On my way up to the bank in the village to get my last euros out, I ran across this little kid, standing in the door of an outdoor-goods shop. He jumped out with a green astroturf rug over his head and back like a shaman's ritual cape, and gave me the double horns, Norway style, arms crossed, and he grinned like hell when I shot him one back.
Someday, this kid will grow up, but even if he forgets what he used to see as so cool in metal and metalheads, he'll still remember how he lived it up as a kid in this most unique place. Hopefully, though, he'll remember, and give metallers the benefit of the doubt as good and social people. And if he stays in this region (not real likely, everything demographically is against it) after growing up, he'll see that impression rather more reinforced than it is tarnished.
Ultimate badass award: Andy (spelling? no idea.) from Ireland, who I met at breakfast today. He rode a motorcycle over here from Eire, which is pretty fucking amazing. Come to Wacken, meet the craziest adventurers metal has to offer!
37: This is what it looks like when you pwn everyone and get front for SACRED FUCKIN REICH.
To the right in the pic above, there are actually people stacking up (wtf) for Sonic Syndicate (wtf wtf) on the Black Stage (wtf wtf wtf). Behold the power of Nuclear Blast marketing.
Sonic Syndicate [5/7]
Even admitting that they made some decently entertaining music, this band would be a lot more accurately called Children At The Edge of Dark Flames; take a bunch of huge-selling Swedecore acts, blend thoroughly, and don't add anything new. The most fun part about this band was seeing how long it took to figure out whether the song they were playing was originally by In Flames or by Dark Tranquillity. A follower-band doing DT B-sides shouldn't, abstractly, be playing Wacken, but DT B-sides are pretty damn good for noon on Saturday...leaving aside that I saw Metal Church in this timeslot last year.
38: Sonic Syndicate passing the time.
39: Sacred Reich checking and setting up.
40: Sacred Reich kicking ass -- front row again, bitches!
Sacred Reich [7/7]
If you were behind the pit, maybe this is a six; there were rough parts, and Sacred Reich's music was never at the top of the Bay Area pigpile. However, I was on the rail, and spent the last three songs as an acceleration and intensification of the first part of the set, ceaselessly throwing people over to the secus while getting blasted by crunchy, grooving thrash. They weren't the best thrash band of the weekend, but they were damn awesome and in this set provided a hell of a killer comeback.
There was a camera in my face for almost the whole set; if you get the DVD from this year, this is the band to look for me in; the jacket studs are pretty unique and should be a tipoff.
Heaven Shall Burn [7/7]
41: HSB im vollen Effekt.
42: The crowd rides the waves.
43: This is Skinless getting one-upped
Janini ist toll -- na, klar so iss sie. Janini ist toll und dazu supergeil.
The music was about at the 6 level, but still the best metalcore has to offer, solid and honest hardcore mixed with competently executed and grounded death metal, which forms the basis of Heaven Shall Burn's almost unique attraction outside their own scene. Plus, the band successfully invoked a circle pit, as shown in pic 43 above, that went all the way around the mix stand and the bar complex behind it, for a total circumference somewhere in the vicinity of 100-200 meters. This may be a world record and certainly was fucking astonishing to behold; those who weren't nearly 2m tall naturally were hopping on other people's shoulders, hoisting themselves on the fence, standing on the urinals, anything to see over the crowd to check that shit out. The pit ran for nearly the entire song at nearly full strength, which is something really special.
The interruption above is from this girl whose crew I ran into while writing up HSB and Sacred Reich during Stratovarius at the True Stage infield-wall bar; she literally took the pen out of my hand and wrote the first bit herself, then pressed me to write the second. I don't remember if this was before or after I helped her boyfriend mess with her and the rest of their posse by hiding the second of their inflatable drinks trays on the roof. Weird, weird people, but this was just the beginning of a long sequence of weird people and weird events that would go on through the day and into the night.
44: Mudman attacks! This guy is a crazy Dutchman who had his girl recently break up with him after three years, and the chick that he saw Sacred Reich with ran off. The descent into beer and madness was expected, but the mud was not. I talked with him for a while, and drank the Bruderschaft, but didn't get his name. I don't know that he went to see the strippers (this year, new, Wacken had its own occasional strip show in the Metal-Markt and a poker tent in the same area, as well as the newspaper; there's very few small-German-city services that aren't provided by the fest) later, but he dug the idea when I showed him the paper to help get his mind off his romantic woes, and despite or maybe due to being covered in mud, he may have picked up another girl later. Skol! To craziness and the true festival spirit! As I said when we raised our glasses, there may not be anyone at this festival who's going to pick up a girl he didn't come with, but we've got cold beer and loud metal, and two out of three aint bad.
Stratovarius [4/7]
I took this band mostly off, but was right next to the stage; they were OK, but not, to me, particularly inspiring, despite playing a fair bit of stuff off the Infinite album, which does happen to be my favorite. The time was better spent with the music as a backdrop to watching - and talking with - crazy dudes and cute girls. This may have been reversed as well, but I'm not qualified as a judge of male beauty, and none of the girls were throwing waste-contaminated mud at people or hopping around backwards, trying to INVERSE RAEP people with their bare butts.
The Vision Bleak [6/7]
Too short! Too short! Whoever gave this amazing band only 30 minutes should be shot. This was one of my most anticipated sets of the festival, and it didn't disappoint....until after only 30 minutes, they closed up without doing "Sister Najade", even though they did about half of Carpathia and it was all wicked awesome. They did a new song from the upcoming record, which was as kickass as the Carpathia and ...Deathship... material in the set, and the musicianship of the numerous session doods (of two guitarists, vocals, bass, drums, and keys, only two of the six members, the vocalist and one of the guitarists, appear the CDs, doing everything) was superb in playing up to the standard of the full members on record. Great stuff; here's hoping they do a US tour (not likely) with a longer set time.
45: The Vision Bleak in The Tentstage Packed.
Outside the WET stage, before the band started, I sold my liter-mug to these kids who were looking for a souvenir. I already had one, and they were saying that the bars were out, which may well have been the case. The organizers should know by now that nearly everyone who gets one fo these things will want to take it home.
46: Peavey, Rage, and a few of the Lingua Mortis Orchestra.
Rage, with the Lingua Mortis Orchestra [5/7]
I missed a bunch of their set due to The Vision Bleak, but still caught a good idea of this combo, real progressive and genuinely innovative. It's hard to keep an orchestra in time with a rock band, but here it was done with skill and aplomb. Without the orchestra, Rage isn't really in my favorite style, but very well done regardless.
47: Christmas in August! These skinny Santas with death metal T-shirts under their coats come to give Destruction and Type O Negative to all the bloody-minded little boys and girls camping the front rail.
48: Destruction kicking off. Unfortunately, there was a fucking camera crane in the way that I couldn't shoot around.
49: The Alliance of Hellhoundz -- or as many as were at the festival for other reasons, anyway. Bobby Blitz and the guy from Communic were supposed to be in this shot, and Peavey and Tom Angelripper showed up to chime in as well.
Destruction [6/7]
This wasn't as good as their set at the Middle East back in February, but it was a lot more colorful with the Mad Butcher and Satan's cheerleaders running around, and the same composite-lineup thing that Sodom did earlier; this involved three drummers playing for most of the second half of the set and the resulting sound was immense. It was fun, but I was majorly footsore at this point, and I was on Type O's side of the stagefront as well.
50: Johnny Kelly soundchecking. Type O got one of their amp flags (the one up in this picture) from the same place I did.
51: Type O, take 1. No idea how these got so overexposed.
52: Peter Steele on full power.
Type O Negative [7/7]
Pete got drunk during the set and fucked some shit up, as well as tossing a 750-ml glass wine bottle into the crowd, for which for a second it seemed like the security might break up the performance. Nevertheless, the total performance effect was ace; that element of true self-destruction is what makes Type O, beyond other goth bands, really true and essential. If you haven't seen something like this yet, do it quick; how long these legends are going to be alive and functioning correctly is in definite dispute. Peter's lost a lot of weight (probably a result of being in jail) and would look really cadaverous if not for the facial hair he's got now; no idea if his substance problems are coming back to bite him again or what, but he had to take two long breaks in the middle of the set, and seemed a lot less together than he was last year with Carnivore.
If you see video of this set and someone in the crowd is holding up a green banner with a black vertical stripe, that's me, using my Vinnland flag like a football shawl. I couldn't get up close enough to put it over the rail, so I did this instead.
I went up front for Immortal to prove I could get fence. I did, then went back to sit on the bar and drink beers, instead. Immortal will be awesome all the way to the back of the house, and I was hungry, tired, and short on fluids. Also, the part of the fence that I was able to get to was right the fuck on the side, and it was debatable how much of the guys I'd actually see.
Immortal [7/7]
If there was any idea that this score would turn out otherwise, go and have a good laugh at yourself; Immortal's material is awesome, and their professionalism is legendary. I came all this way mainly to see these three men hold 70,000 spellbound, and the place for that is the back, not the front -- and of course Wacken, not B.B. King's. Unfortunately, they weren't able to make it snow during "At The Heart Of Winter", but it was pretty damn sublime all the same...and we did have a nice north wind throughout.....
I was going to take In Flames' set off to hit the head and get some food, but they took so long setting up and the line for the toilets was so relatively short that by the time they started up, I was out, doner in hand, walking back to the bar. However, I didn't really get the chance to pay much attention to the band -- or to Cannibal Corpse, following them -- because Monika's boyfriend and his pal went up front, leaving her in the bar, and she struck up a conversation.
The combination of 'cute', 'buxom', 'funny', 'in the semiconductor industry', 'dressed as a Bavarian dirndl', and 'into metal and will headbang to Cannibal Corpse' hits so many of my known weaknesses that it is not funny, though it is eminently understandable that I'd be distracted from the bands on stage. That she'd be first noticeably, then extremely into me as well, was not forseeable, especially since she already had a boyfriend, but this led to the totally unanticipated experience of making out with someone else's girlfriend in traditional peasant dress during a Cannibal Corpse concert. In the end, she went back -- though seemingly with great reluctance -- to those she came with, and I was left there confused, euphoric, and with a lot of crowd to cross to see Vital Remains.
In Flames [5/7]
An In Flames fan would have been in heaven for their set. I'm not a huge fan, though, as I can recognize that at times they can be pedestrian and barely clear the threshold of nu-metal, but this shouldn't stop anyone from also noting that In Flames have some pretty fuckin badass songs in their catalog, and when they play that shit, old or new, they're among the best mass-bands in the world. They'll never be cult again, but if they can spring from here to doing stadiums on their own while keeping the old material in the setlist, it's another victory for metal. I was glad of the distraction, especially by someone so appealing, but also glad that we still got good music as a backdrop.
Cannibal Corpse [6/7]
Unfortunately, the nature of progressive flirting means that my impressions of Cannibal Corpse are a little less solid -- in no small wise because the band's sound is so thick and dense that we were basically wrapped around each other the whole set, cheek to cheek and shouting in each other's ears to be heard. The band was fucking on, though, no doubt about that, and the songs that we took off to headbang to -- including "Make Them Suffer" in an absolutely killer take -- were balls-out awesome. However, there's still the impression that I'm somewhat irredemable as a fan of the brutal, and a truly top-flight set from these legends would have commanded more of my attention, no matter who was cuddling up. If I was instead, as usual, among sweaty, hairy, dudes for this set, I'd likely have enjoyed the time just as much, if for a decidedly different balance of reasons.
So after this little operetta played itself out, I finished my beer and went walking over to the tentstage to see Vital. Unfortunately, there was a scheduling cockup and the set times were shifted about an hour later than planned. in the meantime, I caught some rumors and the first half of 1349.
Rumors first: while I was watching The Vision Bleak and everyone else was seeing Rage, the organizers made an announcement, which was broadcast live on the internet, but at the festival spread only by rumor as everyone was at the damn bands. The scuttlebutt that night was focused on two lines:
line 1: Metallica in '09.
line 2: Iron Maiden may not necessarily be the top headliner next year.
The second of these is more interesting, because it's slightly more likely to be true; all that's confirmed is that they're talking with Metallica, AC/DC, or a full Sabbath reunion with Ozzy, those being the only acts in the heavy-metal world who could legitimately headline over Iron Fucking Maiden. Of course, these are just rumors, and even Florio wouldn't print something sourced solely to "some drunk kid standing outside the tent stage". As it turned out, the "big announcement" was Avantasia for 2008; huge news to those power metal nerds who were at home watching from their couch and may need to buy some outdoor gear for the first time ever, but a letdown in expectations to those who were already out at an unbelievably awesome festival.
Also while we were waiting for 1349 to start, the singer of Subway To Sally made remarks to the effect that there were a hundred thousand people in attendance. This was self-apparently ridiculous -- but if we had 70K this year for this lineup, six figures for Iron Maiden, Kreator, Bodom, and whatever other top acts are added in the next 11 months isn't out of the question....unless tickets, as they ought to be, are strictly limited. As it turns out, there were 60,00 paying attendees and 12,000 volunteers, vendors, bands, security, and other staff, which is the limit that the authorities will allow. Get your '08 ticket early, they won't last.
1349 [6/7]
In some ways this was a little flatter than their set at Mark's, but the atmosphere was incalculably better. This was one of the few black metal performances at this fest that could be unambiguously rated as true, perhaps the single most so, definitely the most so of those I saw, the band roaring out of a hellmouth of smoke and red lights to lay waste to this packed cave in the midst of utter darkness -- and the music was as kickass as might be expected. It wasn't a worldbreaker performance, but it was a great set regardless, and I'm glad I went over after CC.
Unfortunately, I was dead on my feet and needed to get moving homeward the next morning, so I turned away around 2:30 and didn't stay for Vital Remains. Oh well; I didn't see them or Municipal Waste or Kampfar or Moonsorrow or Chthonic or Swallow The Sun or Communic or Belfegor or Dimension Zero, but by the end of the fest I'd seen a ton of kickass bands and had, overall, an awesome, awesome time.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Wacken 2007 - Friday - Trial By Fire
I woke up from my unsleep this morning to the roaring of a guy who'd been apparently jumped or something, and the vain protestations of another dude trying to calm him down. The fest has never been absolutely violence-free, and even the best of us sometimes get mixed up in bad situations, but when metalhead strikes metalhead, it's still, to use the Bard's words, "a treason...like unto another Fall of Man." Sad morning; with bands and gemuetlichkeit the day will hopefully improve.
17: Refilling the taps. With 70,000 visitors, you need a fuckton of beer. Note that this is Beck's now, not Hasseroder; Beck's took over this year and must have paid through the nose for the concession, because their advertising was all over the fucking place, as later shots will show.
18: Metal-Tigger and his mini-kutte. Shot outside the Metal Markt waiting to get in; the girls with Tigger have been taking him around to the shows they shoot and taking his picture with various musicians. The patches on the vest are not real-ssue merch, but photo-reduced versions of extant patches.
19: Suidakra taucht auf.
Suidakra [5/7]
If you can't get Ensiferum, these guys are a pretty good second choice; not hugely memorable over most of their stuff (or separable from Ensiferum in that regard), but decent, and they covered some Skyclad in their set, which is always supercool and shows that they know where they're coming from, at least. I've been ignoring this band as a product of Nuclear Blast hype for a while, but I've got to at least get whatever record they do their version of "Loch Lomond" on, because that was pretty damn sweet.
20: The fire, before it became a problem and caused a half-stage evacuation. Better than the official shots that went into the paper, and probably better than everyone else's except the people with their cameras up center frame.
While Amorphis was soundchecking, someone dropped a burning cigarette in the straw of the infield -- required because the ground was soaked, dry because it wasn't raining now, still piled and fluffy because it was the first band here. The result was a fast-moving, smoky blaze that fortunately didn't have much of anything else to burn. It was controlled fairly quickly, but it was pretty fucking tense for a while for those of us that were up on the stagefront in the fire's path. Credit's due for the smooth resolution to the organizers for managing the evacuation well, the fans for not panicking even when the smoke was making it tough to breathe, and of course especially to the firefighters for getting the blaze controlled, then out, then taking the initiative to hose down the straw all over the rest of the grounds so that it wouldn't happen again.
The source of the fire was in the unusually schitzophrenic weather this year; the ground was saturated, requiring the straw, but the straw itself is bone-dry until it's been trod down -- and this was the first set of the weekend on the True Stage. Regular smoke-out cans may have helped, too; the SOP for smokers here is to toss the butts, and it's easy to forget the carpet's flammable. After this, though, people, even those who didn't drop the cigs, were a lot more conscientious about treading them out.
The smoke created by the fire was billowing and particularly noxious, which isn't usually the case for straw. However, the stuff in the straw was also burning: mud, cigarette filters, and at least one shoe that was trapped in the ground when I walked over it to get to the stage, and found burned up when I walked up again after. We were in a way really fortunate that the straw was so dry: as such, it burned itself out almost as soon as it was lit; a little wetter, and there might have been flying embers to touch off fires in other places, which would have produced a much bigger problem and almost definitely casualties from smoke, trampling, and crushing.
21: Napalm Death -- seriously.
22: ...and why I couldn't get a closer shot. Due to the fire, gates were closed for about half an hour, and I had gone up to the foot of the beer garden in the course of the evacuation, both to clear the danger zone in case the blaze got bigger and to recover from the smoke inhalation I sustained by being right on top of it for the first ten minutes.
23: The Burned Lands. I walked up across here to get back to the front for Therion (actually Amorphis, the organizers trimmed sets but did not cancel any band due to the fire), partly to exorcise the remaining mental stress, and partly because it was empty, as usual.
