Behemoth with Watain, The Devil's Blood, and In Solitude [Worcester Palladium, 5/11/2012]

Due to the early start I got moving quicklike, and despite the traffic and having to stop to refuel, I got out and parked and processed in before In Solitude started playing.  Beer in hand and some buttons, a foldy single, and Murrum's demo in my coat, I headed down front, where I ran into Carmine and got a sneak peek at the cover art for their coming demo/record.  (And no, you jerks, it does not involve penises.)  Right exactly on time, though, the band started up.

In Solitude [5/7]
This set showed a less girlfriend-metal side of the band, and a little more vital one, but this was still a short set held back by the band's cycle time and the terrible, terrible house sound.  They didn't really get going until "Witches' Sabbath" -- the last song -- and a song and a half out of those four were unlistenable due to the mismix.  In Solitude are better than they sounded here, and they will sound better in Schlotheim, but not everyone has the freedom to put gigs by international bands by the boards like that, and those who came out to see them got jobbed by the soundboard.

Seriously, this is not fucking hard.  If your first instinct, even using the first band to dial in the board, is not "turn the guitars up to 11, fuck the bass", you probably should not be mixing heavy metal.

The Devil's Blood setting up.  In addition to nailing the '70s guitar tone and composition, the instrumentalists in this band also have the '70s "look like total addicts" thing down pat.

The Devil's Blood [6.5/7]
Another shorter set, but with proper mixing and better material, it came out as ceaseless quality.  This was comparable to and highly reminiscent of the last time I saw the band, but given that this set had some technical problems, maybe a better performance on music and stagecraft.  They are not and will never be the most metal or hardest-hitting band out there, but Ghost trend or no Ghost trend, they're only headed up from here.

Watain [6/7]
This was a new side of Watain for me, with nothing bleeding or on fire, but it was still a damn cool performance.  The stadium-ready black metal that they inherited from Dissection has been further developed while still keeping most of its black metal essentials, and if the economics will probably keep them out of actual arenas, they'll continue to be viable headlining large rooms like this for a while yet.

Standing in the back of the floor area, I had difficulty seeing Erik over the front row.  This, much more than any inadequacy issues (the other 'outfield' members of Watain are all fairly normal-height Swedish males, or 'wicked tall' as it's known around Boston), is probably why he was standing on a box.  This has not been an issue in other venues, either in smaller clubs where the sight angles don't get cut down as much, or on festivals where the stage is higher up.

Done drinking and still uninspired by Behemoth, I went back, nabbed a Watain hoodie, and ended up talking a while with Phil Revo-Coyne on various subjects.  If you haven't seen Revocation in a while, you're going to have the opportunity soon enough; this was a breather a couple weeks in advance of a marathon touring stand that will go around the US twice over June through August with no two days off in a row, and then proceed on to other territories (dates and package not set/announced, so no leaks) later on in the year.  As far as they've gotten, it's still a long way to the top.

The better part of a thousand people go nuts for Nergal.

Behemoth [6/7]
This is probably the most attention I have ever paid to a Behemoth set, and as little as I remain into the band, their execution is definitely at a level where headlining these kinds of packages is warranted, even with the material still being what it is.  There is still a lot of Morbid Angel worship going on here, but the separation is a little cleaner, more of the material more strongly branded.  This was a good, functional, and extremely professional set, and it's good to see Nergal back wearing silly hats rather than a hospital gown (even if "Conquer All" has a life-positive intro now, in what's likely a first for black or black-descended metal), but Behemoth's material is still where it is, largely outside the domain of my interest.

I did stick around through the encore and until the lights went up, but this was still fairly early, and even with taking alternate routes due to holes in the road and getting stopped on a state police roadblock, I managed to get back right about midnight.  I then went on to get shattered watching BVB take the double and Barca steal a last futile point the next day, but that is what it is, and these kinds of delays should be taken for granted at this point.  I have a minivacation at least planned for the end of this week, with three shows and the CL final over Thursday through Saturday, and those should get done up in a more speedy fashion.

Every Shirt IX: Watain

shirt: Watain 2008 US tour
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2008
provenance: band

This shirt was acquired last autumn at the band's gig downstairs at the Middle East. The front design, though (as opposed to the back, which has the tour stops and a cool decayed version of the Statue of Liberty's head), is the somewhat older/classic "To The Death" design, which I got on a patch at their more epic concert at the Middle East upstairs the year before. The design, like a lot of designs based on photos, translates a lot better here than onto the patch, but looking at the patch in situ on my jacket, the thing is just fucking monstrous. That's a killer black metal design executed with top-end materials, and it's entirely debatable whether the better total effect is at shirt size or on the patch.

