I missed out on Razormaze's kickoff due to being on call, but the shift wrapped up at the end of the week, and I was able to get out to this gig, which has been roundly slated, both before and after, to a degree that it didn't really deserve.
Getting in on time was not really difficult, but it was unnecessarily expensive; this gig got moved from downstairs to upstairs (understandably; though for an upstairs show it was frickin packed, people would have been rattling around in the downstairs, especially since a lot of the people who go to shows like this are not going to be on the floor throughout), but the ticket didn't move down in price at all. $25, even at the door, is too much for a four-band show upstairs at this place, full stop. I still paid it to be able to see Tyr and Korpiklaani from contact range, but my patience for such antics is getting strained.
White Wizzard [5/7]
I think about fitba too much, so on seeing these guys, the first thought was of some unbalanced second-division side that you randomly see in a cup competition: some guys who are too good for where they're playing, and some that you scratch your head and wonder how they got this far. The second thought, of course, though, was "how did an Iron Maiden cover band get on this tour"? As their set went on, they put in more doom and '70s elements, eventually coming around to a better set, but there's a lot of Maiden in their sound still, and while the bassist was outstanding -- as any must be to clone Iron Maiden -- the guitar solos were disturbingly hit-or-miss for a band touring nationally. The liner notes for their record -- apparently a demo repackaging -- indicated that this was a new lineup, so maybe they're shaking out the bugs and will improve in the future. The room's definitely there, but hopefully they'll diversify the sound a little more as well.
Swashbuckle [7/7]
The score's a little iffy; this was more to the level of their killer New England debut than their subjugation of Germany in the summer, but it was still a top-class set and the score isn't supposed to be for perfection. They came (out to "Sharp Dressed Man", perhaps a reference to the beardism now sweeping across the whole band), they saw (the floor open up for multiple Waves of Death), they played headcrunching pirate thrash and invited up crowdsurfers and stagedivers. Was there a barricade down front before? There certainly wasn't this night, and the band and those getting riotous for them took full advantage.
This is, as mentioned, my fourth time seeing this band in five months, and the third month in a row that they have played upstairs at the Palladium in the first week. The risk of overexposue is certainly there, but props to the band for having the fortitude to go out and be road warriors to this degree, even (on this trip) doing the instrumental-tech and backline work for the tour as a whole. You don't really expect a pirate metal band to 'make it' in this day and age, so in that regard, working one's ass off is probably the optimal path to overcome those odds.
Tyr [6/7]
More new stuff and fewer doomballads in this set than the last time around, but even if the sound seemed a little off in places, this was a class performance. This was the first show of the tour, and a bunch of their equipment hadn't made it into Logan correctly, but Tyr gave a strong performance regardless. (It was armor and stuff that didn't make it in, not instruments, which made it that much easier; also New England is accustomed, at this point, to seeing Tyr just playing guitars and stuff with their shirts off.) They closed with a strong cover of "The Wild Rover" that may not play as well in other places -- not only folk fans salting the audience, but also a lot of Dropkicks fans and other plastic paddies, along with a handful of the next step up, plastic Provos like the twit who was yelling stuff about "the 'ra" at the end of this one; that's Boston for you, and you will not find that in many other places.
They mentioned a 9-year-old girl in the audience "tricked into a rock concert" by her parents for her birthday, which was entertaining; the reaction to grouse about "kiddy jig metal" or alternately, to expound on Metalnachwuchs, probably says more about the individual having the reaction than it does about the band, or the kind of parents who name their kid Freya.
Korpiklaani [7/7]
Korpiklaani looked a little uncomfortable at times the last time they were around; whether it was the more intimate setting, a full tour's worth of experience with American audiences, or less pressure not having to follow Primordial and Moonsorrow, this was a nonfactor on this outing. We got a nice long set of free-flowing humppaa metal, interrupted only briefly by crowd antics, that by the end slid down the slope to boozy DIY anarchy. The band was initially disturbed by the crowdsurfers -- not without cause, because five members on the stagefront makes the upstairs stage a hell of a lot more crowded than, say, Swashbuckle's two -- but after securing the mic stands properly, got into the game, passing out their free beers (often shaken up) into the crowd for drinking and spraying purposes. What did anyone expect from a band that starts with "Wodka" and closes out with "Beer Beer"? Certainly not solicitude of the security, who went onto high alert at the thought of alcohol being handed out in frangible glass bottles to random people in the pit. Nobody hurt or arrested, at least that I could see, so all good in the end.
As I was going out, I happened to overhear someone complaining that Korpiklaani was too loud, making them not as good as Tyr. It was very difficult to keep from mercilessly ripping into them: you went to what kind of concert and are complaining that bands are too loud? If this attitude is more generally shared, then and only then is the getoffmylawn griping about what kind of people this kind of metal attracts valid. Seriously, you go to a metal show and complain that the bands are too loud? Loud is kind of what this music aims for, if you have a problem don't stand next the damn speakers, idiot.
I did stand next the damn speakers, and my ears were ok. At least as far as I can tell. Unfortunately, I had to miss Summoning Hate last night, but the possibility is still on for Goreality tonight, and then the Palladium gig at the weekend -- unless it's upstairs, uninspiring, and too fucking expensive.
Showing posts with label swashbuckle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swashbuckle. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Ensiferum with Ex Deo, Blackguard, and Swashbuckle [Worcester Palladium, 12/4/2009]
Almost a full month between gigs. That's what being on call the only week people are playing out during Thanksgiving month gets you. Anyway, more than past time or not, this was Ensiferum playing upstairs at the Palladium, which made up for the somewhat uninspiring lower part of the bill and Hypocrisy cancelling due to, as I've heard anyway, visa problems. This was another struggle to get out to after work, but I made it up shortly after the announced start, and while I may have missed Under Lying Truth, I did get in just after Swashbuckle started, which would suffice for the bands I actually had the expectation of seeing.
Swashbuckle [5/7]
Since I came in late for these guys, I was back by the upstairs mixing desk, then the bar, which in both cases are the furthest distance I've ever seen Swashbuckle from, which is a little odd considering that the upstairs is usually the intimate version of the Palladium. Chart it: on top of the band at O'Brien's, first row the first time they played in this building, three rows back on the Medieval Stage this summer, three rows back in this room a month ago. This was also the fourth time I'd seen them this year, which is fucking weird for a gimmick metal band that isn't actually from this area (hell, a touring band at all), and when they come back next month with Tyr and Korpiklaani it'll be five times in nine months. More power to them. Their fill-in drummer (what, you didn't know Crashride couldn't get into Canada? tour following fail) did a good job, and the band blasted out a stand-up set of brutal pirate thrash despite getting a little jobbed by the soundboard (Justin's mic didn't appear to be on for the majority of the set), without the inflatables or fuckaroundery that they've had on previous gigs. Probably just as well; too much of that and they run the risk of overexposure and gimmick fatigue. No doors knocked down with this set, but a solid opening performance.
Blackguard [4/7]
In all fairness, this band got a great response from the crowd. I just can't figure out why. Are North American Children of Bodom fans that desperate, seriously? I mean, the band does tour on this continent pretty regularly. Blackguard, as last time, put out a technically satisfactory performance of extremely artistically limited material, including an older song that showed them as a slightly better if much more transparent imitation of CoB back when they went under the name Profugis Mortis. I'm not sure progress has been made. I can understand, in 2001, starting a Children of Bodom cover band on the theory that they're on fucking Spinefarm and unlikely to ever tour outside Europe, but then they break through and your career path then becomes to be Maurizio Iacono's pocket Bodom, trotted out to collect the acclaim of high schoolers and pelters from surly guys in kuttes whenever he can't book a better opener in this style. Yes, it's tough to even get up to average as a metal band, and this style is obviously working for them, but this was the definite low point of the night musically, and it's difficult at this point to envision a Blackguard set where a) this is not the case, and b) I actually decide to show up based on the balance of the bill.
The most entertainment during this period probably came from the Swashbuckle dudes storming the stage, still in costume, during "This Round's On Me" to spray the crowd with beer and hold up hobo signs parodying the singer's expressions. It's not really a natural drinking song out of the box even to the extent that something like Ensiferum's "One More Magic Potion" is (let alone, say Korpiklaani or Tankard's repetoire), but it got almost to that point with the fun add-ons.
Ex Deo [5/7]
I hadn't heard this band before, but was somewhat aware of the pedigree; after seeing Kataklysm tats on, like, everyone, I checked into it and found that this is basically Kataklysm hiding out in the Teutoberger Wald to get away from idiots like me who say stuff like "what the fuck is this, where's the hyperblast" about their recent material. This is fine by me; if Maurizio wants to fold Kataklysm's tents and play meat-and-potatoes death metal with black touches and Roman themes, I'll show up and give full support. Less decaying modern Kataklysm, more vital and inspired imperial crunching. Ex Deo put out a good long set that was more solid than superlative, but executed the concept without coming off as overly gimmicky, justifying the decision to pick up their record earlier. Good stuff, and while this would have been better leading into Hypocrisy, it definitely filled the RDA of death metal on the night, and it'll do a good job raising interest and expectations the next time they come around.