Napalm Death [5/7]
Killer as always, especially the great response to "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" at the end, but I was way back for most of this one, and Napalm Death is just not a band to see from half a mile away. Someone in their crowd might have a better experience, but as described, I was high and dry and coughing out carbon.
Amorphis [5/7]
So ist es Deutschland: the fire is out, and the setup is speedily re-ordanized so that even the burned-out band gets most of their set. "Play old shit"-dude (see very old Infernal Combustion at the Wayback Machine if you can) got "Son of the North Star" out of them, and they closed, of course, with "Black Winter Day", but most of the set was new-style material; good, but a lot of it sounds a lot like Sentenced, and I'm not sure who came first. I am sure, though, that just as I like Amorphis' death metal period more than Sentenced's, I also like Sentenced's post-death stuff more than I do Amorphis'.
24: Amorphis defying the fire.
On the way over to rest through Therion while waiting for Possessed, I helped drag a guy out of the mud who had gone in nearly to his knees. He wasn't as tall as me, but he looked to be nearly as heavy, and his feet weren't nearly as wide. big spread feet and moving them quickly, before the mud can cover over the tops, will save you every time. I feel really bad for anyone who tries to do this festival without wide-soled, tall, tough logging/farm boots, because the ground will otherwise just eat you alive.
25: Therion being boring from a safe distance away.
Therion [4/7]
When I saw him in the campground earlier this morning, Dick was really up for this band, but unfortunately for my part, they did nothing to disabuse me of my long-held conviction that they've done nothing of note since about 1998. Seriously, this shit could put me straight out if I wasn't camping the rail for Possessed. The execution was decent, but the material top-heavy and kind of dumb.
26: A little paraplegia can't stop Jeff!
Possessed [7/7]
A little rough around the edges at times, and of course, it'd be better with the full original lineup (due to a bunch of dramas, this performance might have been described as by Sadistic Intent feat. Jeff Becerra), but this was still a crazy badass set that further demonstrated how little anything external -- like whether your legs work or not -- has to do with metal. Jeff's still awesome, and this was a complete command performance.
Not pictured: Jeff's NYDM vest; I didn't know he was a member. It may be thought of as a little silly back in Boston, but out here it's as good as home colors and every bit as welcome.
Also not pictured: two chicks mudwrestling by the True Stage-side infield bar complex. Why? Partly because it's exploitative (to take pics, not for the girls to do it freewilled and fully clothed), partly because it'll probably be in the paper tomorrow (it wasn't), and partly because the mud there is largely from piss; I don't want to take pictures of innocent people getting cholera. WTF MATE. Seriously, there is enouugh non-piss mud in the infield to wrestle on.
27: These furries showed up during Grave Digger. You really get all kinds at this fest. (not saying anything about the band not saying anything about the band not saying anything about the band)
Grave Digger and Turbonegro, both of whom I saw a couple songs from, aren't rated because I didn't really see them as such. Both were decent, but I caught much less than full sets from both due to other priorities.
28: Martin, Andy, and the boys are back!
Sabbat [6/7]
A little rough in places, but in total a nice thrash set for the time allotted. No Skyclad material, but the band's own originals are eminently cool enough. This was a great Wacken for classic thrash metal, and Sabbat put on a performance that could stand proudly with the more high-profile bands on the big stages.
29: Grutle et al fusing Thought and Act. Probably my best picture from this festival; the light is perfect, and the color and detail is like you're right there.
Enslaved [6.5/7]
I hate split scores, and as such this is the only one of the festival. This one is the result of leaving for logistical reasons after 3 songs spent at the front...only after which did they do "Storre en tid, tyngre en natt", which is pretty much my dream Enslaved experience. On the other hand, they sounded a little peaked on the tunes that I heard from the rail, rather than the line for the washrooms; awesome, but not superlative. This is not really a band, even now, for heat and sunshine. Still, STORRE EN FUCKING TID. I hate my colon. >[
30: Blind Guardian!
31: Hansi does the air clutch to pump up the crowd.
32: Hansi screaming his guts out.
33: Hansi comes over to our side.
34: Das Publikum, seventy thousand strong, horizon to horizon.
Blind Motherfucking Guardian at the Wacken Fucking Open Air [7/7]
If you've been to a good Guardian show in the States and think you know what this is about, three words: you. are. wrong.
If you haven't seen the Guardians live yet, take it serious when I say that seeing them at a major German fest has to go on your list of things to do before you die. It is an experience unlike any other show I've ever seen, anywhere, even Amon Amarth and Emperor on this very stagefront, from almost this exact spot, last year. The kids who in the US are too cool for Blind Guardian are here throwing themselves over the barricades, even the xHxCx doods and the guys in Burzum shirts and corpsepaint that are supposed to despise this. But THIS IS HEAVY METAL. THIS IS REAL. THIS IS GERMANY. And if that don't resonate like a koan, get your ass on a plane and get over here to get drunk and muddy; there's still time for Party.San, and more fests after.
In sharp contrast to their set at Worcester, they played three songs from Tales... in this set: "Traveler In Time", "Welcome To Dying", and "Lord Of The Rings", though unfortunately no "Lost In The Twilight Hall" or "The Last Candle", which I can see getting changed out as a set closer in favor of "Mirror Mirror" these days, but which I still love the hell out of. Come to Germany, see Tales... material live -- or just let the band know we like the record here in America too.
Unfortunately, they didn't amend their set to be more timely by including "Trial By Fire".
I was thinking about staying down for Iced Earth, but on my way to refill my beer, I realized that the ground wasn't getting any firmer, and trying to make it over across the flow of traffic in the pitch dark to see Kampfar would be a great way to brew up a joint. It was then or never to get out, and this way I got to sit down civilized-style in the beergarden for Dimmu and then the Tim & Jon Show -- for Matt-Iced Earth I'd have forsworn the beer and just pushed on up to the rail.
Dimmu Borgir [5/7]
What a great festival this is. What a fucking luxury to be able to say "oh, Dimmu? Bo-ring. Fuck them, wake me up for Iced Earth." This is the metal equivalent of bitching because your free tickets are in coach instead of first class. While I find Dimmu boring (especially when they aren't playing "Progenies..." or "Broderskapets Ring"), they do put up a solid show. As far as black metal goes for me, this is just a Vorspeise to Immortal tomorrow...and something to listen to while waiting for Iced Earth.
35: The ladies of the friendly BAC patrol- new this year. What'll they think of next?
Iced Earth [5/7]
The sound was a little fucked, probably largely because of the distance involved, but the impression of a band past its moment and without its definitive voice would probably remain even if I was up front where I'd seen the Guardians from. Regardless, though, Jon Schaffer hs written some great fuckin' metal songs in his day, and the execution thereof is good enough to continually draw you in. Matt ain't coming back, and if you haven't seen Iced Earth yet, you still need to, but this is the echo, not the shout; the smoke, not the flame.
Oddly enough: I met another "deep-cover man" while watching Iced Earth: a Brit who, being fluent in German, was talking exclusively in that language and passing mostly for native. It took about five minutes of conversation for it to come out that neither of us was using his first language...after which we had a good laugh and switched mostly to English, except when his friends chimed in (in English, usually...to which we answered back auf Deutsch). One wonders how many others of us there are out there, without recognizing marks or overseas accents, fitting in and admitting our outlander status only reluctantly. It's not hiding because we fear being discovered; we just like Germany and go undercover to dig into it a little more closely.
36: Dresdner Dudelsacker! Sure, "gonfallon, gonfallon", whatever, but having the state crest on your vest (unfortunately not visible here because the light was bad; it's on his right front pocket if you see him in person) shows certain pride here in the West that both real Ossis and pretend ones like me are only too glad to get behind. And this dude was a pretty mean piper, too.
17: Refilling the taps. With 70,000 visitors, you need a fuckton of beer. Note that this is Beck's now, not Hasseroder; Beck's took over this year and must have paid through the nose for the concession, because their advertising was all over the fucking place, as later shots will show.
18: Metal-Tigger and his mini-kutte. Shot outside the Metal Markt waiting to get in; the girls with Tigger have been taking him around to the shows they shoot and taking his picture with various musicians. The patches on the vest are not real-ssue merch, but photo-reduced versions of extant patches.
19: Suidakra taucht auf.
Suidakra [5/7]
If you can't get Ensiferum, these guys are a pretty good second choice; not hugely memorable over most of their stuff (or separable from Ensiferum in that regard), but decent, and they covered some Skyclad in their set, which is always supercool and shows that they know where they're coming from, at least. I've been ignoring this band as a product of Nuclear Blast hype for a while, but I've got to at least get whatever record they do their version of "Loch Lomond" on, because that was pretty damn sweet.
20: The fire, before it became a problem and caused a half-stage evacuation. Better than the official shots that went into the paper, and probably better than everyone else's except the people with their cameras up center frame.
While Amorphis was soundchecking, someone dropped a burning cigarette in the straw of the infield -- required because the ground was soaked, dry because it wasn't raining now, still piled and fluffy because it was the first band here. The result was a fast-moving, smoky blaze that fortunately didn't have much of anything else to burn. It was controlled fairly quickly, but it was pretty fucking tense for a while for those of us that were up on the stagefront in the fire's path. Credit's due for the smooth resolution to the organizers for managing the evacuation well, the fans for not panicking even when the smoke was making it tough to breathe, and of course especially to the firefighters for getting the blaze controlled, then out, then taking the initiative to hose down the straw all over the rest of the grounds so that it wouldn't happen again.
The source of the fire was in the unusually schitzophrenic weather this year; the ground was saturated, requiring the straw, but the straw itself is bone-dry until it's been trod down -- and this was the first set of the weekend on the True Stage. Regular smoke-out cans may have helped, too; the SOP for smokers here is to toss the butts, and it's easy to forget the carpet's flammable. After this, though, people, even those who didn't drop the cigs, were a lot more conscientious about treading them out.
The smoke created by the fire was billowing and particularly noxious, which isn't usually the case for straw. However, the stuff in the straw was also burning: mud, cigarette filters, and at least one shoe that was trapped in the ground when I walked over it to get to the stage, and found burned up when I walked up again after. We were in a way really fortunate that the straw was so dry: as such, it burned itself out almost as soon as it was lit; a little wetter, and there might have been flying embers to touch off fires in other places, which would have produced a much bigger problem and almost definitely casualties from smoke, trampling, and crushing.
21: Napalm Death -- seriously.
22: ...and why I couldn't get a closer shot. Due to the fire, gates were closed for about half an hour, and I had gone up to the foot of the beer garden in the course of the evacuation, both to clear the danger zone in case the blaze got bigger and to recover from the smoke inhalation I sustained by being right on top of it for the first ten minutes.
23: The Burned Lands. I walked up across here to get back to the front for Therion (actually Amorphis, the organizers trimmed sets but did not cancel any band due to the fire), partly to exorcise the remaining mental stress, and partly because it was empty, as usual.
Napalm Death [5/7]
Killer as always, especially the great response to "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" at the end, but I was way back for most of this one, and Napalm Death is just not a band to see from half a mile away. Someone in their crowd might have a better experience, but as described, I was high and dry and coughing out carbon.
Amorphis [5/7]
So ist es Deutschland: the fire is out, and the setup is speedily re-ordanized so that even the burned-out band gets most of their set. "Play old shit"-dude (see very old Infernal Combustion at the Wayback Machine if you can) got "Son of the North Star" out of them, and they closed, of course, with "Black Winter Day", but most of the set was new-style material; good, but a lot of it sounds a lot like Sentenced, and I'm not sure who came first. I am sure, though, that just as I like Amorphis' death metal period more than Sentenced's, I also like Sentenced's post-death stuff more than I do Amorphis'.
24: Amorphis defying the fire.
On the way over to rest through Therion while waiting for Possessed, I helped drag a guy out of the mud who had gone in nearly to his knees. He wasn't as tall as me, but he looked to be nearly as heavy, and his feet weren't nearly as wide. big spread feet and moving them quickly, before the mud can cover over the tops, will save you every time. I feel really bad for anyone who tries to do this festival without wide-soled, tall, tough logging/farm boots, because the ground will otherwise just eat you alive.
25: Therion being boring from a safe distance away.
Therion [4/7]
When I saw him in the campground earlier this morning, Dick was really up for this band, but unfortunately for my part, they did nothing to disabuse me of my long-held conviction that they've done nothing of note since about 1998. Seriously, this shit could put me straight out if I wasn't camping the rail for Possessed. The execution was decent, but the material top-heavy and kind of dumb.
26: A little paraplegia can't stop Jeff!
Possessed [7/7]
A little rough around the edges at times, and of course, it'd be better with the full original lineup (due to a bunch of dramas, this performance might have been described as by Sadistic Intent feat. Jeff Becerra), but this was still a crazy badass set that further demonstrated how little anything external -- like whether your legs work or not -- has to do with metal. Jeff's still awesome, and this was a complete command performance.
Not pictured: Jeff's NYDM vest; I didn't know he was a member. It may be thought of as a little silly back in Boston, but out here it's as good as home colors and every bit as welcome.
Also not pictured: two chicks mudwrestling by the True Stage-side infield bar complex. Why? Partly because it's exploitative (to take pics, not for the girls to do it freewilled and fully clothed), partly because it'll probably be in the paper tomorrow (it wasn't), and partly because the mud there is largely from piss; I don't want to take pictures of innocent people getting cholera. WTF MATE. Seriously, there is enouugh non-piss mud in the infield to wrestle on.
27: These furries showed up during Grave Digger. You really get all kinds at this fest. (not saying anything about the band not saying anything about the band not saying anything about the band)
Grave Digger and Turbonegro, both of whom I saw a couple songs from, aren't rated because I didn't really see them as such. Both were decent, but I caught much less than full sets from both due to other priorities.
28: Martin, Andy, and the boys are back!
Sabbat [6/7]
A little rough in places, but in total a nice thrash set for the time allotted. No Skyclad material, but the band's own originals are eminently cool enough. This was a great Wacken for classic thrash metal, and Sabbat put on a performance that could stand proudly with the more high-profile bands on the big stages.
29: Grutle et al fusing Thought and Act. Probably my best picture from this festival; the light is perfect, and the color and detail is like you're right there.
Enslaved [6.5/7]
I hate split scores, and as such this is the only one of the festival. This one is the result of leaving for logistical reasons after 3 songs spent at the front...only after which did they do "Storre en tid, tyngre en natt", which is pretty much my dream Enslaved experience. On the other hand, they sounded a little peaked on the tunes that I heard from the rail, rather than the line for the washrooms; awesome, but not superlative. This is not really a band, even now, for heat and sunshine. Still, STORRE EN FUCKING TID. I hate my colon. >[
30: Blind Guardian!
31: Hansi does the air clutch to pump up the crowd.
32: Hansi screaming his guts out.
33: Hansi comes over to our side.
34: Das Publikum, seventy thousand strong, horizon to horizon.
Blind Motherfucking Guardian at the Wacken Fucking Open Air [7/7]
If you've been to a good Guardian show in the States and think you know what this is about, three words: you. are. wrong.
If you haven't seen the Guardians live yet, take it serious when I say that seeing them at a major German fest has to go on your list of things to do before you die. It is an experience unlike any other show I've ever seen, anywhere, even Amon Amarth and Emperor on this very stagefront, from almost this exact spot, last year. The kids who in the US are too cool for Blind Guardian are here throwing themselves over the barricades, even the xHxCx doods and the guys in Burzum shirts and corpsepaint that are supposed to despise this. But THIS IS HEAVY METAL. THIS IS REAL. THIS IS GERMANY. And if that don't resonate like a koan, get your ass on a plane and get over here to get drunk and muddy; there's still time for Party.San, and more fests after.
In sharp contrast to their set at Worcester, they played three songs from Tales... in this set: "Traveler In Time", "Welcome To Dying", and "Lord Of The Rings", though unfortunately no "Lost In The Twilight Hall" or "The Last Candle", which I can see getting changed out as a set closer in favor of "Mirror Mirror" these days, but which I still love the hell out of. Come to Germany, see Tales... material live -- or just let the band know we like the record here in America too.
Unfortunately, they didn't amend their set to be more timely by including "Trial By Fire".
I was thinking about staying down for Iced Earth, but on my way to refill my beer, I realized that the ground wasn't getting any firmer, and trying to make it over across the flow of traffic in the pitch dark to see Kampfar would be a great way to brew up a joint. It was then or never to get out, and this way I got to sit down civilized-style in the beergarden for Dimmu and then the Tim & Jon Show -- for Matt-Iced Earth I'd have forsworn the beer and just pushed on up to the rail.
Dimmu Borgir [5/7]
What a great festival this is. What a fucking luxury to be able to say "oh, Dimmu? Bo-ring. Fuck them, wake me up for Iced Earth." This is the metal equivalent of bitching because your free tickets are in coach instead of first class. While I find Dimmu boring (especially when they aren't playing "Progenies..." or "Broderskapets Ring"), they do put up a solid show. As far as black metal goes for me, this is just a Vorspeise to Immortal tomorrow...and something to listen to while waiting for Iced Earth.
35: The ladies of the friendly BAC patrol- new this year. What'll they think of next?
Iced Earth [5/7]
The sound was a little fucked, probably largely because of the distance involved, but the impression of a band past its moment and without its definitive voice would probably remain even if I was up front where I'd seen the Guardians from. Regardless, though, Jon Schaffer hs written some great fuckin' metal songs in his day, and the execution thereof is good enough to continually draw you in. Matt ain't coming back, and if you haven't seen Iced Earth yet, you still need to, but this is the echo, not the shout; the smoke, not the flame.
