Allston, MA-- July 13th, 2013
Saturday was a special night at Great Scott in Allston, Massachusetts. Boston's very own death/thrash behemoths Revocation shot a music video for the first single "Invidious" off their new self-titled record and it made for one of the most fun shows I've ever had the pleasure of attending.
There were two local openers on this show in addition to Revocation, the first of which was Sexcrement. Sexcrement is one of the more respected bands in the Boston metal scene and after last night's show: I can 100% see why. These dudes are exactly the type of riff-heavy brutal death metal that I love. The music was consistently heavy with each song containing multiple headbang-worthy grooves and killer guttural vocals/pig squeals. Adding to the quality of the set was the fact that they two half-naked chicks dancing on-stage with them most of the time (On a hilarious note: some random dude got on-stage alongside the girls during the last song and started dancing behind the vocalist which caused him to laugh so hard he couldn't do vocals for 10-20 seconds.) I've never seen anything like that before and the pairing of barley-dressed chicks and slamming brutal death metal was pretty damn funny and entertaining. Sexcrement is one of the very few local acts from the Boston-area that has impressed me thoroughly and I would love to see them open a show again soon.
Acaro was the next local opener and they just destroyed the stage. This marked the fourth time I've seen Acaro and I can say that this was easily the best. They've always put on a damn good show, but this particular time they we're just on fire the whole time they played. The vocalist jumped into the crowd during the 1st song and that manic energy level was kept up throughout the set. Musically, they were a lot heavier than I remember them being and their unique sound blends melodic death metal, thrash and old-school metalcore flawlessly. They played a new track called "As One" that absolutely ripped and was dedicated to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing victims, which I thought was an awesome touch to a really positive and badass song. Acaro is a band that has a shitload of killer heavy riffs, melody and passion who is destined to breakout out of the local scene and hit the national touring level.
It was time for the men of the hour, Revocation, to hit the stage. Despite a slew of technical difficulties (broken mics, David's guitar went out, a ton of problems in sound check with the guitars and drums,) Revocation absolutely destroyed the tiny stage at Great Scott. Unlike Black Dahlia Murder's video shoot for "Goat of Departure" where they played the song for the video multiple times in a row, Revocation played a regular set and will be using the best footage gathered from the entire performance. The setlist was heavy on new material, which all sounded amazing. Previously released track "The Hive" kicked things into high gear immediately, "Spastic" was an instrumental powerhouse featuring one of David Davidson's crazier solos to-date and the track being used for the music video "Invidious" is an absolute ripper with a nice amount of melody, technicality and an absolutely sick closing groove riff that would make Dimebag Darrell proud. Of course crushing set staples like "No Funeral" and "Dismantle the Dictator" were also played as well the title track off last year's EP Teratogenesis. Making the set that much more special, was the crowd reaction. The crowd reception they got was raucous to say the least. Everyone in the room was super into their set and losing their minds with giant pits, crowd surfing and headbanging galore (Someone inadvertently kicked an amp stage-diving and unplugged David's guitar during "Invidious" causing them to restart the song.) Unfortunately I had to leave early in order to catch the last train out of Allston. It kind of sucked that I couldn't stay for all of it, but I do get the pleasure of seeing Revocation again at Summer Slaughter in a few weeks. It was awesome to be apart of such an awesome crowd and support one of my favorite bands at their music video shoot. Best $5 I've spent in a long time and I can't wait to see the finished product.
Scores:
Sexcrement 8/10
Acaro 8.5/10
Revocation 9/10
Setlists:
Sexcrement included:
Heard It Through the Rape Vine
New Song
Trucker Bombed
Heels Up
Acaro included:
Forever is Temporary
The Disease of Fear
This Treachery
As One (new song)
Becoming the Process
Revocation:
The Hive
Teratogenesis
No Funeral
Spastic (new song)
Invidious
Dismantle the Dictator (left after this song)
There were two local openers on this show in addition to Revocation, the first of which was Sexcrement. Sexcrement is one of the more respected bands in the Boston metal scene and after last night's show: I can 100% see why. These dudes are exactly the type of riff-heavy brutal death metal that I love. The music was consistently heavy with each song containing multiple headbang-worthy grooves and killer guttural vocals/pig squeals. Adding to the quality of the set was the fact that they two half-naked chicks dancing on-stage with them most of the time (On a hilarious note: some random dude got on-stage alongside the girls during the last song and started dancing behind the vocalist which caused him to laugh so hard he couldn't do vocals for 10-20 seconds.) I've never seen anything like that before and the pairing of barley-dressed chicks and slamming brutal death metal was pretty damn funny and entertaining. Sexcrement is one of the very few local acts from the Boston-area that has impressed me thoroughly and I would love to see them open a show again soon.
Acaro was the next local opener and they just destroyed the stage. This marked the fourth time I've seen Acaro and I can say that this was easily the best. They've always put on a damn good show, but this particular time they we're just on fire the whole time they played. The vocalist jumped into the crowd during the 1st song and that manic energy level was kept up throughout the set. Musically, they were a lot heavier than I remember them being and their unique sound blends melodic death metal, thrash and old-school metalcore flawlessly. They played a new track called "As One" that absolutely ripped and was dedicated to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing victims, which I thought was an awesome touch to a really positive and badass song. Acaro is a band that has a shitload of killer heavy riffs, melody and passion who is destined to breakout out of the local scene and hit the national touring level.
It was time for the men of the hour, Revocation, to hit the stage. Despite a slew of technical difficulties (broken mics, David's guitar went out, a ton of problems in sound check with the guitars and drums,) Revocation absolutely destroyed the tiny stage at Great Scott. Unlike Black Dahlia Murder's video shoot for "Goat of Departure" where they played the song for the video multiple times in a row, Revocation played a regular set and will be using the best footage gathered from the entire performance. The setlist was heavy on new material, which all sounded amazing. Previously released track "The Hive" kicked things into high gear immediately, "Spastic" was an instrumental powerhouse featuring one of David Davidson's crazier solos to-date and the track being used for the music video "Invidious" is an absolute ripper with a nice amount of melody, technicality and an absolutely sick closing groove riff that would make Dimebag Darrell proud. Of course crushing set staples like "No Funeral" and "Dismantle the Dictator" were also played as well the title track off last year's EP Teratogenesis. Making the set that much more special, was the crowd reaction. The crowd reception they got was raucous to say the least. Everyone in the room was super into their set and losing their minds with giant pits, crowd surfing and headbanging galore (Someone inadvertently kicked an amp stage-diving and unplugged David's guitar during "Invidious" causing them to restart the song.) Unfortunately I had to leave early in order to catch the last train out of Allston. It kind of sucked that I couldn't stay for all of it, but I do get the pleasure of seeing Revocation again at Summer Slaughter in a few weeks. It was awesome to be apart of such an awesome crowd and support one of my favorite bands at their music video shoot. Best $5 I've spent in a long time and I can't wait to see the finished product.
Scores:
Sexcrement 8/10
Acaro 8.5/10
Revocation 9/10
Setlists:
Sexcrement included:
Heard It Through the Rape Vine
New Song
Trucker Bombed
Heels Up
Acaro included:
Forever is Temporary
The Disease of Fear
This Treachery
As One (new song)
Becoming the Process
Revocation:
The Hive
Teratogenesis
No Funeral
Spastic (new song)
Invidious
Dismantle the Dictator (left after this song)
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