Ensiferum [7/7]
No "Token of Time", but no injuries either. Call it a mixed bag -- or, really, a typical Ensiferum set, blending epic humppaa metal with gonzo floor action and stretching out to take full advantage of being the sole headliner on the bill. They played just absolutely as long as the venue allowed them (modulo the obligato pretend off before the encore that really needs to start getting cut in favor of MOAR by the bands that do this crap to fap their egos), weighted a little more to the new stuff but still covering their whole catalog, and after having the crowd pick "Iron" as the closer, decided to jam "Battle Songs" (the other option) in after it to take full advantage of the remaining time until the lights went back on. I didn't know they were slotted for nearly two hours, nor did it feel like it on the floor; just a splendid performance of kickass music by probably the best current exemplar of the accessible side of viking metal, and an incredible headliner to a good solid show.
Out on the sidewalk as I was leaving, Eric CSDO was doing promos.....of what looked like porn DVDs, but probably also including drag racer and old-school thrash content. Eric Paone, ladies and gentlemen. This wasn't really a "scene" draw, so hopefully those intrigued by this stuff will outweigh those weirded out and the deep underground gets a bonus shot of new blood as a result.
Next gig: same bat-time, same bat-station (almost); Municipal Waste, Brutal Truth, Phobia, and Cauldron Tuesday. This is a knee-brace-or-upstairs show -- and hell, Brutal Truth and Phobia, even upstairs isn't guaranteed safe.
Unrelated: I'm wearing my Swashbuckle "Splashzone" shirt for the second Saturday in a row, and for the second Saturday in a row Celtic have run riot over the opposition. Correlation is not causation, but this is a streak worth trying to sustain.
Swashbuckle [5/7]
Since I came in late for these guys, I was back by the upstairs mixing desk, then the bar, which in both cases are the furthest distance I've ever seen Swashbuckle from, which is a little odd considering that the upstairs is usually the intimate version of the Palladium. Chart it: on top of the band at O'Brien's, first row the first time they played in this building, three rows back on the Medieval Stage this summer, three rows back in this room a month ago. This was also the fourth time I'd seen them this year, which is fucking weird for a gimmick metal band that isn't actually from this area (hell, a touring band at all), and when they come back next month with Tyr and Korpiklaani it'll be five times in nine months. More power to them. Their fill-in drummer (what, you didn't know Crashride couldn't get into Canada? tour following fail) did a good job, and the band blasted out a stand-up set of brutal pirate thrash despite getting a little jobbed by the soundboard (Justin's mic didn't appear to be on for the majority of the set), without the inflatables or fuckaroundery that they've had on previous gigs. Probably just as well; too much of that and they run the risk of overexposure and gimmick fatigue. No doors knocked down with this set, but a solid opening performance.
Blackguard [4/7]
In all fairness, this band got a great response from the crowd. I just can't figure out why. Are North American Children of Bodom fans that desperate, seriously? I mean, the band does tour on this continent pretty regularly. Blackguard, as last time, put out a technically satisfactory performance of extremely artistically limited material, including an older song that showed them as a slightly better if much more transparent imitation of CoB back when they went under the name Profugis Mortis. I'm not sure progress has been made. I can understand, in 2001, starting a Children of Bodom cover band on the theory that they're on fucking Spinefarm and unlikely to ever tour outside Europe, but then they break through and your career path then becomes to be Maurizio Iacono's pocket Bodom, trotted out to collect the acclaim of high schoolers and pelters from surly guys in kuttes whenever he can't book a better opener in this style. Yes, it's tough to even get up to average as a metal band, and this style is obviously working for them, but this was the definite low point of the night musically, and it's difficult at this point to envision a Blackguard set where a) this is not the case, and b) I actually decide to show up based on the balance of the bill.
The most entertainment during this period probably came from the Swashbuckle dudes storming the stage, still in costume, during "This Round's On Me" to spray the crowd with beer and hold up hobo signs parodying the singer's expressions. It's not really a natural drinking song out of the box even to the extent that something like Ensiferum's "One More Magic Potion" is (let alone, say Korpiklaani or Tankard's repetoire), but it got almost to that point with the fun add-ons.
Ex Deo [5/7]
I hadn't heard this band before, but was somewhat aware of the pedigree; after seeing Kataklysm tats on, like, everyone, I checked into it and found that this is basically Kataklysm hiding out in the Teutoberger Wald to get away from idiots like me who say stuff like "what the fuck is this, where's the hyperblast" about their recent material. This is fine by me; if Maurizio wants to fold Kataklysm's tents and play meat-and-potatoes death metal with black touches and Roman themes, I'll show up and give full support. Less decaying modern Kataklysm, more vital and inspired imperial crunching. Ex Deo put out a good long set that was more solid than superlative, but executed the concept without coming off as overly gimmicky, justifying the decision to pick up their record earlier. Good stuff, and while this would have been better leading into Hypocrisy, it definitely filled the RDA of death metal on the night, and it'll do a good job raising interest and expectations the next time they come around.
Ensiferum [7/7]
No "Token of Time", but no injuries either. Call it a mixed bag -- or, really, a typical Ensiferum set, blending epic humppaa metal with gonzo floor action and stretching out to take full advantage of being the sole headliner on the bill. They played just absolutely as long as the venue allowed them (modulo the obligato pretend off before the encore that really needs to start getting cut in favor of MOAR by the bands that do this crap to fap their egos), weighted a little more to the new stuff but still covering their whole catalog, and after having the crowd pick "Iron" as the closer, decided to jam "Battle Songs" (the other option) in after it to take full advantage of the remaining time until the lights went back on. I didn't know they were slotted for nearly two hours, nor did it feel like it on the floor; just a splendid performance of kickass music by probably the best current exemplar of the accessible side of viking metal, and an incredible headliner to a good solid show.
Out on the sidewalk as I was leaving, Eric CSDO was doing promos.....of what looked like porn DVDs, but probably also including drag racer and old-school thrash content. Eric Paone, ladies and gentlemen. This wasn't really a "scene" draw, so hopefully those intrigued by this stuff will outweigh those weirded out and the deep underground gets a bonus shot of new blood as a result.
Next gig: same bat-time, same bat-station (almost); Municipal Waste, Brutal Truth, Phobia, and Cauldron Tuesday. This is a knee-brace-or-upstairs show -- and hell, Brutal Truth and Phobia, even upstairs isn't guaranteed safe.
Unrelated: I'm wearing my Swashbuckle "Splashzone" shirt for the second Saturday in a row, and for the second Saturday in a row Celtic have run riot over the opposition. Correlation is not causation, but this is a streak worth trying to sustain.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Vader with Decrepit Birth, Warbringer, The Amenta, Augury, and Swashbuckle [Worcester Palladium, 11/5/2009]
The great dilemma: work prevents you from seeing the shows you want to, but if you don't work, you don't have the money to go to them and get in the door. I had to take a pass on the first large, ill-matched tour at the Palladium this week, and cut this night's excursion short rather than go the few streets over to see Metal Thursday, but it was a good night of metal all told, despite some extraneous stuff, and the rest of the winter touring season is looking to be shaping up pretty well.
This was another direct-out-from work special, but I timed it right to get through the bullshit on the Pike and up to the venue right about at doors. I also remembered to bung the knife in the car before leaving it, but this was not enough for the security. Twits stole my fucking pen again. It's fucking ridiculous, first that they do this and second that they don't do it frequently enough that I know to grundle it in advance. It was in the process of dying, sure, but stealing people's pens isn't fucking cricket. Not cool; however, they did let me take my phone in to make digital notes with at the price of looking like a lamer. And I still could have easily brought a knife or chisel in undetected to do much more serious vandalism, if that was the point. Paying customers unreasonably inconvenienced, nothing actually blocked or averted; security theater at its finest.
Cussing about this under my breath in a mix of four or five languages, I bought my ticket, got banded, and got in to browse the merch while the bands were setting up. This turned into a Warbringer patch -- which I have serious reservations about actually putting on anything, see below -- as well as their new record to make the change come out, a trip to the bar to break up my bills so as not to inconvenience Vader's merch stand, Necropolis and two special-edition Decapitated patches (to raise money for Covan's medical bills, not just because Vogg's playing in Vader now), and the latest cool shirt design from Decrepit Birth. These guys have mastered the "lots of t-shirts" model allegedly required by the new paradigms in digital music distro, but it'd also be awesome to see this art (and the art on the "Living Doorway" shirt) done up for a 10" pic-disc or something (maybe the song that inspired it, a couple live tracks, a random fuckaround jam...like Out of the Dark..., I don't know, just throwing shit out there). T-shirts fade when used for their intended purpose, pic-discs don't.
Eventually, though, I decided I had to stop buying shit if I wanted to go to Metal Thursday or, for that matter, be able to pay the tolls to get home, and Swashbuckle was starting up anyway. Downstairs for music.