Oddly enough: I met another "deep-cover man" while watching Iced Earth: a Brit who, being fluent in German, was talking exclusively in that language and passing mostly for native. It took about five minutes of conversation for it to come out that neither of us was using his first language...after which we had a good laugh and switched mostly to English, except when his friends chimed in (in English, usually...to which we answered back auf Deutsch). One wonders how many others of us there are out there, without recognizing marks or overseas accents, fitting in and admitting our outlander status only reluctantly. It's not hiding because we fear being discovered; we just like Germany and go undercover to dig into it a little more closely.
36: Dresdner Dudelsacker! Sure, "gonfallon, gonfallon", whatever, but having the state crest on your vest (unfortunately not visible here because the light was bad; it's on his right front pocket if you see him in person) shows certain pride here in the West that both real Ossis and pretend ones like me are only too glad to get behind. And this dude was a pretty mean piper, too.
Wacken 2007 - Thursday - Heaving Earth
07: The new staging setup, from the hill entrance to the area closest to the festival grounds. The Party Stage is just a little out of frame to the right.
08: Memorial in Wacken for the dead of two World Wars - Let Us Rest In Peace. It's odd to look at memorials like this; these are men who suffered and died for their country, often far from home, but in wars that were started by their side for fundamentally bad and unjust reasons. Weird, weird feeling; Americans aren't used to separating the sorrow of the loss of life from the belief in the cause of the conflict, and for our sake and the sake of the rest of the world, I hope we never do.
I just ran into Andy again, for the third year running, while sitting around in the beer garden waiting for official entry. If you're a Stammgast and the people you know are as well, even among 70,000 people you'll usually run into them sooner or later, but this was really damn early. The pictures above were collected earlier in the day, on my shopping expedition into the village, which netted a loaf of bread that I would be eating chunks of the rest of the week, three boxes of iced tea, a Wacken-beer whose bottle is now starring on James' beer-wall at our place, a shirt from this year's Black Stage, last year's DVD (still need to go through this and see where if at all I'm in it), and before any of this, another carton of iced tea to drink while standing in the huge line to get into the Edeka.
Because the fest sold out so relatively far in advance, it seems like everyone is here already - though more will doubtless come on Friday and Saturday. Thursday's been more relaxed in the past, but this place is already brim-full of metalheads; it's gonna be an intense weekend.
09: Boston is NOT gonna stand for this.
See the address in that picture? Spam them. Spam them to fucking DEATH. Wargasm is used, posers, pick a new name.
10: Blitzkrieg kicks this shit off.
Blitzkrieg [5/7]
They did a couple tunes that Iron Maiden might -- and in some cases, by virtue of similar subjects, already has -- have done better, but they rocked nonetheless, and their well-practiced NWOBHM resurrection represents about the best openers that I've ever seen on this festival; they're a lot better than Tristania, and last year Faster Inferno was just a fucking joke.
Rose Tattoo [6/7]
Not AC/DC junior, but more like AC/DC part II; not super-original for Ozzie rock'n'roll, but damn cool stuff, like it was intended for the first day of this fest and the attendant heavy alcohol consumption. The set got better as it rolled on, and this is one of the bands that I've definitely got to try to get some recorded stuff from in the future.
11: Rose Tattoo rock'n'roll avalanche.
Sodom [7/7]
Sodom exists to destroy you. Never forget this. Awesome, awesome, awesome show that involved nearly everyone who'd ever been involved with the band, and covered a ton of complete classic material, old as well as new, and if we didn't get "Agent Orange", we got fucking Grave Violator and Frank Blackfire back in harness, so who the fuck is going to complain?
12: Sodom, scrim and setup.
13: Sodom in full cry.
14: Grave Violator joins up for "Blasphemer" -- my side and first row, bitches!
15: Frank Blackfire rips it up on "Christ Passion".
16: Sodom starts combi-ing multiple guitarists, leading up to the finale.
On "Bombenhagel", the closer, they ended up bringing out everyone living who's ever played guitar for the band, just a complete wall of thrash annihilation. Fucking killer set.
Saxon [5/7]
Since my feet were hurting and I wasn't going to be up front, I decided to just repair to the beer garden, and nearly dropped my beer when Biff announced the attendance figure from the stage. 70,000 wtf. Bloody amazing. The music was ok, though the sound wasn't great that far back (it's about 300-400 meters from the stage to where I was sitting) -- and they did do "Solid Ball of Rock", which I wasn't expecting, so this was a night to remember after all.
The figure of 70,000 is from the police (who have been inaccurate in the past), and was later allegedly topped, but feels about right for the number of people present. There were more than last year, but it didn't feel as packed because there was a lot more space for them to pour out in; moving the Party Stage added room for about 15-20,000 people, and the infield had a lot fewer islands in it than the last two years. The hundred thousand announced by the guy from Subway To Sally on Saturday night, though, is completely bogus.
The title for today has to do with the liquid ground in the infield; due to heavy rain all through July, the ground was waterlogged, requiring helicopters and drainage ditches to clear the campgrounds, separate parking and camping areas for the first time in history, and, as in 2005, tons on tons of straw in the infield. The weather was clear, warm, and dry, but the ground, once trod on even a little, rapidly turned into a morass, a set of conditions that led, in retrospect, somewhat predictably, to one of the singular events of Friday.
08: Memorial in Wacken for the dead of two World Wars - Let Us Rest In Peace. It's odd to look at memorials like this; these are men who suffered and died for their country, often far from home, but in wars that were started by their side for fundamentally bad and unjust reasons. Weird, weird feeling; Americans aren't used to separating the sorrow of the loss of life from the belief in the cause of the conflict, and for our sake and the sake of the rest of the world, I hope we never do.
I just ran into Andy again, for the third year running, while sitting around in the beer garden waiting for official entry. If you're a Stammgast and the people you know are as well, even among 70,000 people you'll usually run into them sooner or later, but this was really damn early. The pictures above were collected earlier in the day, on my shopping expedition into the village, which netted a loaf of bread that I would be eating chunks of the rest of the week, three boxes of iced tea, a Wacken-beer whose bottle is now starring on James' beer-wall at our place, a shirt from this year's Black Stage, last year's DVD (still need to go through this and see where if at all I'm in it), and before any of this, another carton of iced tea to drink while standing in the huge line to get into the Edeka.
Because the fest sold out so relatively far in advance, it seems like everyone is here already - though more will doubtless come on Friday and Saturday. Thursday's been more relaxed in the past, but this place is already brim-full of metalheads; it's gonna be an intense weekend.
09: Boston is NOT gonna stand for this.
See the address in that picture? Spam them. Spam them to fucking DEATH. Wargasm is used, posers, pick a new name.
10: Blitzkrieg kicks this shit off.
Blitzkrieg [5/7]
They did a couple tunes that Iron Maiden might -- and in some cases, by virtue of similar subjects, already has -- have done better, but they rocked nonetheless, and their well-practiced NWOBHM resurrection represents about the best openers that I've ever seen on this festival; they're a lot better than Tristania, and last year Faster Inferno was just a fucking joke.
Rose Tattoo [6/7]
Not AC/DC junior, but more like AC/DC part II; not super-original for Ozzie rock'n'roll, but damn cool stuff, like it was intended for the first day of this fest and the attendant heavy alcohol consumption. The set got better as it rolled on, and this is one of the bands that I've definitely got to try to get some recorded stuff from in the future.
11: Rose Tattoo rock'n'roll avalanche.
Sodom [7/7]
Sodom exists to destroy you. Never forget this. Awesome, awesome, awesome show that involved nearly everyone who'd ever been involved with the band, and covered a ton of complete classic material, old as well as new, and if we didn't get "Agent Orange", we got fucking Grave Violator and Frank Blackfire back in harness, so who the fuck is going to complain?
12: Sodom, scrim and setup.
13: Sodom in full cry.
14: Grave Violator joins up for "Blasphemer" -- my side and first row, bitches!
15: Frank Blackfire rips it up on "Christ Passion".
16: Sodom starts combi-ing multiple guitarists, leading up to the finale.
On "Bombenhagel", the closer, they ended up bringing out everyone living who's ever played guitar for the band, just a complete wall of thrash annihilation. Fucking killer set.
Saxon [5/7]
Since my feet were hurting and I wasn't going to be up front, I decided to just repair to the beer garden, and nearly dropped my beer when Biff announced the attendance figure from the stage. 70,000 wtf. Bloody amazing. The music was ok, though the sound wasn't great that far back (it's about 300-400 meters from the stage to where I was sitting) -- and they did do "Solid Ball of Rock", which I wasn't expecting, so this was a night to remember after all.
The figure of 70,000 is from the police (who have been inaccurate in the past), and was later allegedly topped, but feels about right for the number of people present. There were more than last year, but it didn't feel as packed because there was a lot more space for them to pour out in; moving the Party Stage added room for about 15-20,000 people, and the infield had a lot fewer islands in it than the last two years. The hundred thousand announced by the guy from Subway To Sally on Saturday night, though, is completely bogus.
The title for today has to do with the liquid ground in the infield; due to heavy rain all through July, the ground was waterlogged, requiring helicopters and drainage ditches to clear the campgrounds, separate parking and camping areas for the first time in history, and, as in 2005, tons on tons of straw in the infield. The weather was clear, warm, and dry, but the ground, once trod on even a little, rapidly turned into a morass, a set of conditions that led, in retrospect, somewhat predictably, to one of the singular events of Friday.
Wacken 2007 - Tuesday and Wednesday
These now somewhat delayed reports cover my journey to Wacken 2007 and what happened there, including reviews of the bands and commentary on various events. Since these were documented in running fashion, they are presented similarly, in a "you are there" style, with a few exceptions where stuff has been edited, either for clarity or because it serves more to fill space than add anything relevant. The days proceed chronologically as follows.
Tuesday - Into The Pentagram
So I got in a little early to the airport, but fortunately I've got a full mp3-player of Cock Sparrer, among other bands, so I don't have to listen to the bullshit Logan radio and its constant advertising. This time, I'm going through Zurich; a little longer and more expensive (on Swiss), but it's on civilized carriers the whole way and doesn't involve Newark. Also, I add another country to my list of touches. Slowly but surely, the map is filling in.
I left on Thursday night, and due to the vagaries of time zones I ended up in Switzerland on Wednesday morning, having slept precious little. I was thinking of taking some pictures of the country around the Zurich airport through the windows, as it's really picturesque, but the terminal was filling in and I had a Bundesliga-preview magazine to occupy myself with.
Wednesday - Unholy Water
It's tough to describe how good it feels to be back in Germany again. It's not quite Dresden, but it's close enough to stir the old feelings again -- and I was sore tempted to take that train down towards Prague that will clear this platform (this portion written at the Hamburg train station) before the train to Itzehoe comes, to go down to the banks of the Elbe again and try to go back in time. Even here in the northwest, though, Germany is just fine.
The public transit is already thick with festival-goers, and I shudder to think how crowded it'll be next year. We had a fair number of Wacken-Pilger on the plane from Zurich, more on the airport bus, and the station here isn't as brim-full as it's been on the Thursdays in the past, but for Wednesday morning it's still a lot. Here's hoping I still manage to beat the crowd and get a decent tenting place.
01: The Metal Train pulls in.
02: The inmates of the Metal Train agitate the populace before pulling on to their next stop at Itzehoe.
This was about 3 million times more impressive in person - a train of 20 or so cars, packed with just metalheads, going to just one place. There's no possible way to write AWESOME large enough to cover this. Picture this train moving, people waving, roaring, giving the horns - and now put the beyond-epic chorus of Kreator's "Enemy Of God" behind it, because that was what was on my headphones at the time. Amazing. Even if everything else had sucked, this year would still have been awesome, courtesy of this one moment.
03: Jamming out on the hardboard.
04: The plywood Immortal axes and the dudes who brought them. There were a lot of props in evidence in transit, but these were about the coolest and most noteworthy.
Unfortunately, it was a 6-hour wait between arriving at Itzehoe and getting on the bus for Wacken. More unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from this time of Dick Wang (his real name, from Philly) or the very cool British people, including the hot South Asian girl who could do polytonic burps, that we hung out with and ran through half a case of Holsten with. It was an entertaining way to pass the time, but too damn much time to pass. With my tent set up, Mambo Kurt was playing, but by that time I'd been up for about 46 hours with almost no sleep; I hit the hay soon after getting everything set up, hoping that exhaustion would trump the noise, fireworks, and floodlights.
05: Night from my tent.
06: Dawn from my tent, six mostly sleepless hours later.
In between these two pictures, I went to use the portatoilets, and en route ended up walking through a part of the field that looked like a normal bit of waterlogged ground, but was actually a ditch filled brim-up with nearly two feet of rain; hence the name for the day. In the course of the festival, as we'll see, there was a certain degree of elemental theme to each day.
Tuesday - Into The Pentagram
So I got in a little early to the airport, but fortunately I've got a full mp3-player of Cock Sparrer, among other bands, so I don't have to listen to the bullshit Logan radio and its constant advertising. This time, I'm going through Zurich; a little longer and more expensive (on Swiss), but it's on civilized carriers the whole way and doesn't involve Newark. Also, I add another country to my list of touches. Slowly but surely, the map is filling in.
I left on Thursday night, and due to the vagaries of time zones I ended up in Switzerland on Wednesday morning, having slept precious little. I was thinking of taking some pictures of the country around the Zurich airport through the windows, as it's really picturesque, but the terminal was filling in and I had a Bundesliga-preview magazine to occupy myself with.
Wednesday - Unholy Water
It's tough to describe how good it feels to be back in Germany again. It's not quite Dresden, but it's close enough to stir the old feelings again -- and I was sore tempted to take that train down towards Prague that will clear this platform (this portion written at the Hamburg train station) before the train to Itzehoe comes, to go down to the banks of the Elbe again and try to go back in time. Even here in the northwest, though, Germany is just fine.
The public transit is already thick with festival-goers, and I shudder to think how crowded it'll be next year. We had a fair number of Wacken-Pilger on the plane from Zurich, more on the airport bus, and the station here isn't as brim-full as it's been on the Thursdays in the past, but for Wednesday morning it's still a lot. Here's hoping I still manage to beat the crowd and get a decent tenting place.
01: The Metal Train pulls in.
02: The inmates of the Metal Train agitate the populace before pulling on to their next stop at Itzehoe.
This was about 3 million times more impressive in person - a train of 20 or so cars, packed with just metalheads, going to just one place. There's no possible way to write AWESOME large enough to cover this. Picture this train moving, people waving, roaring, giving the horns - and now put the beyond-epic chorus of Kreator's "Enemy Of God" behind it, because that was what was on my headphones at the time. Amazing. Even if everything else had sucked, this year would still have been awesome, courtesy of this one moment.
03: Jamming out on the hardboard.
04: The plywood Immortal axes and the dudes who brought them. There were a lot of props in evidence in transit, but these were about the coolest and most noteworthy.
Unfortunately, it was a 6-hour wait between arriving at Itzehoe and getting on the bus for Wacken. More unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from this time of Dick Wang (his real name, from Philly) or the very cool British people, including the hot South Asian girl who could do polytonic burps, that we hung out with and ran through half a case of Holsten with. It was an entertaining way to pass the time, but too damn much time to pass. With my tent set up, Mambo Kurt was playing, but by that time I'd been up for about 46 hours with almost no sleep; I hit the hay soon after getting everything set up, hoping that exhaustion would trump the noise, fireworks, and floodlights.
05: Night from my tent.
06: Dawn from my tent, six mostly sleepless hours later.
In between these two pictures, I went to use the portatoilets, and en route ended up walking through a part of the field that looked like a normal bit of waterlogged ground, but was actually a ditch filled brim-up with nearly two feet of rain; hence the name for the day. In the course of the festival, as we'll see, there was a certain degree of elemental theme to each day.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Pelican with Clouds and Priestbird [Middle East, Cambridge, 7/23/2007]
I'm already on record against weekday shows. However, let the record also show that there have been times in the past when it's been worth it to go out on a Monday or Tuesday night and catch a band that couldn't schedule a better date. This was another one of them.
It's, of course, not at all normal for July in Massachusetts to come gray, rainy, and socked in with fog, but it was a definite plus for atmosphere with regard to seeing this particular band, and it also kept most of the people off the roads, so the drive wasn't too bad, despite all the wet. I got down right around nominal doors (not the same as real doors, but it wasn't raining that bad), and fortunately managed to get in despite not having an advance ticket. Given that they brought in about 400 people on a Monday night, it may not be real advisable to try this stunt the next time Pelican comes around, especially if it's on a weekend.
While the rest of the line was stragging in and Priestbird was setting up, I got a beer and took stock of my dismal cash situation before hitting the merch tables. I got Pelican's new disc (which I, like a dumbass, didn't realize was out) as well as Lair of the Minotaur's first (which the drummer from Pelican played on, and had gotten good reviews from what I noticed back at the time, in addition to being the precursor to the very awesome The Ultimate Destroyer), but at that point was effectively broke, modulo another beer and parking fees. However, I didn't realize exactly how bad this sucked for about another 45 minutes.