Watain with Withered, Book of Black Earth, Cold Northern Vengeance, Revocation, Blessed Offal, and Ipssisimus [Middle East, Cambridge, 10/7/2008]

Long awaited, it was finally here; the return of Watain to North America (well, techncially they started in Canada 3 days earlier, but still), along with a top-class bill of support, good enough to make up for being as long as your damn arm. Even though this was on a Tuesday, anticipation was still high as they'd been tremendous on the last pass -- their gig upstairs was the short-listed show of the year of 2007. As is getting to be usual for these early-start Boston shows, I left directly from work and got in too early. This gave me time to drink an IPA out of a bizarre triangle-bottom glass, then stand around outside for a while, waiting for real doors. The Middle East was, as usual, a little slow with their Einlass, and as a result, I didn't get in until after Ipsissimus had already started.

Ipsissimus [5/7]
Fortunately, their last song and a half turned out to be about half their set. Well, fortunate for someone who came in late; they, like the other locals, were a little constrained by the fact that there were seven bands on this bill, but they did a good job with the time provided. They've come up significantly since I first saw them, and this was a class performance of melodically complex but still true black metal, which impressed those who were down early and probably led to a bunch of CD sales, even though their EP's been free online for a while. The sound wasn't perfect, but the parts where they were cutting and cool greatly oughtweighed the down bits.

After Ipsissimus, I did most of my merch-getting; some cool shirts, a few CDs that I didn't have, some patches, pretty much the usual. The most notable thing in this was the realization, via Withered's tourshirt, that New York City is actually in Cali. I blame the Pail and Shovel Party, personally.

Blessed Offal [6/7]
To this point, I'd had difficulty getting a firm handle on this band; now, though, they've established themselves a lot more cleanly. There's a lot of good black metal bands in New England, but with this raw, dirty, pummeling black/death performance, Blessed Offal should be out of the pack and readily recognizable. They've still got some issues establishing their lineup (Bobby from Hirudinea on bass for this one rather than Cody from Witch Tomb), but if they can keep this one together, they may well get up into that first rank. Unfortunately, they didn't have anything recorded, but this, too, will probably come with time.

Revocation [7/7]
Prima facie, Revocation did not belong on this bill, as every other band on it is at least partly black metal, and Revocation are composed almost completely of death-thrash. So, naturally, they remedied this situation by writing a long neo-black metal instrumental intro, then ripping through it and playing everyone else off the damn stage. Fortunately, technical execution isn't absolutely necessary for black metal, so this didn't matter a whole lot to the overall enjoyment of the rest of the show, or, I suspect, make the touring bands think they were being upstaged (which, really, they weren't), but god damnit are Dave, Phil, and Anthony good at what they do. Everyone and their brother is thrash-revivaling 1986 in the Bay Area, and these guys are doing Wisconsin, Florida, NYC, and Germany circa 1990 -- plus all this modern tech-death stuff in the bargain.

Revocation were the only band that had merch that I did not buy at least something off of. I felt bad, but I'm full up on their buttons and stickers -- if they made, um, a PATCH or something, I'd definitely put down for such.

Cold Northern Vengeance [6/7]
In their first appearance since putting out Domination & Servitude, CNV came out with a new lineup and a new sound, sticking closer to the old Norwegian sound than their previous resemblances to the east. This is not entirely out of character with their previous stuff, but just darker, more direct, and more droning, and the result is one of the more truly original sounds in USBM. They did only 3 songs (due to length), and all new stuff -- "The Abraxas Trance" was simply massive, and on their closer, they cut out one of the 3 guitars and the bass for a truly cultic sound on the order of Agalloch from the regrowth forests instead of the old-growth. They had a better set the last time they opened for Watain -- which due to recording issues and misconceptions people have about the band, was I think their last show before this -- but there was nothing wrong with what they delivered here.