Swashbuckle [5.5/7]
I can't really see Running Wild ever coming out to "I'm On A Boat". However, this just goes to demonstrate that Swashbuckle aren't Running Wild (or, for that matter, Alestorm, who played here Tuesday and may feel put upon by their fans to take themselves a smidge more seriously than that), and that their attack on the pirate trope is their own. They smashed out a decently long set balanced towards the new record to a pretty good reaction, though I'm not sure what other people's reaction to the people in parrot and shark costumes thrashing about in the pit was. If they'd run out from backstage and stagedove, it'd've been as clear as it was in Germany that they were band-affiliated rather than (as some might have concluded) random hipsters in leftover Halloween costumes, causing the ultra-true to become unnecessarily SO FULL OF HATE. On the whole, about on the level of the last time I saw them here, downstairs; not serious enough for the death metal portion of the bill and significantly heavier than Warbringer (who probably got the most heads in the door), they still got a good reaction out of the half-full floor and less negativity than the other thrash band in the lineup.
If you want a different perspective on shows like this one, or just a general idea of what it's like on the other side of the front monitors at this level, you might want to take a look at Commodore Redrum's tour diary; this gig doesn't get its own entry, but the return match in December when they come back with Ensiferum and Hypocrisy might.
Augury [6/7]
The Forest Lapointe Show [7/7]
I don't pay nearly as much attention to new developments in metal as I could or really should. This means that when I haven't seen or heard a band before, especially on a large, weirdly packaged tour like this one, I wait around in general trepidation, expecting that they, like a lot of bands these days, will suck. (This is because I'm an old stick-in-the-mud almost as much as because a lot of newer bands that are just getting national tour exposure do suck.) This was the baseline for Augury, and fortunately, they blew that expectation out of the water. Their set was a little short, but packed top to bottom with a perfect mix of the technical and brutal schools of Quebecois death metal. Stellar all the way across, even the drummer, who landed from Australia in Montreal (their old drummer quit, and the guy from The Amenta was sitting in) days before and learned the material in a matter of hours, but Forest's bass playing was in a class by itself. The guy annihilated so hard on the first song that when Patrick announced before the second that we'd get a bass solo later on if the crowd reaction was good enough, the whole place erupted, even before he strapped on his fretless to take things to another level, even from those who'd never heard the band before. The solo came two songs later, and was as massive as anticipated. Not a perfect set -- time as much as anything else to do with this -- but impeccably delivered, and probably quite well enough to convince anyone who showed up to keep their eyes peeled for these guys the next time they come back south.
Following this, I went up and immediately forked for their record. I haven't gotten a chance to listen yet, but given that the board was kind of inconsistent on the night, it's likely to be even better than what we got out of the band -- and if nothing else, at least more.
The Amenta [4.5/7]
I was in the way back for these guys because there was a shortage of places to stand further forward, and that turned out to be for the better. They were in most ways decent, but I remember a band called Meridian, and if you have qualms about that score, you probably don't, or just haven't listened to The Seventh Sun in a while. "But they came all the way from Australia! And Meridian isn't even together any more, much less touring!" Sure, but that makes the hurdles for The Amenta taller, not shorter. The performance here was ok, and most people probably won't recognize it as being firmly in the shadow of another and better band, but that doesn't mean that they really did anything to get out of this shadow, and you don't cross oceans to play "ok" gigs.
At this point I went up and got a Swashbuckle shirt ("Splashzone", a little more topically unified than their "The Trooper" parody, and it had the tourdates besides) from Pat; I'd been ambivalent about this first due to the possible need to support The Amenta and then pay the door charge at MT, but both of those issues kind of resolved themselves for various reasons about here. Shirt in the belt, it was back down again, now absolutely skint and somewhat foreclosed from drinking the rest of the night.
Warbringer [5/7]
I can now firmly say that I've seen Warbringer, and the impressions from before with their limited lineup and with their first record are pretty much accurate. Warbringer are a good thrash revival band, but somewhat allergic to doing anything new with the style. They turn out good, crunchy, Bay-Area thrash metal, but I still haven't heard anything out of them that I can indelibly stamp as the "Warbringer sound". There are Exodus parts and Kreator parts, but this is an empty foundation without a house on top of it. The guys are talented enough to build said house, but they need to do so ASAP -- does anyone remember when Reanimator was in the pole position of the thrash revival? Anyone remember how bands like Faith or Fear sank without a trace in the '80s because they didn't differentiate themselves? True, Denial, Realm, and Devastation also fell off the map despite being awesome, but obscurity happens faster to bands that can't carve their own name into the listener's brain.
There were a few thumbs down passed out during the performance, mostly by a dude of no small standing in the thrash millieu of this part of New England, but the band shouldn't be too dismayed, as they weren't going to get this guy, or those like him, anyways. As mentioned before, thrash fans who were into thrash before the revival started tend to have a rather simple and brutal means of classifying bands, which likely corresponds in this case to something like the following chart:
Band goodness is easily seen to be a dependent variable, and Warbringer of course sounds nothing like Sodom, so they get pelters. I have a very similar chart for personal use, but it usually says "sounds like Kreator" at the bottom, so Warbringer gets slightly more of a break on that one.
In here I went more forward, aided by the fact that a suspicious number of people seemed to go back and then not come back to the front for Decrepit Birth, nor noticeably swell the numbers upstairs. If you actually left in this timeframe you are a lamer, and Devin Townsend will come to your house to take back your metal points, cut up any jacket you have attempted to build so far, and force you to watch while he commits indecent acts on any domestic animals you may have lying around. If you're not scared of Devin Townsend raping your pets, that's fine with me; your loser cred is established and there are fewer people standing between me and respectively Matt Sotelo and Waclaw "Vogg" Kieltyka.
Decrepit Birth [6.5/7]
Seeing Augury's set -- and, depending on your perspective, the two bands that played after them -- it might have been reasonable to suspect that they might steal the show. Nope. Decrepit Birth came out and demonstrated that they are still Decrepit Birth, and still on the leading edge of amazing technical things that can be done in death metal. They played a nice balanced selection of material from both records so far, and teased an upcoming new one though (if I recall correctly) they didn't have anything off it at this one. I don't know if Bill actually believes all his weird inter-song banter, but it fits with the music and lyrical topics, and, hey, California. Ferociously good music, easily on a par with Vader, and quite possibly the best (and definitely longest) performance I've seen from them in this building.
Despite the relative length of the set, there was a strong demand for the band to do more, which they of course couldn't without running into Vader's timeslot, who would themselves end up relatively pinched for time. This show didn't exactly get out early, either, so the problem here is probably trying to shoehorn six bands into just under 4 hours. Like the last Maurizio-put-up tour that I saw in this building, backlining was used to good effect for most of the bands, but this time around there was just too much good music.
The coherence of Decrepit Birth and the backstage presence during their set of the NEDF organizers/New England Green Thumb horticultural society members, though, might argue that they would not have played longer had they had the opportunity, choosing rather to undertake other activities as a preparation for Vader. ;) Nothing implied......
Vader [6.5/7]
Decrepit Birth set a really high standard, but Vader definitely matched the mark, though to a crowd that was shamefully diminished from the night's high point. For crying out loud, you idiots, bands from Poland don't just wash in every day -- and most of the time when they do show it's fucking Behemoth, so exult, as those of us who stayed true and stayed in did, that you get a good one for a change. There was a lot of new material in this set, which still ripped and popped with as much power as the old. It's Vader -- did anyone expect differently? People were running out of energy by the end, but even if the band were a little let down, they didn't let it affect the music, and both we and they got a good finish out of the night by the time the venue turned the lights back on and foreclosed any further encore.
Unfortunately, this really was the finish to the night; it was late and I was tired as well as dead skint, which cut Metal Thursday out of the plans to continue. No Morgirion, no Mythology, no Kathadin -- well, I'd missed two out of those already just by virtue of what time it was; time to just bear up the pain and get to work in an normal fashion in the morning. This may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise, too, as I didn't have to go in the legendary shambles of the Ralph's parking lot and further aggravate the damage to the tire that ended up dying on the way home from work Friday rather than on the way home from this show. That dead tire may also have bricked any chance of going to Deceased on Saturday, but at that point, I was probably already sick enough that I wouldn't've made the trip back in.
Future shows are up in the air; I've got to finish being sick first, then see what's coming up, and where.
This was another direct-out-from work special, but I timed it right to get through the bullshit on the Pike and up to the venue right about at doors. I also remembered to bung the knife in the car before leaving it, but this was not enough for the security. Twits stole my fucking pen again. It's fucking ridiculous, first that they do this and second that they don't do it frequently enough that I know to grundle it in advance. It was in the process of dying, sure, but stealing people's pens isn't fucking cricket. Not cool; however, they did let me take my phone in to make digital notes with at the price of looking like a lamer. And I still could have easily brought a knife or chisel in undetected to do much more serious vandalism, if that was the point. Paying customers unreasonably inconvenienced, nothing actually blocked or averted; security theater at its finest.