Priestbird [6/7]
This is why I was bummed not to have the spare ten-spot or so to put down on another CD; this band was just as talented and expansive as you might expect a post-metal band from NYC (see also Dysrhythmia, Behold...the Arctopus) to be, and the spots of sheer genius in their performance made me really want to see how they'd show up on record. With a fluid instrumental cloud of guitar, cello, bass, drums, and mouth organ, they put up a solid 45 minutes that contained a lot of stuff so completely original that you'd expect it from the headliners on this bill...but also a fair share of largely normal doom cribbed almost note for note and tone for tone from classic Sabbath. They also fell into their own springes in a few spots; the line between the thoughts "damn, this is extremely great" and "damn, this is extremely pretentious" is razor thin, and Priestbird didn't always stay completely on the right side of it. Sure, this wasn't a perfect set, and there's room for improvement, but this shouldn't obscure the fact that this was also a great set, and the music involved was pretty damn special.
In the short time between sets, I had enough time to get over and get another 'beer', even though in actuality it was just a PBR. Because doors were pretty late and you kind of have to give post-metal bands longer sets so they can play more than just three or four songs, the set changes kept going right snappy to keep the headliners from getting cut off by curfew.
Clouds [5/7]
I'm still trying to puzzle out exactly why this band was on this tour. They did a decent job and played an entertaining set, but it didn't really mesh with the other bands on the bill. Admittedly, Cave In did a lot for post-hardcore (Clouds is Cave In guitarist Adam McGrath's current project), but Clouds is not Cave In, and by the end Cave In had gotten away even from post-hardcore. What Clouds is, at least from this set, is a decent thrashpunk band with major grunge elements that would really do better playing a show where people moved around. The crowd for Clouds was so still I thought I was back in Europe early, which is a real shame for a band playing energy-first music. Though I'm not especially interested in this style, this was still a good, entertaining set, and people into hardcore as it used to be, before the toughguys took over, ought to check them out...though maybe not when opening for a post-metal band on a Monday night.
Pelican [7/7]
They came, we saw, they steamrolled. There are few bands that can match the combination of the heavy and the lyrical that Pelican brings to the table, and both sides were in eminent display at this gig. The whole of post-metal as a separate genre from post rock depends on having that ultimate firepower to back up the post-rock leads and melodic explorations, and Pelican's resolute willingness to stand up and blast the hell out of the audience after drawing them in with stellar melodic songwriting is a significant factor in setting them apart from the rest of this scene. Staying true while being accessible is always a holy grail in metal, no matter what the variety, and Pelican have a firm grip on it here, just as firm a grip as they had on the entire audience. They did do an encore, whether completely planned or not (indications went both ways), but unfortunately had to close up at about quarter to twelve; a great set and a great night, and while it wasn't as long as the audience might have liked (still 75 minutes or so), as the guitarist said, they will be back....and hopefully, on a weekend (so more people can come) and in a bigger hall (so my lazy ass doesn't have to prebuy a ticket).
Next show is Zircon at the end of the week in Worcester, then I unfortunately have to miss a good Metal Thursday and Revocation's two tour-kickoff shows; if this was for any other reason than spending the better part of a week back in Germany for the world's greatest open air, I'd be mighty pissed.
It's, of course, not at all normal for July in Massachusetts to come gray, rainy, and socked in with fog, but it was a definite plus for atmosphere with regard to seeing this particular band, and it also kept most of the people off the roads, so the drive wasn't too bad, despite all the wet. I got down right around nominal doors (not the same as real doors, but it wasn't raining that bad), and fortunately managed to get in despite not having an advance ticket. Given that they brought in about 400 people on a Monday night, it may not be real advisable to try this stunt the next time Pelican comes around, especially if it's on a weekend.
While the rest of the line was stragging in and Priestbird was setting up, I got a beer and took stock of my dismal cash situation before hitting the merch tables. I got Pelican's new disc (which I, like a dumbass, didn't realize was out) as well as Lair of the Minotaur's first (which the drummer from Pelican played on, and had gotten good reviews from what I noticed back at the time, in addition to being the precursor to the very awesome The Ultimate Destroyer), but at that point was effectively broke, modulo another beer and parking fees. However, I didn't realize exactly how bad this sucked for about another 45 minutes.
Priestbird [6/7]
This is why I was bummed not to have the spare ten-spot or so to put down on another CD; this band was just as talented and expansive as you might expect a post-metal band from NYC (see also Dysrhythmia, Behold...the Arctopus) to be, and the spots of sheer genius in their performance made me really want to see how they'd show up on record. With a fluid instrumental cloud of guitar, cello, bass, drums, and mouth organ, they put up a solid 45 minutes that contained a lot of stuff so completely original that you'd expect it from the headliners on this bill...but also a fair share of largely normal doom cribbed almost note for note and tone for tone from classic Sabbath. They also fell into their own springes in a few spots; the line between the thoughts "damn, this is extremely great" and "damn, this is extremely pretentious" is razor thin, and Priestbird didn't always stay completely on the right side of it. Sure, this wasn't a perfect set, and there's room for improvement, but this shouldn't obscure the fact that this was also a great set, and the music involved was pretty damn special.
In the short time between sets, I had enough time to get over and get another 'beer', even though in actuality it was just a PBR. Because doors were pretty late and you kind of have to give post-metal bands longer sets so they can play more than just three or four songs, the set changes kept going right snappy to keep the headliners from getting cut off by curfew.
Clouds [5/7]
I'm still trying to puzzle out exactly why this band was on this tour. They did a decent job and played an entertaining set, but it didn't really mesh with the other bands on the bill. Admittedly, Cave In did a lot for post-hardcore (Clouds is Cave In guitarist Adam McGrath's current project), but Clouds is not Cave In, and by the end Cave In had gotten away even from post-hardcore. What Clouds is, at least from this set, is a decent thrashpunk band with major grunge elements that would really do better playing a show where people moved around. The crowd for Clouds was so still I thought I was back in Europe early, which is a real shame for a band playing energy-first music. Though I'm not especially interested in this style, this was still a good, entertaining set, and people into hardcore as it used to be, before the toughguys took over, ought to check them out...though maybe not when opening for a post-metal band on a Monday night.
Pelican [7/7]
They came, we saw, they steamrolled. There are few bands that can match the combination of the heavy and the lyrical that Pelican brings to the table, and both sides were in eminent display at this gig. The whole of post-metal as a separate genre from post rock depends on having that ultimate firepower to back up the post-rock leads and melodic explorations, and Pelican's resolute willingness to stand up and blast the hell out of the audience after drawing them in with stellar melodic songwriting is a significant factor in setting them apart from the rest of this scene. Staying true while being accessible is always a holy grail in metal, no matter what the variety, and Pelican have a firm grip on it here, just as firm a grip as they had on the entire audience. They did do an encore, whether completely planned or not (indications went both ways), but unfortunately had to close up at about quarter to twelve; a great set and a great night, and while it wasn't as long as the audience might have liked (still 75 minutes or so), as the guitarist said, they will be back....and hopefully, on a weekend (so more people can come) and in a bigger hall (so my lazy ass doesn't have to prebuy a ticket).
Next show is Zircon at the end of the week in Worcester, then I unfortunately have to miss a good Metal Thursday and Revocation's two tour-kickoff shows; if this was for any other reason than spending the better part of a week back in Germany for the world's greatest open air, I'd be mighty pissed.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Sounds of the Underground - GWAR with Shadows Fall, Every Time I Die, and Chimaira [Worcester Palladium, 7/13/2007]
Since I've been going to see Immortal in August on the world's grandest stage since last year, I don't have to go see them in New York, on a club stage and requiring driving that I hate doing even when it isn't the middle of the night. Also, that Wacken ticket implicitly carries with it about a week off from work, so taking another day off to get in at doors and see Amon Amarth (ripped up about missing, but they'll be headlining over Decapitated in the fall), The Acacia Strain (who are from around here, and will eventually do another sufficiently metal-heavy bill that I'll see them) and Goatwhore (who I would not be entirely surprised to see show up on Loudfest...or the Wolfen Ancestry gig at Ralph's...or as an emergency fill-in on the Funeral For The Skybar....you get the picture). Missing good bands sucks, but it's a fact of life for the gainfully employed; I'm probably missing Testament on Monday because it is a MONDAY show in SOUTHBRIDGE, which is practically in Connecticut. I'm sure it's a great venue, and that Testament and CSDO will slay, but I can't both do this gig and function at a high level by 8 AM Tuesday.
Nevertheless, I saw some good sets, and if GWAR on a proper stage with three decent to awesome supporting bands isn't worth 30 bucks, I don't want to share your value system.
Chimaira [5/7]
I came in about when they were starting up, and couldn't figure out for the life of me who they were until I realized that there wasn't anything in front of their banner. They put up a decent set, and their metamorphosis from a nu-metal band (to the degree that they ever were) to a death-thrash act is now complete; they weren't terribly original or distinctive, but one man's 'pedestrian' is another's 'meat-and-potatoes', and if they're able to play decently and entertain the audience, it's rather immaterial. I'm still not terribly into this band, but they did a good job in this set and played some decent music.
Before ETID, I went and hit up the merch tables, coming up with a GWAR shirt and patch, the latter of which is going to finally, finally, balance the Sigh patch at the top of my jacket. I looked over Amon Amarth and Goatwhore's stuff, but Amon Amarth didn't have any patches that I didn't already have, and the stuff that Goatwhore had out wasn't terribly compelling. I should support this band more, but the problem is that such support is easily postponed -- "they'll be back again in three weeks, I can hit them then" -- and the excuse repeats itself ad infinitum as they circle back time and again with more compelling bands who don't come around as often.
Every Time I Die [5/7]
I saw some review of this band describing them as "death metal meets a Buffalo Bills tailgate party", and in all honesty that is the dumbest thing ever. The band, though, was fortunately pretty decent, though at the start of their set they played a couple songs as the slave butt to the soundboard's Cuttlefish of Cthulhu. (For the non-GWAR-fans out there, this means that their sound was raped by a giant alien wang.) This got straightened out fairly quickly, and they proceeded to entertain the crowd with a decent and fairly even mix of thrash metal and Northeast hardcore. They did the chug-a-beer-to-this-riff gag that they've run out at previous stops on this tour, and as observed in other places, the riff in question is slow and long enough that any proper metalhead should be able to throw back a Litermass by the end of it, let alone one of these meager 12-ounce cups. Again, not a band that I'm into, or will follow on record, but they did a pretty decent show and played some entertaining music.
Shadows Fall [6/7]
As anyone might rationally expect, the crowd was hugely up for these guys; Shadows Fall is popular among this set anyways, but this was also a homecoming set, and the response was as expected. The band put up a set worthy of it, too; solid, developed, and almost completely independent of the influences that led the band to where they are today. This was a stellar demonstration of modern thrash metal, moving beyond 'metalcore', 'NWOAHM', and whatever other trend labels get stuck on the bands that follow and imitate them. Some might chuckle at Brian Fair shouting "Death to false metal!" like he's Eric Adams or somebody, but in clawing their way out of New England's crowded underground and into the international spotlight while getting debatably more metal in the process, there's a strong case that they've earned the right to it. A kickass performance, but not quite superlative.
GWAR [7/7]
This is the sort of band that the word WAEOME was invented to describe (if you aren't familiar with the word, go look at Dramatica or something). GWAR are by now legendary, and their shows just as infamous, and despite the somewhat abbreviated set (see below), we got the full load -- though the floor were the only ones to get it in more than one sense, as the alien cumcannons didn't really throw more than 20 yards. The performance art part of it (making an end of Cho Seung-Hui, a whiney emo, the Ultimate GWAR Fan, and Satan, Oderus licking his dead dog's butt (but, unfortunately, no Michael Vick references), then battling the fuck out of Gor-Gor with swords, axes, and mock-up Mesa cabs) was as balls-out as expected, and the music was just as solid as their recorded performances indicate. It's probably the best-kept secret in metal that GWAR is actually a really good band and pretty sweet musicians; people are sufficiently entertained by art students from Virginia being rubber-suited space monsters from Antarctica, and may miss that they've actually got some pretty impressive chops. The music wasn't quite to this level on its own, but the total GWAR experience offered here was to top standard. Kickass.
After GWAR closed up and the lights went up, I looked at my watch with disbelief. This show was seriously closing up at 10:30 PM. WHAT THE HELL MAN. The Summer Slaughter gig closed up early too, but not this early, and though this one did draw a lot of kids, they don't have school or anything now, so there's no social responsibility incumbent on the club to get them home and in bed. If this one could have shifted itself an hour and a half down to close at midnight, I maybe could have seen Amon Amarth, and little would have changed with the setup. As it was, this was a cool show, but logistically it could have been set up a little better. As such, I got back nice and early...but I'd rather have gotten back at the normal time and seen a few more good bands.
Nevertheless, I saw some good sets, and if GWAR on a proper stage with three decent to awesome supporting bands isn't worth 30 bucks, I don't want to share your value system.
Chimaira [5/7]
I came in about when they were starting up, and couldn't figure out for the life of me who they were until I realized that there wasn't anything in front of their banner. They put up a decent set, and their metamorphosis from a nu-metal band (to the degree that they ever were) to a death-thrash act is now complete; they weren't terribly original or distinctive, but one man's 'pedestrian' is another's 'meat-and-potatoes', and if they're able to play decently and entertain the audience, it's rather immaterial. I'm still not terribly into this band, but they did a good job in this set and played some decent music.
Before ETID, I went and hit up the merch tables, coming up with a GWAR shirt and patch, the latter of which is going to finally, finally, balance the Sigh patch at the top of my jacket. I looked over Amon Amarth and Goatwhore's stuff, but Amon Amarth didn't have any patches that I didn't already have, and the stuff that Goatwhore had out wasn't terribly compelling. I should support this band more, but the problem is that such support is easily postponed -- "they'll be back again in three weeks, I can hit them then" -- and the excuse repeats itself ad infinitum as they circle back time and again with more compelling bands who don't come around as often.
Every Time I Die [5/7]
I saw some review of this band describing them as "death metal meets a Buffalo Bills tailgate party", and in all honesty that is the dumbest thing ever. The band, though, was fortunately pretty decent, though at the start of their set they played a couple songs as the slave butt to the soundboard's Cuttlefish of Cthulhu. (For the non-GWAR-fans out there, this means that their sound was raped by a giant alien wang.) This got straightened out fairly quickly, and they proceeded to entertain the crowd with a decent and fairly even mix of thrash metal and Northeast hardcore. They did the chug-a-beer-to-this-riff gag that they've run out at previous stops on this tour, and as observed in other places, the riff in question is slow and long enough that any proper metalhead should be able to throw back a Litermass by the end of it, let alone one of these meager 12-ounce cups. Again, not a band that I'm into, or will follow on record, but they did a pretty decent show and played some entertaining music.
Shadows Fall [6/7]
As anyone might rationally expect, the crowd was hugely up for these guys; Shadows Fall is popular among this set anyways, but this was also a homecoming set, and the response was as expected. The band put up a set worthy of it, too; solid, developed, and almost completely independent of the influences that led the band to where they are today. This was a stellar demonstration of modern thrash metal, moving beyond 'metalcore', 'NWOAHM', and whatever other trend labels get stuck on the bands that follow and imitate them. Some might chuckle at Brian Fair shouting "Death to false metal!" like he's Eric Adams or somebody, but in clawing their way out of New England's crowded underground and into the international spotlight while getting debatably more metal in the process, there's a strong case that they've earned the right to it. A kickass performance, but not quite superlative.
GWAR [7/7]
This is the sort of band that the word WAEOME was invented to describe (if you aren't familiar with the word, go look at Dramatica or something). GWAR are by now legendary, and their shows just as infamous, and despite the somewhat abbreviated set (see below), we got the full load -- though the floor were the only ones to get it in more than one sense, as the alien cumcannons didn't really throw more than 20 yards. The performance art part of it (making an end of Cho Seung-Hui, a whiney emo, the Ultimate GWAR Fan, and Satan, Oderus licking his dead dog's butt (but, unfortunately, no Michael Vick references), then battling the fuck out of Gor-Gor with swords, axes, and mock-up Mesa cabs) was as balls-out as expected, and the music was just as solid as their recorded performances indicate. It's probably the best-kept secret in metal that GWAR is actually a really good band and pretty sweet musicians; people are sufficiently entertained by art students from Virginia being rubber-suited space monsters from Antarctica, and may miss that they've actually got some pretty impressive chops. The music wasn't quite to this level on its own, but the total GWAR experience offered here was to top standard. Kickass.
After GWAR closed up and the lights went up, I looked at my watch with disbelief. This show was seriously closing up at 10:30 PM. WHAT THE HELL MAN. The Summer Slaughter gig closed up early too, but not this early, and though this one did draw a lot of kids, they don't have school or anything now, so there's no social responsibility incumbent on the club to get them home and in bed. If this one could have shifted itself an hour and a half down to close at midnight, I maybe could have seen Amon Amarth, and little would have changed with the setup. As it was, this was a cool show, but logistically it could have been set up a little better. As such, I got back nice and early...but I'd rather have gotten back at the normal time and seen a few more good bands.
Friday, July 13, 2007
now saving soccer in America in.....
Those who follow the debatably-like-fourth-or-fifth-but-maybe-higher-because-NASCAR-and-golf-are-kind-of-dubious-most-popular sport in the US are probably well-aware that today is David Beckham day, and those who don't but turned on their televisions at some point know that he is here to play for Los Angeles and, incidentally, save soccer (at least in the US). This has brought out the usual assortment of idiots on the interblags, who are for the most part each arguing one of the following points -- and sometimes more than one, if they're exceptionally confused:
1) Soccer sucks, and it will never be popular in America, no matter what Beckham does.