Book of Black Earth [5/7]
Throughout their set, this band exhorted the crowd to move forward and move around more. If less of the audience had been around for Ipsissimus, and CNV immediately before them, they might have had more success with these appeals; on a musical basis, Book of Black Earth steps away from the 'hipster black metal' tag that may be applied based on the appearance of some of their members, but in this performance they didn't really set themselves a part as being better than the (very good) local support in inaugurating the touring part of the bill. This was a good performance, but Ipsissimus handled their melodics in a more interesting way without resorting to keyboards, and CNV out-grimmed the living fuck out of them. Decent, and worth the CD that I picked up, but they definitely went on in the right place relative to the rest of the touring bill.

Withered [5.5/7]
I was standing further back for Withered, and subsequently; I'd seen the rest of the bands remaining and didn't feel like wedging forward just to say that I was at the front, at the expense of someone who may not have seen either. The result was that the sound felt a little messed-up during Withered's set, and at least less powerful for Watain; others have also commented on the intermittent quality of the board at this gig, but much of it I didn't notice because I was up front getting the sound from the cabs rather than the PA. Regardless, this set wasn't quite as inspiring as the last time I saw them -- here, opening for Grave and Dismember, incidentally, and surprisingly two years ago -- but still provided a nice slice of quality crunching death/doom/black metal. Next to Revocation, this was the least black metal outing of the night, but it was well-delivered, and those who would have objected to them took the opportunity to have a last smoke break or whatever before Watain.

Watain [6.5/7]
There were a lot of high expectations for this performance, and most of them were met. However, while this was a really great set, it wasn't perfect, and the expectations made for a high wall to climb. Last year, Watain played upstairs and produced debatably the best gig of the year, and on this run, they were playing in a larger space, and had loudly advertised their intent to go whole hog, with more blood and Satanism and dead animal parts than they'd been allowed to do on the last run. Unfortunately, the plug got pulled on new blood -- the red-brown dust all over their gear, and the accompanying reek, testified that they are serious about this stuff -- or dead flesh, and what was left was a solid musical performance that fell a little short of the peak, perhaps also hampered by the sound being less than optimal. This was still a Watain gig, and a damn good Watain gig, but between the PR and the word-of-mouth from last year, people were expecting Live In Leipzig part II, and it didn't happen. It may be unrealistic for anyone to be disappointed with this set, but it's certainly understandable: even in the raw and bloody-minded world of underground black metal, people can build castles in the air, and get run down when they crumble on contact with reality.

There was allegedly some aggro between NS skins and SHARPs afterwards, but I didn't see it, having bugged out ASAP; I had to work in the morning, and the demands of work have gotten this review impossibly delayed down to the current point. Next gig's tonight in this same hall...though Kamelot and Edguy will draw a LITTLE different crowd. Iced Earth tomorrow, then I get my extreme-metal bonafides back with Amon Amarth and Master on the weekend.

Watain with Angelcorpse, Nachtmystium, Cold Northern Vengeance, and Witch Tomb [Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, 5/13/2007]

Despite leaving a little late and getting backed up on 128 going down to 93 for some bizarre reason, I managed to make it in right about doors, which was a definite positive seeing that given the size of the upstairs and the profile of the bands on this bill, this show was a definite risk to sell out, and I didn't have a ticket. While this was good luck and good practice, it turned out not to matter so much, because actual entrance was delayed by about ten minutes or so; I paid and got banded, then spent the intervening time skimming lemon bits out of a hefeweizen. It's been a long time since I was in Germany, but I persist in the belief that it's a good idea to call doors Einlass to remind the venue that that's when you lass the people ein, and I just can't understand the compulsion to throw fruit wedges in a perfectly good unfiltered beer. WAT ISS DAT FA KACKE?!?

Soon enough, though, they did let us in, and there was time enough to go rummaging for some obscure records at the merch table before Witch Tomb went on. I wasn't initially quite sure what all I got, but if they're selling it at a show this cult, it's almost certain to be cool. (It was, nearly all of it.)

Witch Tomb [5/7]
Despite the fact that this is the same score they've gotten both other times I've seen them -- I don't remember these things so hard so I can just experience the show as it happens and then react to it later -- this was a definite step up for Witch Tomb, both musically -- they've added a fourth member to do effects and second guitar, and the overall sound from the rest of the band is up a notch in general domination as well -- and visually, as Cody's no longer the only one blacked up. As remarked before, it's a cool difference from normal corpsepaint, and in this case it worked especially well with the setup of the venue; four filth trolls in a hellcave howling hate at the world. Of course, all the presentation in the world wouldn't help if the music underneath wasn't cool; as it is, this was a really good set, with some Enslaved touches that I hadn't previously heard/noticed in their crushing necro assault, and I'm definitely looking forward to that coming split with Martyrvore. The set ended a little weirdly, with them throwing a filth-befouled Bible into the audience and then walking off as the effects guy wound out the outro, leaving people unsure as to whether they should cheer yet or not, but it was a kickass performance and a sign of more cool things to come.