Cussing about this under my breath in a mix of four or five languages, I bought my ticket, got banded, and got in to browse the merch while the bands were setting up. This turned into a Warbringer patch -- which I have serious reservations about actually putting on anything, see below -- as well as their new record to make the change come out, a trip to the bar to break up my bills so as not to inconvenience Vader's merch stand, Necropolis and two special-edition Decapitated patches (to raise money for Covan's medical bills, not just because Vogg's playing in Vader now), and the latest cool shirt design from Decrepit Birth. These guys have mastered the "lots of t-shirts" model allegedly required by the new paradigms in digital music distro, but it'd also be awesome to see this art (and the art on the "Living Doorway" shirt) done up for a 10" pic-disc or something (maybe the song that inspired it, a couple live tracks, a random fuckaround jam...like Out of the Dark..., I don't know, just throwing shit out there). T-shirts fade when used for their intended purpose, pic-discs don't.
Eventually, though, I decided I had to stop buying shit if I wanted to go to Metal Thursday or, for that matter, be able to pay the tolls to get home, and Swashbuckle was starting up anyway. Downstairs for music.
Swashbuckle [5.5/7]
I can't really see Running Wild ever coming out to "I'm On A Boat". However, this just goes to demonstrate that Swashbuckle aren't Running Wild (or, for that matter, Alestorm, who played here Tuesday and may feel put upon by their fans to take themselves a smidge more seriously than that), and that their attack on the pirate trope is their own. They smashed out a decently long set balanced towards the new record to a pretty good reaction, though I'm not sure what other people's reaction to the people in parrot and shark costumes thrashing about in the pit was. If they'd run out from backstage and stagedove, it'd've been as clear as it was in Germany that they were band-affiliated rather than (as some might have concluded) random hipsters in leftover Halloween costumes, causing the ultra-true to become unnecessarily SO FULL OF HATE. On the whole, about on the level of the last time I saw them here, downstairs; not serious enough for the death metal portion of the bill and significantly heavier than Warbringer (who probably got the most heads in the door), they still got a good reaction out of the half-full floor and less negativity than the other thrash band in the lineup.
If you want a different perspective on shows like this one, or just a general idea of what it's like on the other side of the front monitors at this level, you might want to take a look at Commodore Redrum's tour diary; this gig doesn't get its own entry, but the return match in December when they come back with Ensiferum and Hypocrisy might.
Augury [6/7]
The Forest Lapointe Show [7/7]
I don't pay nearly as much attention to new developments in metal as I could or really should. This means that when I haven't seen or heard a band before, especially on a large, weirdly packaged tour like this one, I wait around in general trepidation, expecting that they, like a lot of bands these days, will suck. (This is because I'm an old stick-in-the-mud almost as much as because a lot of newer bands that are just getting national tour exposure do suck.) This was the baseline for Augury, and fortunately, they blew that expectation out of the water. Their set was a little short, but packed top to bottom with a perfect mix of the technical and brutal schools of Quebecois death metal. Stellar all the way across, even the drummer, who landed from Australia in Montreal (their old drummer quit, and the guy from The Amenta was sitting in) days before and learned the material in a matter of hours, but Forest's bass playing was in a class by itself. The guy annihilated so hard on the first song that when Patrick announced before the second that we'd get a bass solo later on if the crowd reaction was good enough, the whole place erupted, even before he strapped on his fretless to take things to another level, even from those who'd never heard the band before. The solo came two songs later, and was as massive as anticipated. Not a perfect set -- time as much as anything else to do with this -- but impeccably delivered, and probably quite well enough to convince anyone who showed up to keep their eyes peeled for these guys the next time they come back south.
Following this, I went up and immediately forked for their record. I haven't gotten a chance to listen yet, but given that the board was kind of inconsistent on the night, it's likely to be even better than what we got out of the band -- and if nothing else, at least more.
The Amenta [4.5/7]
I was in the way back for these guys because there was a shortage of places to stand further forward, and that turned out to be for the better. They were in most ways decent, but I remember a band called Meridian, and if you have qualms about that score, you probably don't, or just haven't listened to The Seventh Sun in a while. "But they came all the way from Australia! And Meridian isn't even together any more, much less touring!" Sure, but that makes the hurdles for The Amenta taller, not shorter. The performance here was ok, and most people probably won't recognize it as being firmly in the shadow of another and better band, but that doesn't mean that they really did anything to get out of this shadow, and you don't cross oceans to play "ok" gigs.
At this point I went up and got a Swashbuckle shirt ("Splashzone", a little more topically unified than their "The Trooper" parody, and it had the tourdates besides) from Pat; I'd been ambivalent about this first due to the possible need to support The Amenta and then pay the door charge at MT, but both of those issues kind of resolved themselves for various reasons about here. Shirt in the belt, it was back down again, now absolutely skint and somewhat foreclosed from drinking the rest of the night.
Warbringer [5/7]
I can now firmly say that I've seen Warbringer, and the impressions from before with their limited lineup and with their first record are pretty much accurate. Warbringer are a good thrash revival band, but somewhat allergic to doing anything new with the style. They turn out good, crunchy, Bay-Area thrash metal, but I still haven't heard anything out of them that I can indelibly stamp as the "Warbringer sound". There are Exodus parts and Kreator parts, but this is an empty foundation without a house on top of it. The guys are talented enough to build said house, but they need to do so ASAP -- does anyone remember when Reanimator was in the pole position of the thrash revival? Anyone remember how bands like Faith or Fear sank without a trace in the '80s because they didn't differentiate themselves? True, Denial, Realm, and Devastation also fell off the map despite being awesome, but obscurity happens faster to bands that can't carve their own name into the listener's brain.
There were a few thumbs down passed out during the performance, mostly by a dude of no small standing in the thrash millieu of this part of New England, but the band shouldn't be too dismayed, as they weren't going to get this guy, or those like him, anyways. As mentioned before, thrash fans who were into thrash before the revival started tend to have a rather simple and brutal means of classifying bands, which likely corresponds in this case to something like the following chart:
Band goodness is easily seen to be a dependent variable, and Warbringer of course sounds nothing like Sodom, so they get pelters. I have a very similar chart for personal use, but it usually says "sounds like Kreator" at the bottom, so Warbringer gets slightly more of a break on that one.
In here I went more forward, aided by the fact that a suspicious number of people seemed to go back and then not come back to the front for Decrepit Birth, nor noticeably swell the numbers upstairs. If you actually left in this timeframe you are a lamer, and Devin Townsend will come to your house to take back your metal points, cut up any jacket you have attempted to build so far, and force you to watch while he commits indecent acts on any domestic animals you may have lying around. If you're not scared of Devin Townsend raping your pets, that's fine with me; your loser cred is established and there are fewer people standing between me and respectively Matt Sotelo and Waclaw "Vogg" Kieltyka.
Decrepit Birth [6.5/7]
Seeing Augury's set -- and, depending on your perspective, the two bands that played after them -- it might have been reasonable to suspect that they might steal the show. Nope. Decrepit Birth came out and demonstrated that they are still Decrepit Birth, and still on the leading edge of amazing technical things that can be done in death metal. They played a nice balanced selection of material from both records so far, and teased an upcoming new one though (if I recall correctly) they didn't have anything off it at this one. I don't know if Bill actually believes all his weird inter-song banter, but it fits with the music and lyrical topics, and, hey, California. Ferociously good music, easily on a par with Vader, and quite possibly the best (and definitely longest) performance I've seen from them in this building.
Despite the relative length of the set, there was a strong demand for the band to do more, which they of course couldn't without running into Vader's timeslot, who would themselves end up relatively pinched for time. This show didn't exactly get out early, either, so the problem here is probably trying to shoehorn six bands into just under 4 hours. Like the last Maurizio-put-up tour that I saw in this building, backlining was used to good effect for most of the bands, but this time around there was just too much good music.
The coherence of Decrepit Birth and the backstage presence during their set of the NEDF organizers/New England Green Thumb horticultural society members, though, might argue that they would not have played longer had they had the opportunity, choosing rather to undertake other activities as a preparation for Vader. ;) Nothing implied......
Vader [6.5/7]
Decrepit Birth set a really high standard, but Vader definitely matched the mark, though to a crowd that was shamefully diminished from the night's high point. For crying out loud, you idiots, bands from Poland don't just wash in every day -- and most of the time when they do show it's fucking Behemoth, so exult, as those of us who stayed true and stayed in did, that you get a good one for a change. There was a lot of new material in this set, which still ripped and popped with as much power as the old. It's Vader -- did anyone expect differently? People were running out of energy by the end, but even if the band were a little let down, they didn't let it affect the music, and both we and they got a good finish out of the night by the time the venue turned the lights back on and foreclosed any further encore.
Unfortunately, this really was the finish to the night; it was late and I was tired as well as dead skint, which cut Metal Thursday out of the plans to continue. No Morgirion, no Mythology, no Kathadin -- well, I'd missed two out of those already just by virtue of what time it was; time to just bear up the pain and get to work in an normal fashion in the morning. This may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise, too, as I didn't have to go in the legendary shambles of the Ralph's parking lot and further aggravate the damage to the tire that ended up dying on the way home from work Friday rather than on the way home from this show. That dead tire may also have bricked any chance of going to Deceased on Saturday, but at that point, I was probably already sick enough that I wouldn't've made the trip back in.
Future shows are up in the air; I've got to finish being sick first, then see what's coming up, and where.