2) Beckham is OLD and WASHED UP and just a SET PIECE PLAYER ANYWAY, and will make some money in endorsements, but can't save soccer in America.
3) Soccer in America is JUST FINE and DOESN'T NEED SAVING.
All three points, of course, are wrong -- bet you never thought you'd see that from the internet, did you? The first point is mostly argued by people who've never seen a game above the U-12 level, if at all, and comes with a bunch of spurious stuff about how it's a sissy sport or boring or other tripe that is easily laughable to anyone who's ever seen a decent professional game or strapped on a pair of boots themselves. The second point is closer to the truth, but Becks showed good form in helping Real Madrid win La Liga this season, and the manager who didn't want him back has since been sacked. He's got a couple good seasons left still, and at the MLS level, this could easily extend.
That kind of cuts to the heart of the third point, which since it's coming from people who generally follow soccer in this country, is the most worrisome. Sure, soccer is much better off in this country than it was when I was a kid; the Cup in '94 and then the good showings of the national side in '02 and '06 have helped a lot, and MLS is nowhere near as bad as it once was, and a lot more visible. But I've lived in Europe, and seen ten-year-olds playing at a level that we'd consider good in high school, and seen 20,000 people pack a stadium for a team that was sliding out of the national leagues. Soccer is on a shaky footing in this country and needs all the help it can get.
Case in point: I was watching the Thursday night prime-time MLS match on ESPN2, where Dynamo Houston defeated Chicago 4-0. In this game, Houston looked like a decent professional side; there was solid play and a couple spectacular goals, but the impression that we have a world-competitive league in the US is a Potemkin village. Houston is the MLS points leader. Chicago is at the bottom of the table, in managerial chaos, and they were making some absolute bush league mistakes last night. I play with a bunch of guys from work on an informal basis (not good enough to play in a pyramid league, nobody else has a works side to play against in this area), and some of the stuff Chicago was doing, we yell at each other for. Just mental and physical mistakes that you wouldn't want to make playing in the park.
In any other league, though, there would be consequences. Bad play gets you relegated; you lose money from TV contracts and it is such a difficult and painful process to retool financially and rebuild your team that the owners have an explicit and relentless capitalist motivation to win games. In the current model, based on the cartels in other American major league sports, the clubs are not independent entities, and the relegation of a franchise based on poor play would be basis for a breach of contract suit. Ask an Arizona Cardinals fan what it's like when owners don't feel any pressure to win games.
Unfortunately, relegation only emerges as an option when you have a pool of hungry-but-not-quite-top-flight clubs beneath the top league desperate to move up. We don't have that here, not yet; though there are four tiers down the pyramid from MLS (MLS2, then three leagues that do promote/relegate) in most places, the quality of the game there is not high, and a lot of the players are foreign born and in many cases not permanent residents. My brother plays on a bottom-tier club in Boston, and is one of three or four Americans on a roster of 15 to 20. This is one of the integrated sides; they've played against the local Brazilian team and Boston Nigerians, and there are so many Irish clubs kicking around that his team, which actually has a Gaelic word in their name, had to pick Barca's colors in order to avoid coordinating their particular shade of green with everyone else.
Some of these folks will stick around and continue playing until they have to start an Altliga, providing a broader foundation for the game, but others will drift back off to where they came from. This is our loss, because what really drives soccer in other countries is the idea of sport as something to do rather than something to watch. It's fundamentally something that anyone can do with minimal equipment, and people do do it, all the time. Fans will show up in the stands to watch the game, but what you don't see broadcast back is that many of the people are connected to the game on more than the professional level; they watch their kids, and many of them still play themselves, for a local amateur league side or just with people from their work or their regular pub. Being a fan isn't just about following a particular team, but being involved with the game on a broader level.
The point of all of this is that a lot of things will have to change -- or more accurately, continue changing -- for soccer to establish itself here to anywhere near the level it's at in most parts of the rest of the world. David Beckham will be able to help drive some of them; if he can win a game or two on penalty for Galaxy a season and supplant their defensive enough so that they draw a couple times rather than losing, that's a definite contribution to having a competitive team in a large market again, and his visibility will help draw interest to the sport, perhaps more butts to the seats, and from there into the footballing culture. But the life-or-death attachment to teams won't come until the season is a life-or-death proposition for the clubs via relegation and promotion, and that won't happen until we get enough people -- and, of course, good people, not schlubs like me who occasionally have a kickaround -- playing to form a proper pyramid (leagues in the major footballing nations of Europe are regularly twice as deep as the pyramid in the US) and can bust up the MLS cartel model.
Can it happen? Sure, and a lot of these things are already in place, slowly advancing. But it's a glacial change, and is going to involve a shift in the culture that flies in the face of about every other gathering trend; Americans are getting fatter and socializing less, which speaks ill of their prospects at organizing a team and then playing competently on it. A higher profile for the pro league helps, and a high-profile international can help in that regard, but the work is not just for the likes of Beckham, but also for the likes of my brother trying to lead a motley gang of expats to the local top flight, the likes of our works "captain" Nagi organizing recreational squads and trying to hunt up others to set up a inter-company league, and the likes of me and hordes of others biting the bullet and suiting up, vowing this week to run a little harder, turn a little faster, and kick with a little more control than last week. Do what you can, have fun doing it.
1) Soccer sucks, and it will never be popular in America, no matter what Beckham does.
2) Beckham is OLD and WASHED UP and just a SET PIECE PLAYER ANYWAY, and will make some money in endorsements, but can't save soccer in America.
3) Soccer in America is JUST FINE and DOESN'T NEED SAVING.
All three points, of course, are wrong -- bet you never thought you'd see that from the internet, did you? The first point is mostly argued by people who've never seen a game above the U-12 level, if at all, and comes with a bunch of spurious stuff about how it's a sissy sport or boring or other tripe that is easily laughable to anyone who's ever seen a decent professional game or strapped on a pair of boots themselves. The second point is closer to the truth, but Becks showed good form in helping Real Madrid win La Liga this season, and the manager who didn't want him back has since been sacked. He's got a couple good seasons left still, and at the MLS level, this could easily extend.
That kind of cuts to the heart of the third point, which since it's coming from people who generally follow soccer in this country, is the most worrisome. Sure, soccer is much better off in this country than it was when I was a kid; the Cup in '94 and then the good showings of the national side in '02 and '06 have helped a lot, and MLS is nowhere near as bad as it once was, and a lot more visible. But I've lived in Europe, and seen ten-year-olds playing at a level that we'd consider good in high school, and seen 20,000 people pack a stadium for a team that was sliding out of the national leagues. Soccer is on a shaky footing in this country and needs all the help it can get.
Case in point: I was watching the Thursday night prime-time MLS match on ESPN2, where Dynamo Houston defeated Chicago 4-0. In this game, Houston looked like a decent professional side; there was solid play and a couple spectacular goals, but the impression that we have a world-competitive league in the US is a Potemkin village. Houston is the MLS points leader. Chicago is at the bottom of the table, in managerial chaos, and they were making some absolute bush league mistakes last night. I play with a bunch of guys from work on an informal basis (not good enough to play in a pyramid league, nobody else has a works side to play against in this area), and some of the stuff Chicago was doing, we yell at each other for. Just mental and physical mistakes that you wouldn't want to make playing in the park.
In any other league, though, there would be consequences. Bad play gets you relegated; you lose money from TV contracts and it is such a difficult and painful process to retool financially and rebuild your team that the owners have an explicit and relentless capitalist motivation to win games. In the current model, based on the cartels in other American major league sports, the clubs are not independent entities, and the relegation of a franchise based on poor play would be basis for a breach of contract suit. Ask an Arizona Cardinals fan what it's like when owners don't feel any pressure to win games.
Unfortunately, relegation only emerges as an option when you have a pool of hungry-but-not-quite-top-flight clubs beneath the top league desperate to move up. We don't have that here, not yet; though there are four tiers down the pyramid from MLS (MLS2, then three leagues that do promote/relegate) in most places, the quality of the game there is not high, and a lot of the players are foreign born and in many cases not permanent residents. My brother plays on a bottom-tier club in Boston, and is one of three or four Americans on a roster of 15 to 20. This is one of the integrated sides; they've played against the local Brazilian team and Boston Nigerians, and there are so many Irish clubs kicking around that his team, which actually has a Gaelic word in their name, had to pick Barca's colors in order to avoid coordinating their particular shade of green with everyone else.
Some of these folks will stick around and continue playing until they have to start an Altliga, providing a broader foundation for the game, but others will drift back off to where they came from. This is our loss, because what really drives soccer in other countries is the idea of sport as something to do rather than something to watch. It's fundamentally something that anyone can do with minimal equipment, and people do do it, all the time. Fans will show up in the stands to watch the game, but what you don't see broadcast back is that many of the people are connected to the game on more than the professional level; they watch their kids, and many of them still play themselves, for a local amateur league side or just with people from their work or their regular pub. Being a fan isn't just about following a particular team, but being involved with the game on a broader level.
The point of all of this is that a lot of things will have to change -- or more accurately, continue changing -- for soccer to establish itself here to anywhere near the level it's at in most parts of the rest of the world. David Beckham will be able to help drive some of them; if he can win a game or two on penalty for Galaxy a season and supplant their defensive enough so that they draw a couple times rather than losing, that's a definite contribution to having a competitive team in a large market again, and his visibility will help draw interest to the sport, perhaps more butts to the seats, and from there into the footballing culture. But the life-or-death attachment to teams won't come until the season is a life-or-death proposition for the clubs via relegation and promotion, and that won't happen until we get enough people -- and, of course, good people, not schlubs like me who occasionally have a kickaround -- playing to form a proper pyramid (leagues in the major footballing nations of Europe are regularly twice as deep as the pyramid in the US) and can bust up the MLS cartel model.
Can it happen? Sure, and a lot of these things are already in place, slowly advancing. But it's a glacial change, and is going to involve a shift in the culture that flies in the face of about every other gathering trend; Americans are getting fatter and socializing less, which speaks ill of their prospects at organizing a team and then playing competently on it. A higher profile for the pro league helps, and a high-profile international can help in that regard, but the work is not just for the likes of Beckham, but also for the likes of my brother trying to lead a motley gang of expats to the local top flight, the likes of our works "captain" Nagi organizing recreational squads and trying to hunt up others to set up a inter-company league, and the likes of me and hordes of others biting the bullet and suiting up, vowing this week to run a little harder, turn a little faster, and kick with a little more control than last week. Do what you can, have fun doing it.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Necrophagist with Decapitated, Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation, The Faceless, As Blood Runs Black, Ion Dissonance, Beneath The Massacre
(show, at the Palladium in Worcester on 7/6/2007, also included In Dire Need and Zircon as local support, but I ran out of headline room.)
I took the day off from work for this gig, and it was certainly worth it -- not only for recuperating my feet, but because there was a long share of good music that I would have missed if I'd just left for Worcester at 6. As it was, I got moving a little later than I'd planned to -- and without taking my boots over to the cobbler, which I now have to do next week or risk not getting them back for Wacken. I was able to get parking no problem, but the late start and thick traffic on 128 due to a blue-sky cloudburst led to one of the few down points of the night, missing nearly all of Zircon's set.
Zircon [N/A]
As I came in, they were on their last song, which sucked for me. From what I saw, they were pretty thoroughly on, which was good, despite the new guitarist, who can't have been in the band for more than a month or so. The only unfortunate part about their set was the sound, which negatively affected about the whole first half of the bill; the guitars, especially the leads, sounded a little buried, which is totally egregious; there is no reason, when setting up a board for a metal show, to not have the guitars forward by default. I mean, come the fuck on. I can understand the sound guys not putting effort into bringing a local band's solos out, but the first three nationals were also poorly handled, and this particular mismix makes the sound come off as intentionally bad; a new low for the sound in this place.
I talked with the guys later while scooping some stuff, and I stand by my assessment that if Zircon can keep it together, they have an even shot at headlining this kind of bill in a few years. Specifically, four to five years and at least two very good full-lengths, but the band definitely has it in them, and with the right label push it's really a question of when, not if.
In Dire Need [4/7]
I'm not, personally, a huge fan of this style, but this band did a decent job of it; the hardcore influences were honestly and directly done, but I wasn't on the floor for them as I was for Zircon, and the sound was an absolute nightmare. If I could hear what the hell they were doing, I might have enjoyed this more; I got a sampler from them after the show, and that's going to be a much better representation of who and where they are as musicians than this set was.
Beneath The Massacre [4/7]
This band was down for a 4.5 score before I chopped off all the tailing half-scores (still hate doing them), also in large part because their sound was fucked up. They had a few really interesting parts to their sound, but others that didn't come off as so inspired, and the mismanagement at the soundboard really didn't help anything. I'm somewhat interested in seeing this band again, but if the next time they're around is an early slot on a festival or superpackage at the Palladium, I'm really skeptical of the total effect being any better.
Ion Dissonance [5/7]
Maybe it was the sound, maybe it was the prevalence of new material (Minus The Herd is okay, but pretty much just okay), but this set didn't have the same immediate and explosive effect that they put up the last time I saw them (Metalfest '06). It was still pretty well done, with the hardcore standing out more than the brutal thrash parts (almost certainly because I've got a better ear for this now rather than any change on the band's part), but while the sound mix wasn't hurting them much -- the thick and dense sound being basically all that the sound system could convey until the headliners came on -- it wasn't exactly helping them either. This was a decent set, but not, really, what I came for.
In around here, I did my merch run, picking up some Cattle Decapitation and Necrophagist gear. I wanted to support Decapitated as well, but they didn't have any merch out, for reasons that would become clear later. I didn't get the Necrophagist shirt I wanted, but the second-choice design is also cool, and Cattle Decapitation's "GORE NOT CORE" design is something that every anti-trend metaller should appreciate.
As Blood Runs Black [4/7]
Speaking of trends, there was little I could do but shake my head during this band's set. There were a lot of people into them, but all I could think was "we are in New England. We know what Shadows Fall sounds like -- and this band is but a pale fallen shadow thereof." Where Shadows Fall is a good band making good music and diminishing the case for metalcore-as-a-dirty-word, As Blood Runs Black seemed mostly interested in playing through Of One Blood again and hoping people wouldn't notice that the state of the art had advanced. The sound was okay and the playing competent, but the band was doing nothing original, and it was a relief when they closed up. I'm not sure that I recall hearing the singer tell the crowd to "bring the ruckus", but if such occurred, it would indeed be about the dumbest thing I have seen on a metal stage.
Well, not really. I've seen Halo of Thorns use Hood strawberry syrup as a blood substitute. That still takes the cake.
The Faceless [5/7]
I hadn't heard this band before, but had heard a little about them and was skeptical, as you kind of have to be about any new band that calls themselves death metal and gets press attention. Fortunately, though, they had some decent sound and a decent sound to deliver through it, an even and smooth mix of melodic and brutal death metal styles. While it wasn't terribly distinctive, it was well-done and a good time; a decent set, and worth remembering even though the top of the bill was coming up, and with it, absolute devastation.
Cattle Decapitation [6/7]
This was a definite top-class set, and if it had been the last of the night, it would have been a fitting capstone to a very good show. While the grind elements were still dominant, there was also a lot of black metal in their sound as well that I didn't notice in the limited experience I've had with them on record; it made for an interesting contrast and a cool overall sound. They've rubbed some people the wrong way personally in the past, but as this set bears out, there's been little complaint about their actual music, which continues to kick ass.
Cephalic Carnage [6/7]
At this point I went down on the floor, because it opened up significantly after Cattle Decapitation, and I needed to get close up for the last two bands. Down closer, the sound was slightly better, but the major advantage to this set was CC's rounded, diverse sound, probably the most wide-ranging of the night. Despite the complexities of their music, they still kept the pit moving as well; towards the end of their set, a kid came out of the pit right in front of me and proceeded to hurl on the ground at the side of the rail, whether from getting spun around of from getting hit in the stomach, it wasn't clear. This was basically the only negative on the night that wasn't directly my fault, and fortunately the kid in question didn't look too much the worse for wear after he'd gotten his guts out onto the floor. Even with this mishap, this was still a killer set.
Decapitated [7/7]
HOLY FUCK. The band basically got right off the bus/van from Quebec due to allegedly forgetting all their money at the hotel in Montreal (there may be a case here that the noncommercial DIY ethos needs to be flavored with a little practicality) and going back from half-way in order to retrieve it, then went on stage, but proceeded to wipe the floor with everyone who had played to this point, and gave Necrophagist a serious run for their money. Their set back in November was good, but not well-mixed, and this one saw one of those rare cases where the stars align and the Palladium soundboard produces a diamond, much like Suffocation back at that gig. The sound was tremendous, world-crushing, and as close to perfect as this building is likely to come, and the set as a result was a pure triumph of Polish death metal. If the headliners had been anyone else, this would have stolen the show fucking blind. Simply incredible; you may commence kicking yourself if you like brutal death and missed this. The floor was similarly insane in their response to the band; it was during Decapitated's set that the dude in this pic got his tooth knocked loose, which he was showing off to the doods on the rail next to me after surfing over the front.
Between Decapitated and Necrophagist, I talked with the Rev, who was similarly overpowered by Decapitated's set -- but also concerned about how the hell he was going to get one of his better cameras over to his girlfriend to shoot Live Earth with; living together makes some equipment issues a little easier for two of New England's most prolific live-music photographers, but does occasionally exacerbate logistical problems caused by how throughly they do cover the region.