Witch Tomb brought Devin from December Wolves up on stage for one song; my ears were still adjusting and I didn't catch what band he's with now, and I also probably lose True Points en passant for admitting that I didn't recognize the song. I can live with this; I've already recognized that not picking up various December Wolves records when I could have was one of the more significant mistakes I've made this decade.

Cold Northern Vengeance [6/7]
Cold Northern Vengeance playing "A Past Forgotten" [7/7]
Fortunately, this show was too cult to be disturbed by leftextremists. And if there were any in attendance, they were likely shown the error of protesting this band by another great set from CNV. The sound here was better than at Mark's, giving the music fuller rein, and the result was definitely impressive. All of CNV's material is really strong, some of the best stylistic succession to the less necro side of the Black Circle done outside Norway, but there are few more sublime experiences in this genre than CNV on a good, solid night like this doing "A Past Forgotten" through good PA. The song eats almost half their set time in a slot like this, but every second's worth it. If you live in New England and pass on their shows, either out of ignorance or because somebody's been lying to you to the effect that they're a political band (which they're not), you need to get your head turned around and come out to see them.

Between the local and touring parts of the bill, I hit the merch table again and picked up a pair of cassettes as well as two Watain patches, which were as well-finished and well-manufactured as you'd expect from a European band. It's a good thing I've got that ultralight that I'm working on, because both patches are too cool not to feature, and there's a limited number of feature slots left on my main jacket. BLACK METAL MILITIA!

Nachtmystium [6/7]
Someone described this band as "psychedelic black metal" since the last time I saw them, and the description does fit at least a little, even with the more necro sound that they were driving here. Overall, they still inherit strongly from Celtic Frost (if not as strong as Goatwhore), but the sharper and more malevolent sound helps them step forward on their own, and to really good effect. This was probably about the best set I've seen from this band, who I've now seen three times in the last month and a half. If this keeps up and Nachtmystium becomes the next on-every-show band after Goatwhore now and Krisiun a couple years back, I don't think anyone's really going to complain.

Angelcorpse [6/7]
I was pretty sure that they were the headliners going in, and it was written up as such on the set times, and they definitely kicked out a headliner-quality set of graveling black/death metal. The sound was tight and focused, more so than you might expect from a band that took most of the last seven years off, and the most prominent death metal elements of the night also drew them the most significant moshing. When they finally closed up, people were still yelling for more; if, as on one of the previous dates, Watain ended up canceling this one, people would have been disappointed, but also would have to be honestly satisfied with the bill so far and Angelcorpse's dominating performance.

Watain [7/7]
Watain, though, did show up, and also showed that there was a reason that they were headlining beyond "we lugged all this stage-dressing crap over from Sweden and it takes too long to clean up". There were a lot of banners and backing props, but the music taking place in front of them, necro but still complex and driving black metal inheriting most strongly from early Dissection, was the real attraction, delivered with straightforward power and conviction. The Dissection influence was made a little more solid towards the end of their set, with a superb 'cover' of "The Somberlain"; 'cover' quoted because more of this band (at least the live lineup) has been in Dissection more recently than any competitor, and in not only heritage but in spirit they're probably the most suited to carrying on Jon's legacy (with, hopefully, less suicidal crazyness). They promised to return -- and given the response from the packed house here, this isn't by any means out of the question -- but more preferable would have been just returning to the stage to do, say "Thorns of Crimson Death" and a couple of their own songs as an encore, but unfortunately at this point the club put the lights on and started encouraging people to evacuate out the back door into the street. Oh well. The immediate general thought was that this sucked, but it was just a small touch of venue bullshit that didn't materially affect the result of a really great, kickass show.


Before I went down, I ran into Ken (MPD); the new record is finished and mixed, and I'm definitely amped up to hear it. Hopefully, it'll be out presently and they'll gig aggressively behind it; My Pet Demon is good stuff, and people beyond the salting of metalheads that we've got on the North Shore need to find out about them.