Friday, August 21, 2009
European Tour 2009 part 6a: Swashbuckle in Germany - a photo essay
This is not in the main part of part 6 of this series because it's too fucking long to spend on one band in the middle of a general review post.
Swashbuckle [7/7]
There's always a few sets that define a festival every year. This, coupled with Running Wild's farewell outing last night, was one of them. And this isn't just an old fan glorying by extension in his pals' pals' success; in my five years here I have never seen a non-headliner have the staff have to fucking play their fans out with the PA to get the stage clear. It was a hellacious set with an equally hellacious response that gets its own photo essay.
Because there wasn't going to be any other fucking photog shooting this band (actually, a few did show up after a while), I did my best Aaron impression...while standing in one place and trying not to block anyone's first exposure to the band, and kind of went hog wild on pics. Follows:
324. All these people...
325. Showed up to see this band...
326. But the inflataship died. ;_;
327. Lame excuses were vended and not accepted....
328. ...but doods were still fucking pumped.
329. Wait, they have WHO on wench duty? That's Sabina Classen motherfuckers!
330. Hooks up!
331. The Jersey Devilfish hit the stage!
332. Nobeard fixing his amp.
333. Tuning up.
334. "Yarr, ye scurvy dogs!"
335. Coming out swinging.
336. Full blast pirate thrash.
337. Line of battle formed.
338. Wacken is wicked pumped.
339. Waist-deep in cannon smoke.
340. Laying out the riffs.
341. Some dude puts his hook in the frame.
342. Thrash speed beats shutter speed.
343. Fucking roaring; back to the noose!
344. Dug in, thrashing out.
345. The crowd is going more nuts than Alestorm last year and with fewer lame plastic toys.
346. Ripping into "Walk The Plank".
347. Bellowing for a circle pit.
348. Hooks and horns to the sky.
349. Through the haze.
350. Dudes still going nuts.
351. And this is on the puny Medieval Stage?
352. Prospective crew hail the captain.
353. A forest of arms.
354. The bodies go flying.
355. Admiral Nobeard parts the seas for the Wave of Death.
356. ....And the seas opened....
357. Breakers crashing with ultimate violence.
358. Dudes still flipping out.
359. Sack'n'pillage melee!
360. "Splash'n'Thrash" is a huge success.
361. ...and now there's THIS many, all going nuts.
362. Gimmick peeps come out in costume for "Party Boat".
363. The security finally shows up, eight or ten songs in, and immediately calls for backup.
364. Nobeard jamming the fuck out.
365. Washing in with the tide.
366. WHIRLPIT!!
367. Leo's younger brother dives into the waves.
368. Driving the storm.
369. Deserved appreesh.
370. IT CAME FROM THE DEEP!
371. Mutual hails go out.
372. Commodore Redrum sprays the first row with beer.
373. Locked in.
374. A new age of piracy dawning...
375. Hey, there's some fuckin epic parts too.
376. Almost backstage...
377. Crewed By The Damned!
378. Banging to the finale.
379. In the smoke - "X Marks The Spot"!
380. High kicks and absent picks.
381. The Admiral goes down with the "Battleship".
382. Hundreds scream for a further encore...
383. ....and get a drumkit teardown. They played every goddamned real song they've recorded! They're all fucking out!
384. Nobeard hails the crowd again.
385. ....and gives me the finger for not shutting up about they boyz.
386. And with no more music, the crowd dances on regardless, until the festival staff blast Schläger music over the PA to get them to go away.
Let's reiterate: 500 to 1000 people showed up to this stage, some not knowing what to expect and some singing Alestorm tunes. This band played aggressive moshing thrash metal owing heavily to Exodus, and by the end, after raucous encore demand that resulted in the band playing every original song they are even capable of playing live, the 1500 remaining were not worn out from an hour of vicious moshing and thrashing, and continued singing pirate songs and doing dances in the hope that the band would come out again, and eventually had to be shooed away. I'm not going to award the title on this basis, but Alestorm, a challenger has fucking appeared. (They always do.) Who will become the Pirate King?
It's ok to go back to part 6 now, you didn't miss anything.
Swashbuckle [7/7]
There's always a few sets that define a festival every year. This, coupled with Running Wild's farewell outing last night, was one of them. And this isn't just an old fan glorying by extension in his pals' pals' success; in my five years here I have never seen a non-headliner have the staff have to fucking play their fans out with the PA to get the stage clear. It was a hellacious set with an equally hellacious response that gets its own photo essay.
Because there wasn't going to be any other fucking photog shooting this band (actually, a few did show up after a while), I did my best Aaron impression...while standing in one place and trying not to block anyone's first exposure to the band, and kind of went hog wild on pics. Follows:
324. All these people...
325. Showed up to see this band...
326. But the inflataship died. ;_;
327. Lame excuses were vended and not accepted....
328. ...but doods were still fucking pumped.
329. Wait, they have WHO on wench duty? That's Sabina Classen motherfuckers!
330. Hooks up!
331. The Jersey Devilfish hit the stage!
332. Nobeard fixing his amp.
333. Tuning up.
334. "Yarr, ye scurvy dogs!"
335. Coming out swinging.
336. Full blast pirate thrash.
337. Line of battle formed.
338. Wacken is wicked pumped.
339. Waist-deep in cannon smoke.
340. Laying out the riffs.
341. Some dude puts his hook in the frame.
342. Thrash speed beats shutter speed.
343. Fucking roaring; back to the noose!
344. Dug in, thrashing out.
345. The crowd is going more nuts than Alestorm last year and with fewer lame plastic toys.
346. Ripping into "Walk The Plank".
347. Bellowing for a circle pit.
348. Hooks and horns to the sky.
349. Through the haze.
350. Dudes still going nuts.
351. And this is on the puny Medieval Stage?
352. Prospective crew hail the captain.
353. A forest of arms.
354. The bodies go flying.
355. Admiral Nobeard parts the seas for the Wave of Death.
356. ....And the seas opened....
357. Breakers crashing with ultimate violence.
358. Dudes still flipping out.
359. Sack'n'pillage melee!
360. "Splash'n'Thrash" is a huge success.
361. ...and now there's THIS many, all going nuts.
362. Gimmick peeps come out in costume for "Party Boat".
363. The security finally shows up, eight or ten songs in, and immediately calls for backup.
364. Nobeard jamming the fuck out.
365. Washing in with the tide.
366. WHIRLPIT!!
367. Leo's younger brother dives into the waves.
368. Driving the storm.
369. Deserved appreesh.
370. IT CAME FROM THE DEEP!
371. Mutual hails go out.
372. Commodore Redrum sprays the first row with beer.
373. Locked in.
374. A new age of piracy dawning...
375. Hey, there's some fuckin epic parts too.
376. Almost backstage...
377. Crewed By The Damned!
378. Banging to the finale.
379. In the smoke - "X Marks The Spot"!
380. High kicks and absent picks.
381. The Admiral goes down with the "Battleship".
382. Hundreds scream for a further encore...
383. ....and get a drumkit teardown. They played every goddamned real song they've recorded! They're all fucking out!
384. Nobeard hails the crowd again.
385. ....and gives me the finger for not shutting up about they boyz.
386. And with no more music, the crowd dances on regardless, until the festival staff blast Schläger music over the PA to get them to go away.
Let's reiterate: 500 to 1000 people showed up to this stage, some not knowing what to expect and some singing Alestorm tunes. This band played aggressive moshing thrash metal owing heavily to Exodus, and by the end, after raucous encore demand that resulted in the band playing every original song they are even capable of playing live, the 1500 remaining were not worn out from an hour of vicious moshing and thrashing, and continued singing pirate songs and doing dances in the hope that the band would come out again, and eventually had to be shooed away. I'm not going to award the title on this basis, but Alestorm, a challenger has fucking appeared. (They always do.) Who will become the Pirate King?
It's ok to go back to part 6 now, you didn't miss anything.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
/jawdrop
Seriously. Through the fucking floor.
Why?
Swashbuckle is playing Wacken. (article in German, man up and learn the lingo)
Before this point, the Medieval stage (and the entire Medieval Village, for that matter) was completely useless and a prime argument that the festival had jumped the shark. Now, as long as they're not playing against anyone of ocean-crossing draw power, I have to go there. Even if it's the smallest and newest of the stages, this is three years removed from playing dive bars on the East Coast out of a van. Actually, they're probably playing Europe out of a van, too, and will be cussing when they get there that they're tied up for the week because there's only one usually-closed-for-festival road going through Wacken, but still.
Why?
Swashbuckle is playing Wacken. (article in German, man up and learn the lingo)
Before this point, the Medieval stage (and the entire Medieval Village, for that matter) was completely useless and a prime argument that the festival had jumped the shark. Now, as long as they're not playing against anyone of ocean-crossing draw power, I have to go there. Even if it's the smallest and newest of the stages, this is three years removed from playing dive bars on the East Coast out of a van. Actually, they're probably playing Europe out of a van, too, and will be cussing when they get there that they're tied up for the week because there's only one usually-closed-for-festival road going through Wacken, but still.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Every Shirt LXIX: Swashbuckle
shirt: Swashbuckle - Wooden Legs & Emptied Kegs
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2006
provenance: band
Long before Swashbuckle were on Nuclear Blast and putting out shirts with blinged-out versions of this logo, they were hauling their pirate act to small clubs along the Eastern seaboard, and it was at just such a show in October 2006 that they were completely awesome at and convinced me to pick up this shirt.