Necrophagist [7/7]
The Marco Minnemann Show [7/7]
In addition to being a kickass death metal set, this was also a thorough masterclass in extreme metal technique, arrangement, and songwriting. I saw it from about the 6th row, which is the place to see Necrophagist from, as further back you won't be able to see the hand action, and may not realize exactly what Muhammed, Sami, and Stefan are doing and how exactly it's so mind-blowing. Everyone who knows this band also knows that Muhammed is probably the most accomplished and significant Turco-German musician of his generation (if not of Turkish history in Germany), and most people are probably aware that they've recently enlisted Marco Minneman, who definitely ranks among the greatest living German drummers, but Muhammed's writing and arrangements would go for naught if Sami (guitar) and Stefan (bass) weren't stellar musicians in their own right and able to keep up, allowing the intricacies of the parts to stand forth and impress the pure hell out of the audience. There was some pit motion, but most of Necrophagist's set saw the larger part of the audience absolutely spellbound, watching and listening as the band ripped through cut after cut of stuff that can't be assessed but as light-years ahead of what's going on in the main line of death metal today, and at a level of composition that's rarely touched even by the best of the more technical bands. There was one section in which they moved seamlessly and flawlessly through four riffs in three different tempos and two different keys that was just absolutely stunning; it's difficult to pick out casually, but it's the little things like this that make the band relentlessly awesome.
Marco gets his own rating because he also got (kind of) his own set, in which he generated as much awesome as 3's percussion show with half the drummers. In this tour-de-force, he moved from jazz to funk to hip-hop to tribal to Japanese-traditional to death metal through a long share of technical showing-off with no interruptions or disjunctions, even despite two stick drops. It was about the most incredible performance I've ever seen out of a drummer, and the range of sounds that he could get out of his (admittedly non-traditional) kit was truly awe-inspiring. His abilities are fully tested by backing up up such a technically challenging band, but this solo showed not only his non-metal background and diverse influences, but how he weaves those back into a death metal context; how he contributes to the next Necrophagist record will be really interesting to see, and will likely make it a further and stronger step up from Epitaph.
Sadly, the building curfew kicked in and prevented an encore, though the whole building was screaming for it. It was barely past 11, but the lights went up and the roadies starting tearing down the kit. Oh well; Arsis may have been missed (they had to scratch most of the tour due to van issues), and a double-headliner of Arsis and Necrophagist would be a stupendous clash of tech-death titans, but the bands that remained delivered a kickass show to be sure, and produced enough slaughter last a long slice of the summer -- hopefully the next max-package (Sounds of the Underground) at this venue won't break down the coolness from here too much.
I took the day off from work for this gig, and it was certainly worth it -- not only for recuperating my feet, but because there was a long share of good music that I would have missed if I'd just left for Worcester at 6. As it was, I got moving a little later than I'd planned to -- and without taking my boots over to the cobbler, which I now have to do next week or risk not getting them back for Wacken. I was able to get parking no problem, but the late start and thick traffic on 128 due to a blue-sky cloudburst led to one of the few down points of the night, missing nearly all of Zircon's set.
Zircon [N/A]
As I came in, they were on their last song, which sucked for me. From what I saw, they were pretty thoroughly on, which was good, despite the new guitarist, who can't have been in the band for more than a month or so. The only unfortunate part about their set was the sound, which negatively affected about the whole first half of the bill; the guitars, especially the leads, sounded a little buried, which is totally egregious; there is no reason, when setting up a board for a metal show, to not have the guitars forward by default. I mean, come the fuck on. I can understand the sound guys not putting effort into bringing a local band's solos out, but the first three nationals were also poorly handled, and this particular mismix makes the sound come off as intentionally bad; a new low for the sound in this place.
I talked with the guys later while scooping some stuff, and I stand by my assessment that if Zircon can keep it together, they have an even shot at headlining this kind of bill in a few years. Specifically, four to five years and at least two very good full-lengths, but the band definitely has it in them, and with the right label push it's really a question of when, not if.
In Dire Need [4/7]
I'm not, personally, a huge fan of this style, but this band did a decent job of it; the hardcore influences were honestly and directly done, but I wasn't on the floor for them as I was for Zircon, and the sound was an absolute nightmare. If I could hear what the hell they were doing, I might have enjoyed this more; I got a sampler from them after the show, and that's going to be a much better representation of who and where they are as musicians than this set was.
Beneath The Massacre [4/7]
This band was down for a 4.5 score before I chopped off all the tailing half-scores (still hate doing them), also in large part because their sound was fucked up. They had a few really interesting parts to their sound, but others that didn't come off as so inspired, and the mismanagement at the soundboard really didn't help anything. I'm somewhat interested in seeing this band again, but if the next time they're around is an early slot on a festival or superpackage at the Palladium, I'm really skeptical of the total effect being any better.
Ion Dissonance [5/7]
Maybe it was the sound, maybe it was the prevalence of new material (Minus The Herd is okay, but pretty much just okay), but this set didn't have the same immediate and explosive effect that they put up the last time I saw them (Metalfest '06). It was still pretty well done, with the hardcore standing out more than the brutal thrash parts (almost certainly because I've got a better ear for this now rather than any change on the band's part), but while the sound mix wasn't hurting them much -- the thick and dense sound being basically all that the sound system could convey until the headliners came on -- it wasn't exactly helping them either. This was a decent set, but not, really, what I came for.
In around here, I did my merch run, picking up some Cattle Decapitation and Necrophagist gear. I wanted to support Decapitated as well, but they didn't have any merch out, for reasons that would become clear later. I didn't get the Necrophagist shirt I wanted, but the second-choice design is also cool, and Cattle Decapitation's "GORE NOT CORE" design is something that every anti-trend metaller should appreciate.
As Blood Runs Black [4/7]
Speaking of trends, there was little I could do but shake my head during this band's set. There were a lot of people into them, but all I could think was "we are in New England. We know what Shadows Fall sounds like -- and this band is but a pale fallen shadow thereof." Where Shadows Fall is a good band making good music and diminishing the case for metalcore-as-a-dirty-word, As Blood Runs Black seemed mostly interested in playing through Of One Blood again and hoping people wouldn't notice that the state of the art had advanced. The sound was okay and the playing competent, but the band was doing nothing original, and it was a relief when they closed up. I'm not sure that I recall hearing the singer tell the crowd to "bring the ruckus", but if such occurred, it would indeed be about the dumbest thing I have seen on a metal stage.
Well, not really. I've seen Halo of Thorns use Hood strawberry syrup as a blood substitute. That still takes the cake.
The Faceless [5/7]
I hadn't heard this band before, but had heard a little about them and was skeptical, as you kind of have to be about any new band that calls themselves death metal and gets press attention. Fortunately, though, they had some decent sound and a decent sound to deliver through it, an even and smooth mix of melodic and brutal death metal styles. While it wasn't terribly distinctive, it was well-done and a good time; a decent set, and worth remembering even though the top of the bill was coming up, and with it, absolute devastation.
Cattle Decapitation [6/7]
This was a definite top-class set, and if it had been the last of the night, it would have been a fitting capstone to a very good show. While the grind elements were still dominant, there was also a lot of black metal in their sound as well that I didn't notice in the limited experience I've had with them on record; it made for an interesting contrast and a cool overall sound. They've rubbed some people the wrong way personally in the past, but as this set bears out, there's been little complaint about their actual music, which continues to kick ass.
Cephalic Carnage [6/7]
At this point I went down on the floor, because it opened up significantly after Cattle Decapitation, and I needed to get close up for the last two bands. Down closer, the sound was slightly better, but the major advantage to this set was CC's rounded, diverse sound, probably the most wide-ranging of the night. Despite the complexities of their music, they still kept the pit moving as well; towards the end of their set, a kid came out of the pit right in front of me and proceeded to hurl on the ground at the side of the rail, whether from getting spun around of from getting hit in the stomach, it wasn't clear. This was basically the only negative on the night that wasn't directly my fault, and fortunately the kid in question didn't look too much the worse for wear after he'd gotten his guts out onto the floor. Even with this mishap, this was still a killer set.
Decapitated [7/7]
HOLY FUCK. The band basically got right off the bus/van from Quebec due to allegedly forgetting all their money at the hotel in Montreal (there may be a case here that the noncommercial DIY ethos needs to be flavored with a little practicality) and going back from half-way in order to retrieve it, then went on stage, but proceeded to wipe the floor with everyone who had played to this point, and gave Necrophagist a serious run for their money. Their set back in November was good, but not well-mixed, and this one saw one of those rare cases where the stars align and the Palladium soundboard produces a diamond, much like Suffocation back at that gig. The sound was tremendous, world-crushing, and as close to perfect as this building is likely to come, and the set as a result was a pure triumph of Polish death metal. If the headliners had been anyone else, this would have stolen the show fucking blind. Simply incredible; you may commence kicking yourself if you like brutal death and missed this. The floor was similarly insane in their response to the band; it was during Decapitated's set that the dude in this pic got his tooth knocked loose, which he was showing off to the doods on the rail next to me after surfing over the front.
Between Decapitated and Necrophagist, I talked with the Rev, who was similarly overpowered by Decapitated's set -- but also concerned about how the hell he was going to get one of his better cameras over to his girlfriend to shoot Live Earth with; living together makes some equipment issues a little easier for two of New England's most prolific live-music photographers, but does occasionally exacerbate logistical problems caused by how throughly they do cover the region.
Necrophagist [7/7]
The Marco Minnemann Show [7/7]
In addition to being a kickass death metal set, this was also a thorough masterclass in extreme metal technique, arrangement, and songwriting. I saw it from about the 6th row, which is the place to see Necrophagist from, as further back you won't be able to see the hand action, and may not realize exactly what Muhammed, Sami, and Stefan are doing and how exactly it's so mind-blowing. Everyone who knows this band also knows that Muhammed is probably the most accomplished and significant Turco-German musician of his generation (if not of Turkish history in Germany), and most people are probably aware that they've recently enlisted Marco Minneman, who definitely ranks among the greatest living German drummers, but Muhammed's writing and arrangements would go for naught if Sami (guitar) and Stefan (bass) weren't stellar musicians in their own right and able to keep up, allowing the intricacies of the parts to stand forth and impress the pure hell out of the audience. There was some pit motion, but most of Necrophagist's set saw the larger part of the audience absolutely spellbound, watching and listening as the band ripped through cut after cut of stuff that can't be assessed but as light-years ahead of what's going on in the main line of death metal today, and at a level of composition that's rarely touched even by the best of the more technical bands. There was one section in which they moved seamlessly and flawlessly through four riffs in three different tempos and two different keys that was just absolutely stunning; it's difficult to pick out casually, but it's the little things like this that make the band relentlessly awesome.
Marco gets his own rating because he also got (kind of) his own set, in which he generated as much awesome as 3's percussion show with half the drummers. In this tour-de-force, he moved from jazz to funk to hip-hop to tribal to Japanese-traditional to death metal through a long share of technical showing-off with no interruptions or disjunctions, even despite two stick drops. It was about the most incredible performance I've ever seen out of a drummer, and the range of sounds that he could get out of his (admittedly non-traditional) kit was truly awe-inspiring. His abilities are fully tested by backing up up such a technically challenging band, but this solo showed not only his non-metal background and diverse influences, but how he weaves those back into a death metal context; how he contributes to the next Necrophagist record will be really interesting to see, and will likely make it a further and stronger step up from Epitaph.
Sadly, the building curfew kicked in and prevented an encore, though the whole building was screaming for it. It was barely past 11, but the lights went up and the roadies starting tearing down the kit. Oh well; Arsis may have been missed (they had to scratch most of the tour due to van issues), and a double-headliner of Arsis and Necrophagist would be a stupendous clash of tech-death titans, but the bands that remained delivered a kickass show to be sure, and produced enough slaughter last a long slice of the summer -- hopefully the next max-package (Sounds of the Underground) at this venue won't break down the coolness from here too much.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Watchmaker with Hirudinea, Cythraul, and Graveside Service [Skybar, Somerville, 6/29/2007]
I pushed it a little later coming in this time, and the bands also got in earlier than Thursday. The only unfortunate parts was that I was short on cash, which meant that I only picked up two records from Jeremy's table...but fortunately (?) there wasn't much of an option to directly support the bands; not because I like stiffing them, but because choosing who to support on my 20 spare bucks -- and worse, who not to -- is a choice I hate making.
Graveside Service [4/7]
I hadn't seen this band before, but there's a debate to be made that this may be a positive; with a stage cluttered with various props and stage dressing, and with their gothic/black metal sound coming out of the somewhat unusual instrumental alignment, it definitely felt like there may not be a whole lot to differentiate one Graveside Service set from the next. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised that from this combo of vocalist, keyboards, and some seriously well-handled drums were able to produce a sound that hewed fairly close to black metal. My tolerance for stringless goth music -- especially with an overabundance of props -- is really low, but the legitimate black metal elements in their sound made the time worthwhile. There was some slack time, and there were a few parts in the writing that were less than inspired, but the music was overall decent, and it's an experience to be recommended at least once.
Cythraul [5/7]
With a full complement this time (staffed out by Cody from Witch Tomb on bass), they somehow didn't make as deep an impression as the last time I saw them. I have no idea as to why exactly this is, perhaps due to the sound (overall decent, but we didn't have the "usual" Sunday guy on this gig, who was also in on Thursday), but the overall impression was of a trebled-out scream-and-drone take on black metal that didn't seem to really take a bite out of the audience. They did a solid cover of Mayhem's "Freezing Moon" (with the intro taken directly from Live In Leipzig), but it was only in this and the subsequent, final song that it felt like they had stepped it up to their potential. This was some good stuff, and the main part of the set was decent; as they move forward and do some rewrites of their existing material to take better advantage of Cody's talents, there's definitely the potential to improve and put up kickass sets even despite potential sound problems.
Hirudinea [6/7]
If someone tells you that hardcore and black metal simply cannot mix, they are liars -- though you can't blame them, as the whole impulse of both scenes have been diametrically opposed since the time that both existed. However, this set showed that the two can be blended -- and when it's done right, it can be pretty damn awesome. Mixing black metal arrangements and hate with hardcore composition and intensity, this was a tremendously cool, turbulent set that was thoroughly awesome even before they closed with Carnivore's "Sex and Violence". If you like extreme metal, you need to see this band -- but this was not the best fusion of the opposed ends of the extreme on the night.
Watchmaker [7/7]
This, though, was, and damn was it ever intense. Watchmaker are among the old masters of the Boston thrash scene, and they definitely showed why in this set, mostly coming out of grind and thrash but with significant black and noise touches as well. The music was great, with a lot of subtlety as well as straight-ahead violence, but the audience reaction was something else, with most of the house down front going crazy. Those who weren't there may think this is an exaggeration, but there are few descriptions that should otherwise be used for an event where people are stagediving onto a handful of people at a bar show. There weren't any major injuries despite a lot of close encounters with tables and the floor, so despite the raw insanity incurred as they closed with "Damage, Inc." (obviously, not identical to the original, but in this setting definitely the better for the reinterpretation), there was only just the right amount of pain, strain, impact, and bruising to let all participants know the next day that they were at a kickass gig.
After checking to make sure that all my body parts were still attached, I headed back out to get going home....which took a lot longer than expected because the tunnel up to the northward routse was closed for repairs again, and the detours led around in what seemed like the longest possible route through Revere. This is the only bad part about Boston shows; the commute's easy, except when the highway chokepoints decide to be unsafe to drive through. Next gig's in Worcester, so this problem won't be an issue -- just the challenge of driving back the hell over the Mass Pike amid too many overloaded trucks going too fast on inconsistent surfaces. When gigs are this good, though, it's not worth complaining about the drive unless you actually get brewed up or killed.
Graveside Service [4/7]
I hadn't seen this band before, but there's a debate to be made that this may be a positive; with a stage cluttered with various props and stage dressing, and with their gothic/black metal sound coming out of the somewhat unusual instrumental alignment, it definitely felt like there may not be a whole lot to differentiate one Graveside Service set from the next. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised that from this combo of vocalist, keyboards, and some seriously well-handled drums were able to produce a sound that hewed fairly close to black metal. My tolerance for stringless goth music -- especially with an overabundance of props -- is really low, but the legitimate black metal elements in their sound made the time worthwhile. There was some slack time, and there were a few parts in the writing that were less than inspired, but the music was overall decent, and it's an experience to be recommended at least once.
Cythraul [5/7]
With a full complement this time (staffed out by Cody from Witch Tomb on bass), they somehow didn't make as deep an impression as the last time I saw them. I have no idea as to why exactly this is, perhaps due to the sound (overall decent, but we didn't have the "usual" Sunday guy on this gig, who was also in on Thursday), but the overall impression was of a trebled-out scream-and-drone take on black metal that didn't seem to really take a bite out of the audience. They did a solid cover of Mayhem's "Freezing Moon" (with the intro taken directly from Live In Leipzig), but it was only in this and the subsequent, final song that it felt like they had stepped it up to their potential. This was some good stuff, and the main part of the set was decent; as they move forward and do some rewrites of their existing material to take better advantage of Cody's talents, there's definitely the potential to improve and put up kickass sets even despite potential sound problems.
Hirudinea [6/7]
If someone tells you that hardcore and black metal simply cannot mix, they are liars -- though you can't blame them, as the whole impulse of both scenes have been diametrically opposed since the time that both existed. However, this set showed that the two can be blended -- and when it's done right, it can be pretty damn awesome. Mixing black metal arrangements and hate with hardcore composition and intensity, this was a tremendously cool, turbulent set that was thoroughly awesome even before they closed with Carnivore's "Sex and Violence". If you like extreme metal, you need to see this band -- but this was not the best fusion of the opposed ends of the extreme on the night.
Watchmaker [7/7]
This, though, was, and damn was it ever intense. Watchmaker are among the old masters of the Boston thrash scene, and they definitely showed why in this set, mostly coming out of grind and thrash but with significant black and noise touches as well. The music was great, with a lot of subtlety as well as straight-ahead violence, but the audience reaction was something else, with most of the house down front going crazy. Those who weren't there may think this is an exaggeration, but there are few descriptions that should otherwise be used for an event where people are stagediving onto a handful of people at a bar show. There weren't any major injuries despite a lot of close encounters with tables and the floor, so despite the raw insanity incurred as they closed with "Damage, Inc." (obviously, not identical to the original, but in this setting definitely the better for the reinterpretation), there was only just the right amount of pain, strain, impact, and bruising to let all participants know the next day that they were at a kickass gig.
After checking to make sure that all my body parts were still attached, I headed back out to get going home....which took a lot longer than expected because the tunnel up to the northward routse was closed for repairs again, and the detours led around in what seemed like the longest possible route through Revere. This is the only bad part about Boston shows; the commute's easy, except when the highway chokepoints decide to be unsafe to drive through. Next gig's in Worcester, so this problem won't be an issue -- just the challenge of driving back the hell over the Mass Pike amid too many overloaded trucks going too fast on inconsistent surfaces. When gigs are this good, though, it's not worth complaining about the drive unless you actually get brewed up or killed.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Witch Tomb with Hekseri, Baphomet's Horns, and Blessed Offal [Skybar, Somerville, 6/28/2007]
Burned by missing part of Revocation Sunday, I got down right around 8; unfortunately, none of the bands were anywhere in sight, which led to basically just hanging out for an hour and a half. This sort of thing has allegedly been a problem for the Skybar lately; despite being allowed to play out the string, some bands have taken the hopeless view and just canceled, which is really weird as the place is still perfectly open for now. When I heard about this from the bartender, though, I immediately gainsaid it; I didn't know Blessed Offal yet, and it had kind of slipped my mind that Baphomet's Horns were the second band on this gig, but I could definitely vouch for the professionalism and commitment of Hekseri and Witch Tomb. These aren't bands that will back down from a tough gig, or bands that'll just cancel day-of without telling anyone, and soon enough, Cody and then Megan came in minutes apart pushing gear.
The positive of the bands taking so long to get in and set up was that I had the time to paw through the distro table -- or maybe this was a negative, at least from my wallet's perspective as it was estranged from a majority of its cash. I got three tapes and three CDs split between Angkor Vat, Attacker, and a couple other bands that I knew more by reputation than actual music, and if it wasn't for concerns about it getting broken, I might have picked up this Sabbat 7"; buying vinyl at the start of an often violent underground show is a real throw of the dice -- in this case, it would have been OK with regards to movement down front, but there's seldom an easy way of knowing that. I also saw that they had a copy of the Adolf Satan record in the rack; I thought about picking it up, but decided not to: I don't have a driving interest in the band, and there's been a lot of chatter on RTTP lately about people wanting it and not being able to get a copy for love nor money. Better to let it lie in that case and let someone who wants the record get it; sure, I hog rarities, but only rarities that I have a strong interest in listening to.
The really raw part of the deal, though, was that I didn't pick up Toxic Holocaust's album because I wasn't sure if I already had it or not. I have good recall over most of my nearly-1400-record collection, but it's not perfect...and in this case, it prevented me from getting the CD, because it turns out that I don't own it already. I'd almost think about getting a PDA to put my catalog on to refer to in situations like this, except for the fact that this would be the lamest thing ever.
Eventually, all the bands got in and got their gear assembled, and the show got going in earnest.
Blessed Offal [5/7]
The only band on this bill that I hadn't seen previously, these guys blasted out a tight, compact set of dirty, necro NEBM that may not have attracted as many people as the headliners who followed, but definitely caught people's attention. Unfortunately, some of that focus may have been artificial, as they barely got 15 minutes as a result of the performances starting so damned late. The passion and the potential are definitely there, even as seen in this small sample, and though their sound at this point tends to establish stuff that's been done already rather than break new ground, this is definitely a band that I'm interested in seeing a full set from, not restricted by time constraints.
Baphomet's Horns [5.5/7]
It wasn't until they announced themselves from the stage that I remembered that Baphomet's Horns was supposed to be on the bill; I certainly didn't recognize them setting up. Of course, the only time I ever saw them before was almost 6 months ago at DeeDee's, and though I'm not positive, I think they've had some lineup movement since then. This set was more solid than I remembered from them (well, yeah; five months has a lot of time for improvement), and though their influences from Celtic Frost and the Black Circle showed through rather transparently, the external elements were well-blended, making a sound that's almost completely this band's own -- and at the very least very well-executed. In sound and skill they've come a ways since their split with Amputator; this is definitely a band to look for on the rare occasion that they play out in this area, and any future recordings will also be worth looking into.
Following this set, I had officially seen more bands in the first half of 2007 than in all of 2006. I'm off the "see more sets than days in the year" pace I was on earlier, but the difference made by being in a country that does local shows and being motivated and able to go to them is striking.
Hekseri [6.5/7]
Tonight saw Hekseri back to their full complement, but more strikingly, this was one of the best solo guitar outings that I've ever heard from Megan. I've seen shows where her lead playing could only be charitably described as "Kerry King-esque", but in this set she was dead straight on, nailing everything and really taking the performance to the next level. With Jason back and the lead guitar basically on fire, their sound shaded more towards Immortal than I recall hearing from them previously; the dirty roots are still there, but the epic is lurking in the way that the riffs go together, and this set like few previous that I've seen really brought it forward. They had to cut a few songs from their set for time, but this didn't really detract from a fairly incredible outing.
Witch Tomb [6.5/7]
My initial impressions were that this set was incredible, but not quite the 'peak outing' they had opening for Watain. Then I went back and checked my notes, and found out that I had rated this one significantly better than that. While Witch Tomb wasn't as concertedly visual on this outing (Cody and Mike somewhat blacked up, but still in their normal clothes), the music was simply crushing, and this is what made the difference. The keys and samples are more streamlined into their material, and the new stuff, both from their forthcoming Martyrvore split and from the rumored full-length to succeed it, is really cool, combining their vitriolic black metal with ten-ton death grooves. The fusion works, as music an sich and within the context of the rest of their material, and the result is quite impressive.
Right around midnight, the bands closed up, and then it was back off to the north for the night. There's another black/death/grind gig down here tonight, and while I'm still hoping for a good time, I'd be flat stunned if it reached the levels of this one, despite both Hirudinea and Watchmaker on the bill -- though of course it would hella rock to be proven wrong.
June is wearing down into July, and thus festival season approaches. Unfortunately, this is Boston, not Gelsenkirchen, so "festival" does not mean tents and mud and bad smells and astronomical amounts of beer under the open sky, but smallish, crowded clubs, beer doled out by the bottle, and long tired drives home with a different kind of stink. This aside, there are four fests in the planner for July, with something like 50 bands total playing, in addition to the usual salting of normal gigs. That's basically one a weekend, but there are actually two on the second weekend; the final weekend in July is at the moment show-free....though I kind of need it that way to rest and pack up for the fifth fest of the summer.
The positive of the bands taking so long to get in and set up was that I had the time to paw through the distro table -- or maybe this was a negative, at least from my wallet's perspective as it was estranged from a majority of its cash. I got three tapes and three CDs split between Angkor Vat, Attacker, and a couple other bands that I knew more by reputation than actual music, and if it wasn't for concerns about it getting broken, I might have picked up this Sabbat 7"; buying vinyl at the start of an often violent underground show is a real throw of the dice -- in this case, it would have been OK with regards to movement down front, but there's seldom an easy way of knowing that. I also saw that they had a copy of the Adolf Satan record in the rack; I thought about picking it up, but decided not to: I don't have a driving interest in the band, and there's been a lot of chatter on RTTP lately about people wanting it and not being able to get a copy for love nor money. Better to let it lie in that case and let someone who wants the record get it; sure, I hog rarities, but only rarities that I have a strong interest in listening to.
The really raw part of the deal, though, was that I didn't pick up Toxic Holocaust's album because I wasn't sure if I already had it or not. I have good recall over most of my nearly-1400-record collection, but it's not perfect...and in this case, it prevented me from getting the CD, because it turns out that I don't own it already. I'd almost think about getting a PDA to put my catalog on to refer to in situations like this, except for the fact that this would be the lamest thing ever.
Eventually, all the bands got in and got their gear assembled, and the show got going in earnest.
Blessed Offal [5/7]
The only band on this bill that I hadn't seen previously, these guys blasted out a tight, compact set of dirty, necro NEBM that may not have attracted as many people as the headliners who followed, but definitely caught people's attention. Unfortunately, some of that focus may have been artificial, as they barely got 15 minutes as a result of the performances starting so damned late. The passion and the potential are definitely there, even as seen in this small sample, and though their sound at this point tends to establish stuff that's been done already rather than break new ground, this is definitely a band that I'm interested in seeing a full set from, not restricted by time constraints.
Baphomet's Horns [5.5/7]
It wasn't until they announced themselves from the stage that I remembered that Baphomet's Horns was supposed to be on the bill; I certainly didn't recognize them setting up. Of course, the only time I ever saw them before was almost 6 months ago at DeeDee's, and though I'm not positive, I think they've had some lineup movement since then. This set was more solid than I remembered from them (well, yeah; five months has a lot of time for improvement), and though their influences from Celtic Frost and the Black Circle showed through rather transparently, the external elements were well-blended, making a sound that's almost completely this band's own -- and at the very least very well-executed. In sound and skill they've come a ways since their split with Amputator; this is definitely a band to look for on the rare occasion that they play out in this area, and any future recordings will also be worth looking into.
Following this set, I had officially seen more bands in the first half of 2007 than in all of 2006. I'm off the "see more sets than days in the year" pace I was on earlier, but the difference made by being in a country that does local shows and being motivated and able to go to them is striking.
Hekseri [6.5/7]
Tonight saw Hekseri back to their full complement, but more strikingly, this was one of the best solo guitar outings that I've ever heard from Megan. I've seen shows where her lead playing could only be charitably described as "Kerry King-esque", but in this set she was dead straight on, nailing everything and really taking the performance to the next level. With Jason back and the lead guitar basically on fire, their sound shaded more towards Immortal than I recall hearing from them previously; the dirty roots are still there, but the epic is lurking in the way that the riffs go together, and this set like few previous that I've seen really brought it forward. They had to cut a few songs from their set for time, but this didn't really detract from a fairly incredible outing.
Witch Tomb [6.5/7]
My initial impressions were that this set was incredible, but not quite the 'peak outing' they had opening for Watain. Then I went back and checked my notes, and found out that I had rated this one significantly better than that. While Witch Tomb wasn't as concertedly visual on this outing (Cody and Mike somewhat blacked up, but still in their normal clothes), the music was simply crushing, and this is what made the difference. The keys and samples are more streamlined into their material, and the new stuff, both from their forthcoming Martyrvore split and from the rumored full-length to succeed it, is really cool, combining their vitriolic black metal with ten-ton death grooves. The fusion works, as music an sich and within the context of the rest of their material, and the result is quite impressive.
Right around midnight, the bands closed up, and then it was back off to the north for the night. There's another black/death/grind gig down here tonight, and while I'm still hoping for a good time, I'd be flat stunned if it reached the levels of this one, despite both Hirudinea and Watchmaker on the bill -- though of course it would hella rock to be proven wrong.
June is wearing down into July, and thus festival season approaches. Unfortunately, this is Boston, not Gelsenkirchen, so "festival" does not mean tents and mud and bad smells and astronomical amounts of beer under the open sky, but smallish, crowded clubs, beer doled out by the bottle, and long tired drives home with a different kind of stink. This aside, there are four fests in the planner for July, with something like 50 bands total playing, in addition to the usual salting of normal gigs. That's basically one a weekend, but there are actually two on the second weekend; the final weekend in July is at the moment show-free....though I kind of need it that way to rest and pack up for the fifth fest of the summer.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Indignation with My Pet Demon, Ravage, Reign in Ruin, and Rohirrim [Haverhill Elks, 6/22/2007]
From Friday, out of order due to internet problems (and laziness).
One day after pulling both sides of my groin playing soccer (and thus missing Shroud at Metal Thursday, damnit), the time spent sitting on my ass was enough to allow me to drive up to Helltown and get turbulent at this benefit, the first gig in unfortunately too long. I also lugged up my youngest brother, whose arm I've been trying to twist into shows for a while; he digs metal, but unfortunately hates people even more than I do -- and worse, he's got red hair and a red beard, so the sullen-corpsepainted-31337 thing absolutely isn't happening. This gig was well worth it, and hopefully will get him out more in the future.
We got up a little early, but used the time to wait out the torrential-downpour part of the rain. When we actually got up to the door, Rohirrim was just starting. This is a really good venue: easy access from major roads (take 97 north and turn right when the road turns left on the hill -- doesn't get much easier than that), all-ages with a full bar, decent sound, and a huge parking lot across the street that's usually empty because the Haverhill library isn't open when a show's going down. Good stuff; hopefully, the good relation between the Haverhill Elks and the Valley scene will continue and we will continue to get good shows here.
Rohirrim [4/7]
I hadn't seen this band before, but I did recognize a bunch of the members; I think the vocalist was in (Endless) Ruin (the death-thrash band that half the North Shore scene was in at some point, not the tech-death band from Maine) when I saw them a few years back, and I'm pretty sure that I've seen the guitarist around somewhere before, either with some other local band or just at shows. They did a decent set, but one that wasn't without a few typical problems of newer bands: the music was decent, but fairly undifferentiated, its power metal and black metal elements setting off but not materially changing the base brutal death sound. The centerpiece of their set was a longer song that contained in it about 80% of each of two good songs, and another 60% of a mediocre song; the riffs in themselves were good, but the composition came off as unfinished and disconnected. More experience as a band will of course fix both of these problems, and the technical ability here is good enough that even with the composition lagging, the band puts on a cool and fun show.
Rohirrim also got a good response for the first Manowar cover of the night. Yes, the implication of this statement is correct: there was more Manowar to come, for reasons to be discussed later. They did "Warriors of the World", which a surprising number of people knew more than the chorus to.
Reign In Ruin [4/7]
I also recognized several people in this band; the guitarist guested with The Four Horsemen when I saw them last August with the top three bands on this bill, and I think the vocalist was in Four Horsemen as well. It's possible that this is a new alignment of that band with a new name, but I hadn't been paying a lot of attention to them and thus don't know for sure. The music might have given more credence to this line of thought if there weren't a lot of other bands doing heavily Pantera-influenced modern thrash; some basic research established that yes, it's the same band. As noted, the music owed a lot to Pantera as presented, but according to Pat (MPD) they were down a guitarist for this set, and may sound less derivative with their full complement. Still, they put on a good show, and the vocalist has definitely gained in presence over the past year. It's good stuff, and if they can step a little further out of Pantera's shadow, both stylistically and with less emphasis on covering them, they'll get even better.
Between sets was not only time, as usual, to get beers, but also to listen to Emily Russo, a friend of the bands, provide light entertainment with keyboard covers of various classics. She has a good voice and a solid command of her instrument, but for whatever reason I didn't end up picking up a CD. More importantly, probably, her intermezzos provided some less challenging (or at least less loud and abrasive) music for those patrons who weren't in for the show, of which there were a few. Before MPD's set, Matt accompanied her on the drums; maybe the seeds of the North Shore's own Mambo Kurt experience, but even if not, still a cool time.
Ravage [6/7]
The sound wasn't as clear as when I saw them in Worcester, but Al seemed a lot more on (maybe due to a lack of mic issues), and with a band like this, the vocalist's state is a major factor. The set was a little shorter, also, and as a consequence consisted largely of new material (DamnNation is allegedly going to drop before the end of the year). This is by no means a bad thing; the new material is awesome, and as last time, they stuck "Nightcrawler" into the middle of "Nightmares". The result takes up a significant chunk of any set, but they really nail it, and given the riff similarities between the two songs, it'd be difficult for them not to acknowledge this somewhat underrated Priest classic.
My no-account brother was one of the few people in the venue who did not recognize "Nightcrawler". Seriously, I don't even know this kid anymore; doesn't recognize "Nightcrawler", doesn't like Jaeger -- what the hell is wrong with him?
My Pet Demon [6/7]
After a long layoff, the Demons returned, and it was well worth it, not only for the kickass new material, which is a lot more tuned and focused for the recent recording process, but also for the reworkings of older tunes. I'm not sure that turning "Between The Pages" into a hardcore song is 100% the way to go, even though it suits the lyrical direction, but there's really nothing else to complain about; "Jaws of Life" sounds immense, and if they were based out of anywhere in Europe, they'd be blasting the close-harmonic chorus of "Raise The Flag" every time the local 3rd-division soccer club netted a goal. Terrace anthems are kind of a lost art here, but this one should catch on with metal fans as well as theoretical football supporters. It's not the best set I've seen from them, but it came close, and if the new CD is on this level, they ought to attract some interest from at least someone.
In addition to talking with Ken about the ins and outs of European distro -- like a lot of traditionally-minded metal bands, they're looking east for their first contract -- I also found out from Pat that they'll hopefully have the new CD out by the benefit-carwash festival they'll be playing up here next month.