Looking back at that gig really shows the value of going to local shows for a metalhead, and perhaps by extension for everyone. If you go to a lot of DIY shows, you're going to see a fair number of subpar bands, and a lot of other bands that are never going to do anything noteworthy outside their immediate local scene, either because they're not original enough, or life factors intervene and tear the band apart. However, you're also likely to see and get to know a few bands that will get big, long before they get up to that kind of status, and quite a few that would or could have if not for tricks of fate. Of the five bands on the bill that I got this shirt at, three of them are now signed to what function as major labels in the metal world: Swashbuckle on NB, Revocation to Relapse, and now Ramming Speed (just a name change, it's still the same five guys who were in Despotic Robot at this point) on Candlelight. Of the others, Deathamphetamine might well have been if they hadn't had such trouble keeping their lineup together, and as for Unholy Trinity, it's pretty much an article of faith in Boston that at least Mike (drums) and Blue (bass) would be able to get their band to that level, provided that they decided to concentrate on a single band to do so with. In this case, it's a question of priorities rather than ability.
The tl;dr version: support your local scene, because eventually, you'll be in the middle of the pack at an arena show and be able to say, "man, this is nothing, I remember seeing these guys back when they were playing clubs that didn't have enough floor space for everyone to load in at once, and they were awesome even back then." Also, the New England scene is wicked awesome, and people should watch out for the next wave of bands. My educated guess is going to be Boarcorpse, Composted (unless the government promotes Mark to be Czar of Trains or something), and maybe Razormaze if the thrash revival continues or they're able to get a unique angle like Ramming Speed did. Watch Blabbermouth for these names (even just to mock me if this is totally wrong), and go to shows so you can brag about seeing them at Ralph's or O'Brien's or Cherry St. or AS220 and lord it over the peons from other parts of the country.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Every Shirt XXXVI: Swashbuckle - Back To The Noose
shirt: Swashbuckle - Back To The Noose
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2009
provenance: band
Acquired on their first US Paganfest (on this shirt, scribbled out in favor of PIRATEfest) stop, this fairly blinged-out shirt stands in sharp contrast to the white-ink minimalism of the one that I (and seemingly every third metal dude in New England) got a couple years back when they were playing clubs with less total square footage than the stage at the Palladium. It works, though; if piracy's about anything, it's about stealing tons of gold and then blowing it all on ale and whores.
There are a few people with their noses out of joint that this wasn't, top to bottom, as deep and intelligent and spiritual a show as might have been foretokened by the presence of Moonsorrow and Primordial. These people need to face the brutal reality that fun = moshing = ticket sales, and thus promoters are going to do what they need to to make bills commercially viable -- and seriously, it's not like the other bands, or what anyone in the crowd was doing during them, materially affected said heathens, or what anyone with a functioning cerebral cortex took away from them.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Korpiklaani with Primordial, Moonsorrow, Blackguard, and Swashbuckle [Worcester Palladium, 5/1/2009]
Behold the power of the internets; the first proper US tour for any of these bands, and the biggest real-metal room in New England between half and three-quarters full. And worth it; this turned out to be a pretty epic show.
Because I wanted to see Swashbuckle again, and at a range that would matter, I left again directly from work and got in shortly after doors. Because the tour organizers decided to backline everybody (a smart decision that more tourmanagers should look into; it saves gas, space, and time, and virtually eliminates the possibility of shit getting stolen since you can just cycle guitars and cymbals in and out of the green room and have everyone drag their own shit out to the vans/buses at the end), this meant about an hour of downtime before the music actually started. This was enough time to do beer and merch and still get way ahead on the rail, where I hung out, shot the shit with various peeps, and chuckled at the illuminated inflatable palm trees.
Swashbuckle [5.5/7]
This may have been their first time back in New England since that infamous show at O'Brien's; they did a mini-tour with Revocation (at least 2/3 of whom were on hand as guestlist/roadies), but I'm not sure it ran this far north. Nevertheless, they got a nice reception as soon as the board got them properly dialed in, despite being by far the thrashiest band on the bill and debatably the heaviest. The new material is pretty good, and I'm looking forward to their Nuclear Blast debut – fuckin A, doods, right on!
Before the band went on, the security was laughing at their inflatable stage set and mocking as though the band was going to be poncy Jack Sparrow disciples. In the break after them, several of the secus who were ripping on them the most had ordered up to the merch stand for shirts. That's how you define a musical tour-de-force – emphasis on force.
Blackguard [5/7]
Les enfants de Bodom must have been taken. These Canadiens were pretty good, and well-matched to the headliners, but their early-Bodom-following style wasn't the most differentiated in the world; Equilibrium's middle-of-the-road sound without their epically expansive compositions. It was good music, overall, but it ran on for a bit longer than might really have been optimal; nevertheless, they pretty much had to play in this spot based on the structure of the rest of the bill, and competitive pressure from the other bands will push them to improve as this tour goes on.
I got a CD from them, but not a shirt; haven't listened yet, but the cover looks like a reference to La Maudite – and if the record's half as good as MPD's song of the same name, it'll nearly be worth the $20 I dropped on it. Srsly, dudes, this is 2009, you're supposed to sell your CDs cheap at shows and pocket the extra the record store would have made.
Moonsorrow [7/7]
There is something seriously going on with Trollhorn/Henri that he keeps not coming to the US with the bands he's in. First Finntroll, now Moonsorrow; the silver lining in this, though, is that Moonsorrow, like Finntroll, appears to be perfectly capable of knocking out an ace set without him. They only played five songs, and even at that, the set only ran about 45 minutes....which is about half as long as a five-song Moonsorrow set might take in the optimal case. Still: amazing, epic music, the crowd thoroughly into it, a good balance of new material and old, blacker, stuff; not the absolutely optimal set, but fuck was it good.
Primordial [7/7]
My first time seeing this band without dirt under my feet: neither as magical as that first outing in the tentstage in '05, nor as straightforwardly powerful and transformative as this summer on the Party Stage, but still, an eminently worthy Primordial set, covering basically the same core of material that they did the last time I saw them.
Setlist:
Empire Falls
The Golden Spiral
As Rome Burns
The Coffin Ships
Gods To The Godless
Heathen Tribes
Six songs, 45 minutes again; it's how this band rolls, and though this was debatably the third best of the three times that I've seen them, it was still so good as to tremendously overpower nearly all of the people who, due to the band having played exactly one show (last year's Heathen Crusade) in the US before this, had never seen them live. Primordial is a transformative band live or on record, and you do not forget the first time you see them.
Korpiklaani [6.5/7]
Korpiklaani had a tough act to follow, but they followed it up as only they can: by sheer obliviousness, the distinct selling point of their particular brand of deer-camp humppaa metal. It was a fun time, but there was certainly also a certain intellectual disjunct; Primordial leaves throwing up shadows of diaspora, genocide, nationalism, post-nationalism, tribalism, and post-corporatocracy, and then a bunch of Finns start bumping the bass and squeezing an accordion. The new material sounded fine, if completely indistinguishable from their old stuff; "Wodka" is going to be an infield favorite on a par with "Beer Beer" and "Happy Little Boozer", for sure. They also had a couple breaks of pure open-bow Finnish humppaa, which maybe nobody else recognized as such, but people dug all the same. Despite the thick language barrier (vice the singer's impenetrable accent), people certainly got into it; as much dancing as moshing, as odd as it looks and seems. Even up here in New England we aint got nothin agin a good ole-fashion barn dance on a Frid'y night, 'long's it's a band we done importered from Finland up on stage a-sawin th'fiddle.
After a good long show made smoother by the large-scale backlining, the venue eventually put the lights back up and things had to be over. This is going to be one of the standout shows of the year when all is said and done, and if you missed it, especially if you haven't seen Primordial before, those who were there are going to be scoffing at you at some point in this conversation.
Because I wanted to see Swashbuckle again, and at a range that would matter, I left again directly from work and got in shortly after doors. Because the tour organizers decided to backline everybody (a smart decision that more tourmanagers should look into; it saves gas, space, and time, and virtually eliminates the possibility of shit getting stolen since you can just cycle guitars and cymbals in and out of the green room and have everyone drag their own shit out to the vans/buses at the end), this meant about an hour of downtime before the music actually started. This was enough time to do beer and merch and still get way ahead on the rail, where I hung out, shot the shit with various peeps, and chuckled at the illuminated inflatable palm trees.
Swashbuckle [5.5/7]
This may have been their first time back in New England since that infamous show at O'Brien's; they did a mini-tour with Revocation (at least 2/3 of whom were on hand as guestlist/roadies), but I'm not sure it ran this far north. Nevertheless, they got a nice reception as soon as the board got them properly dialed in, despite being by far the thrashiest band on the bill and debatably the heaviest. The new material is pretty good, and I'm looking forward to their Nuclear Blast debut – fuckin A, doods, right on!
Before the band went on, the security was laughing at their inflatable stage set and mocking as though the band was going to be poncy Jack Sparrow disciples. In the break after them, several of the secus who were ripping on them the most had ordered up to the merch stand for shirts. That's how you define a musical tour-de-force – emphasis on force.
Blackguard [5/7]
Les enfants de Bodom must have been taken. These Canadiens were pretty good, and well-matched to the headliners, but their early-Bodom-following style wasn't the most differentiated in the world; Equilibrium's middle-of-the-road sound without their epically expansive compositions. It was good music, overall, but it ran on for a bit longer than might really have been optimal; nevertheless, they pretty much had to play in this spot based on the structure of the rest of the bill, and competitive pressure from the other bands will push them to improve as this tour goes on.
I got a CD from them, but not a shirt; haven't listened yet, but the cover looks like a reference to La Maudite – and if the record's half as good as MPD's song of the same name, it'll nearly be worth the $20 I dropped on it. Srsly, dudes, this is 2009, you're supposed to sell your CDs cheap at shows and pocket the extra the record store would have made.
Moonsorrow [7/7]
There is something seriously going on with Trollhorn/Henri that he keeps not coming to the US with the bands he's in. First Finntroll, now Moonsorrow; the silver lining in this, though, is that Moonsorrow, like Finntroll, appears to be perfectly capable of knocking out an ace set without him. They only played five songs, and even at that, the set only ran about 45 minutes....which is about half as long as a five-song Moonsorrow set might take in the optimal case. Still: amazing, epic music, the crowd thoroughly into it, a good balance of new material and old, blacker, stuff; not the absolutely optimal set, but fuck was it good.
Primordial [7/7]
My first time seeing this band without dirt under my feet: neither as magical as that first outing in the tentstage in '05, nor as straightforwardly powerful and transformative as this summer on the Party Stage, but still, an eminently worthy Primordial set, covering basically the same core of material that they did the last time I saw them.
Setlist:
Empire Falls
The Golden Spiral
As Rome Burns
The Coffin Ships
Gods To The Godless
Heathen Tribes
Six songs, 45 minutes again; it's how this band rolls, and though this was debatably the third best of the three times that I've seen them, it was still so good as to tremendously overpower nearly all of the people who, due to the band having played exactly one show (last year's Heathen Crusade) in the US before this, had never seen them live. Primordial is a transformative band live or on record, and you do not forget the first time you see them.
Korpiklaani [6.5/7]
Korpiklaani had a tough act to follow, but they followed it up as only they can: by sheer obliviousness, the distinct selling point of their particular brand of deer-camp humppaa metal. It was a fun time, but there was certainly also a certain intellectual disjunct; Primordial leaves throwing up shadows of diaspora, genocide, nationalism, post-nationalism, tribalism, and post-corporatocracy, and then a bunch of Finns start bumping the bass and squeezing an accordion. The new material sounded fine, if completely indistinguishable from their old stuff; "Wodka" is going to be an infield favorite on a par with "Beer Beer" and "Happy Little Boozer", for sure. They also had a couple breaks of pure open-bow Finnish humppaa, which maybe nobody else recognized as such, but people dug all the same. Despite the thick language barrier (vice the singer's impenetrable accent), people certainly got into it; as much dancing as moshing, as odd as it looks and seems. Even up here in New England we aint got nothin agin a good ole-fashion barn dance on a Frid'y night, 'long's it's a band we done importered from Finland up on stage a-sawin th'fiddle.
After a good long show made smoother by the large-scale backlining, the venue eventually put the lights back up and things had to be over. This is going to be one of the standout shows of the year when all is said and done, and if you missed it, especially if you haven't seen Primordial before, those who were there are going to be scoffing at you at some point in this conversation.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Swashbuckle with Deathamphetamine, Revocation, and Despotic Robot (plus Reverend Grundarr CD-release) [O'Brien's Pub, Allston, 10/29/2006]
Even though this was booked as a single show (Thrash Till Fucking Death part II, may or may not make it to Somerville in 2 weeks for part III), it was really more of two shows, because it's not reasonable to expect that a normal band could headline over Swashbuckle on a show like this, as the scores will bear out.
This was a matinee show, so I was able to make a whole bunch of gin chicken (recipe later) and do up some sandwiches to take in on the T. Not knowing the lay of the ground, I didn't wear my kutte in, though I probably could have, and will in the future. Taking public transit is always preferable, because metal is better enjoyed with beer, but seldom possible in this country. Interesting point walking up Harvard Ave from the Green Line stop: "Varg Lives" graffiti (with a burning church graphic) on some cafe or another. Of course Varg lives, n00bz, he still gives interviews from jail every so often.
I got to the venue right about doors and held 'em open for Despotic Robot's load-in; O'Brien's, for people who haven't been there yet, is a smallish pub that has become a smallish concert venue by putting in a stage and removing almost all signs of tables or chairs. When pressed, it might hold about 50 people, but this was not an issue with this show; even by the end, there were only about 20 or so people there who were not in bands on the bill -- and 22 who were. This is kind of endemic to local music, but in Boston a little more might have been expected. Beer prices were decent, with Stella flowing at $4 -- I could have been drinking PBR for half that, but I also could have punched myself in the face for free. You gotta watch the slippery slope.
Despotic Robot [6/7]
For the first band out of the gates, and despite what the vocalist described as a fairly long layoff (don't follow them, so I dunno when their last gig was), they were pretty impressive, and definitely set the thrash tone for the night. The board sounded really well-tuned for them, though this may have been an artifact of their fairly melodic sound, which was heavily rooted in Metallica's first three discs with a few hardcore touches. Fun music in good humor, but also thoroughly competent and it got everyone up and moving around.
Revocation [6/7]
The sound board wasn't as good to these guys, who mimed along to Death's "Crystal Mountain" during their soundcheck but presented a sound much more in line with Atheist or Imperium as regards technical thrash. The guitars were a little buried at times, but they still had a strong share of good music, and the bassist is fuckin' sick. Still a good show, but they need a second guitarist or just better guitar amps to really move up.
Color me totally retarded, but I didn't realize that Revocation is Cryptic Warning under a new name, modulo a new drummer. Of course, this is probably because it's been 4 years since I got their first demo, and spent most of the intervening time either out of state or out of the country. I got both CDs and a shirt from them, for coolness and to support the scene, not just because I felt guilty for sticking that early demo with a 3/7 score.
Also between Revocation and Deathamphetamine, I saw on the bar TV that Green Bay had defeated the rapidly self-destructing Cardinals. Go Pack Go!
Deathamphetamine [6/7]
If I had to put this band in a national nutshell, I'd have to go with Nevermore for their mix of the brutal and progressive. However, they don't really-really sound like Nevermore at all. They were the first band to spill off the stage, probably because their guitarist's effects board wouldn't leave him anywhere to stand if it had to get sandwiched in between their cabs and the front monitors. This set was ambitious as well as thoroughly well-delivered, and their overall total tightness got them a lot of extra style points. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to score a CD from them, as they'd sold out, so I got a shirt instead. They're going to do another pressing, and it's not like I'm never going to see them again; a band this good in an area as rich with metal shows as eastern New England will never lack for local-support slots.
Swashbuckle [7/7]
These guys were ready from the get-go, changing into their pirate costumes almost as soon as they got to the venue and not taking too long to get their heavily prop-laded stage set up and ready. However, the stars weren't the oar or the inflatable pirate ship, but Admiral Nobeard and crew as they tore through song after song of Running Wild-flavored brutal thrash and got the crowd churning, both on normal pit dynamics and an actual circle pit (which I took a single mostly non-voluntary turn in, though without injury) around one of the supporting poles in the middle of the floor. We raised our pirate hooks (do the horns, put your pinky back in your fist, then hook the first finger) and got both taunted and praised for buying into the gimmick -- sure, gimmicks are gimmicks, but there ain't nothing wrong with them when they're backed up by pure undiluted AWESOME. It's difficult to describe how cool this set was to someone who wasn't there, other than to tell people to go see this damn band's shows, and buy their damn swag. Their Crewed By The Damned CD is great, and I also scored a "Wooden Legs and Emptied Kegs" shirt -- which another showgoer picked up for his roommate, who recently had to have a leg amputated and chose a peg leg over a normal prosthesis. Now that's fuckin metal.
Reverend Grundarr and the Unholy Trinity [5/7]
Though this band took an egalitarian tack by setting up in the middle of the floor -- which had previously been serving as backstage for everyone else as the stagefront emptied over to the bar area between songs, they still came off as a little flat. Maybe it was the setup, maybe it was the fact that they empasized the grind in grind-thrash and grind bands really have to almost be Napalm Death or Nasum to really get my head turned, but most likely it was the fact that they were following Swashbuckle and everyone was just leaning on one of the bars or supports resting up. They played a good set and executed well, but the necessary falloff in awesomeness level was still apparent. Their new CD is better than they were live, so maybe this was an off night; I'll see in a couple weeks how they do building up energy for Hirax.