Indignation [6/7]
This set from this band really epitomizes what "hometown heroes" is all about. The response was intense and amazing, but this is far from surprising when you step back and look at the band; you've got a tight, practiced combo pushing a sound most reminiscent of early (Spreading...-era) Anthrax, a singer seemingly incapable of doing his set from anywhere but right in the middle of the madly thrashing crowd, and also a bunch of originals that are just as good and well-executed as their arsenal of covers. "Kickass" doesn't even begin to cover it; this was definitely the best set I've seen from them so far, the improved execution and overall energy only slightly tempered by the fact that a lot of their set is still by other people. Nobody really minds the cover volume as long as they're so well-executed, but this band could majorly go places if they could put together a full-length of original material at this execution level. As they are, they'll be awesome at the local level forever, but with more originals to match those they've got, they could take on the world.
The transformation of Indignation from a hardcore band to a power-thrash outfit may seem a little odd, but with their power metal side drawing from Manowar, this is a little easier understood. The existence of the internet allows people to get into all kinds of bands that they might not have otherwise, and if you can get past the fuzzy loincloths, Manowar is a straight-ahead, riff-driven, crowd-driving synthesis of the aggressive and melodic; that such a band should appeal to people coming from a punk background and connected to metal bands that don't take everything super-serious ought to surprise no one. And once one band picks it up, others will follow; thus we have this pocket in northeast MA where you have bands not only covering Manowar (Indignation did "Hail And Kill" for the second and last cover), but also writing Manowar songs for their own bands (Indignation again with "Warriors", which killed as expected). Odd, sure, but it's cool music, and nobody's going to seriously break out the furry underwear.
As mentioned, this was a benefit for Delusions of Grandeur, who lost all their gear in a practice-space fire, and with somewhere around 120 or so attending, they made enough money to allegedly get all new gear. I know next to nothing about them, but a band getting burned out is always worth helping, and they're on the bill for the fest on the 22nd.
One day after pulling both sides of my groin playing soccer (and thus missing Shroud at Metal Thursday, damnit), the time spent sitting on my ass was enough to allow me to drive up to Helltown and get turbulent at this benefit, the first gig in unfortunately too long. I also lugged up my youngest brother, whose arm I've been trying to twist into shows for a while; he digs metal, but unfortunately hates people even more than I do -- and worse, he's got red hair and a red beard, so the sullen-corpsepainted-31337 thing absolutely isn't happening. This gig was well worth it, and hopefully will get him out more in the future.
We got up a little early, but used the time to wait out the torrential-downpour part of the rain. When we actually got up to the door, Rohirrim was just starting. This is a really good venue: easy access from major roads (take 97 north and turn right when the road turns left on the hill -- doesn't get much easier than that), all-ages with a full bar, decent sound, and a huge parking lot across the street that's usually empty because the Haverhill library isn't open when a show's going down. Good stuff; hopefully, the good relation between the Haverhill Elks and the Valley scene will continue and we will continue to get good shows here.
Rohirrim [4/7]
I hadn't seen this band before, but I did recognize a bunch of the members; I think the vocalist was in (Endless) Ruin (the death-thrash band that half the North Shore scene was in at some point, not the tech-death band from Maine) when I saw them a few years back, and I'm pretty sure that I've seen the guitarist around somewhere before, either with some other local band or just at shows. They did a decent set, but one that wasn't without a few typical problems of newer bands: the music was decent, but fairly undifferentiated, its power metal and black metal elements setting off but not materially changing the base brutal death sound. The centerpiece of their set was a longer song that contained in it about 80% of each of two good songs, and another 60% of a mediocre song; the riffs in themselves were good, but the composition came off as unfinished and disconnected. More experience as a band will of course fix both of these problems, and the technical ability here is good enough that even with the composition lagging, the band puts on a cool and fun show.
Rohirrim also got a good response for the first Manowar cover of the night. Yes, the implication of this statement is correct: there was more Manowar to come, for reasons to be discussed later. They did "Warriors of the World", which a surprising number of people knew more than the chorus to.
Reign In Ruin [4/7]
I also recognized several people in this band; the guitarist guested with The Four Horsemen when I saw them last August with the top three bands on this bill, and I think the vocalist was in Four Horsemen as well. It's possible that this is a new alignment of that band with a new name, but I hadn't been paying a lot of attention to them and thus don't know for sure. The music might have given more credence to this line of thought if there weren't a lot of other bands doing heavily Pantera-influenced modern thrash; some basic research established that yes, it's the same band. As noted, the music owed a lot to Pantera as presented, but according to Pat (MPD) they were down a guitarist for this set, and may sound less derivative with their full complement. Still, they put on a good show, and the vocalist has definitely gained in presence over the past year. It's good stuff, and if they can step a little further out of Pantera's shadow, both stylistically and with less emphasis on covering them, they'll get even better.
Between sets was not only time, as usual, to get beers, but also to listen to Emily Russo, a friend of the bands, provide light entertainment with keyboard covers of various classics. She has a good voice and a solid command of her instrument, but for whatever reason I didn't end up picking up a CD. More importantly, probably, her intermezzos provided some less challenging (or at least less loud and abrasive) music for those patrons who weren't in for the show, of which there were a few. Before MPD's set, Matt accompanied her on the drums; maybe the seeds of the North Shore's own Mambo Kurt experience, but even if not, still a cool time.
Ravage [6/7]
The sound wasn't as clear as when I saw them in Worcester, but Al seemed a lot more on (maybe due to a lack of mic issues), and with a band like this, the vocalist's state is a major factor. The set was a little shorter, also, and as a consequence consisted largely of new material (DamnNation is allegedly going to drop before the end of the year). This is by no means a bad thing; the new material is awesome, and as last time, they stuck "Nightcrawler" into the middle of "Nightmares". The result takes up a significant chunk of any set, but they really nail it, and given the riff similarities between the two songs, it'd be difficult for them not to acknowledge this somewhat underrated Priest classic.
My no-account brother was one of the few people in the venue who did not recognize "Nightcrawler". Seriously, I don't even know this kid anymore; doesn't recognize "Nightcrawler", doesn't like Jaeger -- what the hell is wrong with him?
My Pet Demon [6/7]
After a long layoff, the Demons returned, and it was well worth it, not only for the kickass new material, which is a lot more tuned and focused for the recent recording process, but also for the reworkings of older tunes. I'm not sure that turning "Between The Pages" into a hardcore song is 100% the way to go, even though it suits the lyrical direction, but there's really nothing else to complain about; "Jaws of Life" sounds immense, and if they were based out of anywhere in Europe, they'd be blasting the close-harmonic chorus of "Raise The Flag" every time the local 3rd-division soccer club netted a goal. Terrace anthems are kind of a lost art here, but this one should catch on with metal fans as well as theoretical football supporters. It's not the best set I've seen from them, but it came close, and if the new CD is on this level, they ought to attract some interest from at least someone.
In addition to talking with Ken about the ins and outs of European distro -- like a lot of traditionally-minded metal bands, they're looking east for their first contract -- I also found out from Pat that they'll hopefully have the new CD out by the benefit-carwash festival they'll be playing up here next month.
Indignation [6/7]
This set from this band really epitomizes what "hometown heroes" is all about. The response was intense and amazing, but this is far from surprising when you step back and look at the band; you've got a tight, practiced combo pushing a sound most reminiscent of early (Spreading...-era) Anthrax, a singer seemingly incapable of doing his set from anywhere but right in the middle of the madly thrashing crowd, and also a bunch of originals that are just as good and well-executed as their arsenal of covers. "Kickass" doesn't even begin to cover it; this was definitely the best set I've seen from them so far, the improved execution and overall energy only slightly tempered by the fact that a lot of their set is still by other people. Nobody really minds the cover volume as long as they're so well-executed, but this band could majorly go places if they could put together a full-length of original material at this execution level. As they are, they'll be awesome at the local level forever, but with more originals to match those they've got, they could take on the world.
The transformation of Indignation from a hardcore band to a power-thrash outfit may seem a little odd, but with their power metal side drawing from Manowar, this is a little easier understood. The existence of the internet allows people to get into all kinds of bands that they might not have otherwise, and if you can get past the fuzzy loincloths, Manowar is a straight-ahead, riff-driven, crowd-driving synthesis of the aggressive and melodic; that such a band should appeal to people coming from a punk background and connected to metal bands that don't take everything super-serious ought to surprise no one. And once one band picks it up, others will follow; thus we have this pocket in northeast MA where you have bands not only covering Manowar (Indignation did "Hail And Kill" for the second and last cover), but also writing Manowar songs for their own bands (Indignation again with "Warriors", which killed as expected). Odd, sure, but it's cool music, and nobody's going to seriously break out the furry underwear.
As mentioned, this was a benefit for Delusions of Grandeur, who lost all their gear in a practice-space fire, and with somewhere around 120 or so attending, they made enough money to allegedly get all new gear. I know next to nothing about them, but a band getting burned out is always worth helping, and they're on the bill for the fest on the 22nd.
The Alien Blakk with Silencio, 8 Weeks Dead, and Revocation [Skybar, Somerville, 6/24/2007]
The post from the show on Friday will be up later; my home internets are acting up, and I can't access the final version of it from work.
The Skybar's closing its musical entertainments, but it's not quite dead yet, and as this show demonstrates, it's far from going quietly. I got down a little after eight, but didn't miss much in terms of music; Revocation kicked ass for the portion that I caught, and I'm seeing them again tonight anyways.
Revocation [6/7]
Anthony later mentioned that they were a little off on this set, which was the impression that I got as well in the half that I saw. However, an off night for Revocation merely brings them down to that "casual awesomeness" level again, and even when the band's grinding it out, they're still capable of just flat stunning the audience. They did "Symbolic" again, which may be becoming a fixture, but the sound came off a little rawer than it was in Worcester. Though not a peak performance, this was still a damn good show, and it's too bad that most of the eventual audience wasn't in the building yet.
8 Weeks Dead [5/7]
In the title of their CD (Projects in the Junkyard), they tip their hat over to Pantera, but this Danbury combo pulls in a wide range of influences from other places to their blend of modern thrash; the death metal bits are the most prominent, but the Iron Maiden elements are no less well-executed. The singer was complaining about his voice being busted, and when he eventually got warmed up, his performance bore him out, but this was still a solid and yeomanlike metal set. They weren't perhaps optimally matched to the bill in sound or technical emphasis, but they did put up a solid set and entertained the metal portion of the crowd. If you can catch them with a more straight-ahead bill at a hall that's going to draw a fair number of people, go see them; even to the handful of people here, they did a good job and impressed.
The Alien Blakk [7/7]
If you'd get into post-metal if only there was more, say, metal in it, this is a band that you need to get into. Without a drummer and heavily driven by acoustic guitars, this band still dazzled over the full course of their set with both intricate musicality and a significant share of raw power. Most of the set was, of course, original, but they also included a tone-perfect cover of "Fade To Black" and a take on "All Along The Watchtower" that stretched on into an awesome instrument-swapping 15-minute jam. I may be slightly prejudiced because the bassist used an electric upright on a couple songs, and that automatically makes a band awesome, but the non-bassists and even the non-scene people in the audience all seemed to agree that what they were doing was pretty incredible. Since they have roots in this area, despite being from Arizona, they'll be back again -- and if their tour's coming through your town later, you need to go the hell out and see them.
I screwed up and got a CD from 8 Weeks Dead before grabbing stuff from The Alien Blakk, and unfortunately they closed up before I got over. The CD I can get from retail, but I'm going to have to order their patch; even though it's screened cloth, this band is too cool not to sew on somewhere.
Silencio [5/7]
The Alien Blakk was the touring band on this gig, and their set was so thoroughly dominating that there were a fair number of people thinking that the show was over, especially since the bar closed shortly after their set. However, Silencio did still get the last spot for their full set, which definitely pleased the throng of new faces who came down to see them. I have the ethnic standing to use the g word to describe this audience, but will refrain from doing so, not only because it's a slur but also because to do so would be disrespectful to the band, who made up in energy what they lacked in cohesiveness. Despite the incessant apologetics of the singer for headlining over The Alien Blakk (and to a lesser degree the other bands on this bill), Silencio put up a frantic and somewhat chaotic set of screaming melodic metal with prominent hard rock bits; the ideas seemed decent, but inconsistently put together, whether for lack of a bassist or because something was weird with the sound. Passion means nothing without the music behind it, just as the most technically excellent set can bore if the band is just turning a crank, but there were enough good elements in Silencio's music to leave the impression that this is a band worth seeing again, maybe in another setting and definitely if they were a member down for this one. However, they're not a band that's going to draw me out on their own, or at least, not yet.
The gig got out right around midnight; not too late but late enough that most of the idiots were off the roads, and I was able to avoid both the cave-in damage in the tunnels and the random tire-spiking debris on 128 coming back. Hopefully the same will hold tonight for the gig at Great Scott -- and hopefully I won't get another damn parking ticket, even if it's a lot better than getting towed and potentially cheaper than paying for parking.
Also, it's now less than 40 days to Wacken, and the orgas have filled me with hope anew. Check out these maps: the campgrounds have been greatly expanded, there is a large no-cars tenting-only area (close to the stages woot woot), and the Party Stage has been realigned to create another main infield. This is going to be so fucking awesome it's not even funny. Wer faehrt mit?!?
The Skybar's closing its musical entertainments, but it's not quite dead yet, and as this show demonstrates, it's far from going quietly. I got down a little after eight, but didn't miss much in terms of music; Revocation kicked ass for the portion that I caught, and I'm seeing them again tonight anyways.
Revocation [6/7]
Anthony later mentioned that they were a little off on this set, which was the impression that I got as well in the half that I saw. However, an off night for Revocation merely brings them down to that "casual awesomeness" level again, and even when the band's grinding it out, they're still capable of just flat stunning the audience. They did "Symbolic" again, which may be becoming a fixture, but the sound came off a little rawer than it was in Worcester. Though not a peak performance, this was still a damn good show, and it's too bad that most of the eventual audience wasn't in the building yet.
8 Weeks Dead [5/7]
In the title of their CD (Projects in the Junkyard), they tip their hat over to Pantera, but this Danbury combo pulls in a wide range of influences from other places to their blend of modern thrash; the death metal bits are the most prominent, but the Iron Maiden elements are no less well-executed. The singer was complaining about his voice being busted, and when he eventually got warmed up, his performance bore him out, but this was still a solid and yeomanlike metal set. They weren't perhaps optimally matched to the bill in sound or technical emphasis, but they did put up a solid set and entertained the metal portion of the crowd. If you can catch them with a more straight-ahead bill at a hall that's going to draw a fair number of people, go see them; even to the handful of people here, they did a good job and impressed.
The Alien Blakk [7/7]
If you'd get into post-metal if only there was more, say, metal in it, this is a band that you need to get into. Without a drummer and heavily driven by acoustic guitars, this band still dazzled over the full course of their set with both intricate musicality and a significant share of raw power. Most of the set was, of course, original, but they also included a tone-perfect cover of "Fade To Black" and a take on "All Along The Watchtower" that stretched on into an awesome instrument-swapping 15-minute jam. I may be slightly prejudiced because the bassist used an electric upright on a couple songs, and that automatically makes a band awesome, but the non-bassists and even the non-scene people in the audience all seemed to agree that what they were doing was pretty incredible. Since they have roots in this area, despite being from Arizona, they'll be back again -- and if their tour's coming through your town later, you need to go the hell out and see them.
I screwed up and got a CD from 8 Weeks Dead before grabbing stuff from The Alien Blakk, and unfortunately they closed up before I got over. The CD I can get from retail, but I'm going to have to order their patch; even though it's screened cloth, this band is too cool not to sew on somewhere.
Silencio [5/7]
The Alien Blakk was the touring band on this gig, and their set was so thoroughly dominating that there were a fair number of people thinking that the show was over, especially since the bar closed shortly after their set. However, Silencio did still get the last spot for their full set, which definitely pleased the throng of new faces who came down to see them. I have the ethnic standing to use the g word to describe this audience, but will refrain from doing so, not only because it's a slur but also because to do so would be disrespectful to the band, who made up in energy what they lacked in cohesiveness. Despite the incessant apologetics of the singer for headlining over The Alien Blakk (and to a lesser degree the other bands on this bill), Silencio put up a frantic and somewhat chaotic set of screaming melodic metal with prominent hard rock bits; the ideas seemed decent, but inconsistently put together, whether for lack of a bassist or because something was weird with the sound. Passion means nothing without the music behind it, just as the most technically excellent set can bore if the band is just turning a crank, but there were enough good elements in Silencio's music to leave the impression that this is a band worth seeing again, maybe in another setting and definitely if they were a member down for this one. However, they're not a band that's going to draw me out on their own, or at least, not yet.
The gig got out right around midnight; not too late but late enough that most of the idiots were off the roads, and I was able to avoid both the cave-in damage in the tunnels and the random tire-spiking debris on 128 coming back. Hopefully the same will hold tonight for the gig at Great Scott -- and hopefully I won't get another damn parking ticket, even if it's a lot better than getting towed and potentially cheaper than paying for parking.
Also, it's now less than 40 days to Wacken, and the orgas have filled me with hope anew. Check out these maps: the campgrounds have been greatly expanded, there is a large no-cars tenting-only area (close to the stages woot woot), and the Party Stage has been realigned to create another main infield. This is going to be so fucking awesome it's not even funny. Wer faehrt mit?!?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)