After picking up the CD and a patch from Grundarr et al, I hit the road back -- giving a YARRRRR! to Swashbuckle as I passed their van in the parking lot. Fun times and an awesome show; this sort of gig should be an obligato every time the Patriots play Monday night and the Bruins don't have a Sunday night game. No pics from the Rev on this one, which is too bad, but he was covering a festival in NYC on Saturday and can be kind of excused -- though other people will have a harder time.
How to make gin chicken:
-----
This is a newly developed recipe that is now officially out of beta. It combines stir-frying and boiling to create tender chicken pieces that can be used in just about anything. I can't wait until I have the leisure time (and non-moldy steamer trays) to do some Chinese steamed buns around these. For the sauce you need hoisin sauce, soy sauce, water, and a clove or two of garlic. In your wok you'll need a shot or so of cooking oil and a shot or so of shochu (or Chinese cooking wine, or Han vodka, or some other mostly-taste-neutral spirit of your choice). These can be extended over a basically arbitrary amount of chicken.
Dice up the garlic real fine and put it in a small bowl. Add about 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 heaped teaspoon of hoisin sauce, and 1/2 cup water. Mix thoroughly.
Take your chicken breasts and thoroughly remove all fat and gristle. Slice 'em as thin as you can get, with the grain; about 1/4 inch should be a good thickness.
Put the oil and booze in the wok and get your heat up; start adding chicken slices until the area covered by liquid is full. Pour the sauce in over them.
Turn the chicken periodically to make sure both sides of the slices are cooked. As soon as one batch of pieces is done, take them out and put new chicken in. Continue until all that you've cut is cooked.
The resulting chicken has a slight Chinese taste, but not overly strong, and it can be used in just about anything. I've had it with pasta, couscous, on sandwiches with various kinds of cheese, the works. The secret of its extensibility is that the sauce has no thickeners, so it cooks into the meat rather than onto it, and can be easily washed right out of the wok once the cooking's done. This dish is also stupidly easy and quick to make up; I went from 'no cooking gear or ingredients out' to 'finished making the sandwich and washed up' in 15 minutes on Saturday, including all cooking and prep. If you can keep the sauce ingredients in stock, there's really not any excuse any more for not fresh-cooking stuff.
This was a matinee show, so I was able to make a whole bunch of gin chicken (recipe later) and do up some sandwiches to take in on the T. Not knowing the lay of the ground, I didn't wear my kutte in, though I probably could have, and will in the future. Taking public transit is always preferable, because metal is better enjoyed with beer, but seldom possible in this country. Interesting point walking up Harvard Ave from the Green Line stop: "Varg Lives" graffiti (with a burning church graphic) on some cafe or another. Of course Varg lives, n00bz, he still gives interviews from jail every so often.
I got to the venue right about doors and held 'em open for Despotic Robot's load-in; O'Brien's, for people who haven't been there yet, is a smallish pub that has become a smallish concert venue by putting in a stage and removing almost all signs of tables or chairs. When pressed, it might hold about 50 people, but this was not an issue with this show; even by the end, there were only about 20 or so people there who were not in bands on the bill -- and 22 who were. This is kind of endemic to local music, but in Boston a little more might have been expected. Beer prices were decent, with Stella flowing at $4 -- I could have been drinking PBR for half that, but I also could have punched myself in the face for free. You gotta watch the slippery slope.
Despotic Robot [6/7]
For the first band out of the gates, and despite what the vocalist described as a fairly long layoff (don't follow them, so I dunno when their last gig was), they were pretty impressive, and definitely set the thrash tone for the night. The board sounded really well-tuned for them, though this may have been an artifact of their fairly melodic sound, which was heavily rooted in Metallica's first three discs with a few hardcore touches. Fun music in good humor, but also thoroughly competent and it got everyone up and moving around.
Revocation [6/7]
The sound board wasn't as good to these guys, who mimed along to Death's "Crystal Mountain" during their soundcheck but presented a sound much more in line with Atheist or Imperium as regards technical thrash. The guitars were a little buried at times, but they still had a strong share of good music, and the bassist is fuckin' sick. Still a good show, but they need a second guitarist or just better guitar amps to really move up.
Color me totally retarded, but I didn't realize that Revocation is Cryptic Warning under a new name, modulo a new drummer. Of course, this is probably because it's been 4 years since I got their first demo, and spent most of the intervening time either out of state or out of the country. I got both CDs and a shirt from them, for coolness and to support the scene, not just because I felt guilty for sticking that early demo with a 3/7 score.
Also between Revocation and Deathamphetamine, I saw on the bar TV that Green Bay had defeated the rapidly self-destructing Cardinals. Go Pack Go!
Deathamphetamine [6/7]
If I had to put this band in a national nutshell, I'd have to go with Nevermore for their mix of the brutal and progressive. However, they don't really-really sound like Nevermore at all. They were the first band to spill off the stage, probably because their guitarist's effects board wouldn't leave him anywhere to stand if it had to get sandwiched in between their cabs and the front monitors. This set was ambitious as well as thoroughly well-delivered, and their overall total tightness got them a lot of extra style points. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to score a CD from them, as they'd sold out, so I got a shirt instead. They're going to do another pressing, and it's not like I'm never going to see them again; a band this good in an area as rich with metal shows as eastern New England will never lack for local-support slots.
Swashbuckle [7/7]
These guys were ready from the get-go, changing into their pirate costumes almost as soon as they got to the venue and not taking too long to get their heavily prop-laded stage set up and ready. However, the stars weren't the oar or the inflatable pirate ship, but Admiral Nobeard and crew as they tore through song after song of Running Wild-flavored brutal thrash and got the crowd churning, both on normal pit dynamics and an actual circle pit (which I took a single mostly non-voluntary turn in, though without injury) around one of the supporting poles in the middle of the floor. We raised our pirate hooks (do the horns, put your pinky back in your fist, then hook the first finger) and got both taunted and praised for buying into the gimmick -- sure, gimmicks are gimmicks, but there ain't nothing wrong with them when they're backed up by pure undiluted AWESOME. It's difficult to describe how cool this set was to someone who wasn't there, other than to tell people to go see this damn band's shows, and buy their damn swag. Their Crewed By The Damned CD is great, and I also scored a "Wooden Legs and Emptied Kegs" shirt -- which another showgoer picked up for his roommate, who recently had to have a leg amputated and chose a peg leg over a normal prosthesis. Now that's fuckin metal.
Reverend Grundarr and the Unholy Trinity [5/7]
Though this band took an egalitarian tack by setting up in the middle of the floor -- which had previously been serving as backstage for everyone else as the stagefront emptied over to the bar area between songs, they still came off as a little flat. Maybe it was the setup, maybe it was the fact that they empasized the grind in grind-thrash and grind bands really have to almost be Napalm Death or Nasum to really get my head turned, but most likely it was the fact that they were following Swashbuckle and everyone was just leaning on one of the bars or supports resting up. They played a good set and executed well, but the necessary falloff in awesomeness level was still apparent. Their new CD is better than they were live, so maybe this was an off night; I'll see in a couple weeks how they do building up energy for Hirax.
After picking up the CD and a patch from Grundarr et al, I hit the road back -- giving a YARRRRR! to Swashbuckle as I passed their van in the parking lot. Fun times and an awesome show; this sort of gig should be an obligato every time the Patriots play Monday night and the Bruins don't have a Sunday night game. No pics from the Rev on this one, which is too bad, but he was covering a festival in NYC on Saturday and can be kind of excused -- though other people will have a harder time.
How to make gin chicken:
-----
This is a newly developed recipe that is now officially out of beta. It combines stir-frying and boiling to create tender chicken pieces that can be used in just about anything. I can't wait until I have the leisure time (and non-moldy steamer trays) to do some Chinese steamed buns around these. For the sauce you need hoisin sauce, soy sauce, water, and a clove or two of garlic. In your wok you'll need a shot or so of cooking oil and a shot or so of shochu (or Chinese cooking wine, or Han vodka, or some other mostly-taste-neutral spirit of your choice). These can be extended over a basically arbitrary amount of chicken.
Dice up the garlic real fine and put it in a small bowl. Add about 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 heaped teaspoon of hoisin sauce, and 1/2 cup water. Mix thoroughly.
Take your chicken breasts and thoroughly remove all fat and gristle. Slice 'em as thin as you can get, with the grain; about 1/4 inch should be a good thickness.
Put the oil and booze in the wok and get your heat up; start adding chicken slices until the area covered by liquid is full. Pour the sauce in over them.
Turn the chicken periodically to make sure both sides of the slices are cooked. As soon as one batch of pieces is done, take them out and put new chicken in. Continue until all that you've cut is cooked.
The resulting chicken has a slight Chinese taste, but not overly strong, and it can be used in just about anything. I've had it with pasta, couscous, on sandwiches with various kinds of cheese, the works. The secret of its extensibility is that the sauce has no thickeners, so it cooks into the meat rather than onto it, and can be easily washed right out of the wok once the cooking's done. This dish is also stupidly easy and quick to make up; I went from 'no cooking gear or ingredients out' to 'finished making the sandwich and washed up' in 15 minutes on Saturday, including all cooking and prep. If you can keep the sauce ingredients in stock, there's really not any excuse any more for not fresh-cooking stuff.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)