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Saturday, May 17 2008, 9:46 PM

This was a show that I had greatly anticipated for a long time. Opeth and Dream Theater are easily two of my favorite bands, so when I saw them both on the same bill many months ago, I was pretty excited. Both bands put on great live shows as well, so I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. I made the trek down to Detroit with my dad, Jessica, and Mike.

The first band to play was 3. I thought that we'd get there with plenty of time to see the opening bands, but we didn't. We only caught the last part of one of their songs. It sounded pretty good though, from the five minutes or so that we heard. They had a two drummer setup going, and they were seriously beating on the skins. I would have liked to see more of their set, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. Grade: N/A

Between the Buried and Me played second. I hadn't really been exposed to them in great depth, and for some reason I had the impression that they were going to be another dripping-with-testosterone type band (like Throwdown or Bury Your Dead), but I was pleasantly surprised that they weren't. They do have the crappy barking vocals that is typical for a hardcore/metalcore band, but their music is way more complex. These guys can flat out play, and they pull a ton of different musical styles into their sound. It makes for a pretty cool experience. They only had a half hour so on stage, and they played all of two distinct songs. They wasted no time with blathering between songs either... they pretty much stopped only to announce the name of the second song and get a drink of water, then started playing again. They definitely merited further attention, which is why I bought three of their CDs yesterday. Grade: A

Opeth is the band that I looked forward to seeing the most out of the four. I've only seen them once before (compared to Jessica's ten[!]), and that was an abbreviated set at last year's Gigantour, where they were only able to play four songs. They ended up getting around an hour on stage this time around, and were able to play six songs - Master's Apprentices, In My Time of Need, Baying of the Hounds, Heir Apparent, Wreath, and The Drapery Falls. They had a pretty good sampling of songs from their newer albums, but none from the older four albums, which kind of disappoints me. "Still Life" and "My Arms, Your Hearse" are my favorite albums of theirs, and with two shows under my belt, I've yet to see them play any songs from those albums live. Oh well... there's always next time! Mikael Akerfeldt does a pretty good job of making the breaks between songs interesting as well. He's always got something funny to say, and it's pretty obvious to me that he genuinely enjoys putting on a show for the crowd. Grade: A

Dream Theater closed out the show in the way that only they can - with authority. This was the fourth time that my dad and I saw Dream Theater together, and they've never once disappointed. I've blathered on and on about how good they are in previous posts about them, so I'll try to save it this time around. This was the first time, however, that I saw them without having heard their most recent release. Their previous release ("Octavarium"), seemed kind of tired to me, and didn't really grab my interest much at all. Because of that, I didn't run out and grab their newest ("Systematic Chaos") when it came out last year. I probably should have grabbed it sooner. They played a few tunes from it, and they were pretty good. They opened the set with an instrumental passage from one of those songs, and I was really digging it. Their set list was expansive, and pretty typical for the shows I've seen. They played a good sampling from their albums, and played most of the first act from "Scenes from a Memory". They didn't play "Home," which kind of pissed me off since it is one of my favorite songs of theirs, but hey, you can't win 'em all.

One neat thing they did for this tour was turning something that is typically incredibly lame into something totally awesome. Jordan Rudess (the keyboardist) played a key-tar. Yep, the dreaded 80's pop instrument. In this case though, it was sweet because it gave him the opportunity to step out from behind is mammoth keyboard rig and get up close and personal with the fans like the other band members get to do. He mostly used it in extended "improvised" musical passages that break out of their normal song structures, and used his mobility to add a more visual flare to the frequent traded/harmonized leads that he does with John Petrucci in so many of their songs. I laughed when I first saw it, but it really did add a pretty cool element to their performance, which was already top notch.

The only downer in the show was that they played one of their new songs (I think - I didn't recognize it) for far too long, and it totally slowed their momentum. It was a slow piece of music, and it seemed to go on FOR EVER. Otherwise, they were phenomenal as always. Grade: A

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Tuesday, September 26 2006, 2:58 AM

It was a dark and stormy night.... Er, wait. It was a cold and stormy night.... Nah, that's not right either. It was a cold and windy night... Now we're cookin. It was certainly cold and windy, but I didn't care much since four of my favorite bands were going to share the same stage. I went with a few guys from work, Gene and Nick, and their buddy Aaron. We all made the pilgrimage to Pine Knob, one of my favorite spots to check out a show.

The four lesser-known bands that opened the show were all decent-to-good, the best being Overkill. They've been around for a long time from what I gather, and easily had the largest following of the opening four. They brought an old-school metal sound into the mix, with a lot of New York attitude. A huge sod fight also broke out on the lawn during their set. I can't remember if it was as spectacular as the one that took place during the Jerry Cantrell/Metallica show I saw at the Knob in '98, but it was a sight nonetheless. It also got old pretty quickly, but the teenager types thought it was a riot to pelt the people further down the hill with tufts of sod. I didn't think it was all that fun, but I remembering having a lot better time back in the day when I was the one throwing the grass. I guess grass-throwing loses its appeal with age.

Arch Enemy was the first of the larger bands to play. With eight bands playing, even the bigger bands had pretty abbreviated sets. AE probably played a good 45 minutes I would imagine. They played a good mix of songs, and the crowd was enjoying it, mostly because of Angela Gossow, their singer. Yep, she's hot. And her vocals would scare small children. Both are good qualities for a woman fronting a metal band. Given that they could only play for 45 minutes, they made the best of it. Definitely a good showing. Grade: A

Opeth was up next. They were the band I wanted to see most, by far. I had seen the other three big bands there at least once, but I hadn't seen Opeth yet. They made the most of their 45 minutes as well... by playing four songs. Opeth songs tend to be quite long, to say the least. They opened up with "Ghost of Perdition," followed by "Windowpane," "The Leper Affinity," and "Deliverance." It was a pretty good mix considering the curcumstances, but I really wish they had another fifteen minutes so they could have fit another song in there. Hearing something like "Blackwater Park" or "Serenity Painted Death" probably would have forced an accident in my pants. I was cracking up a decent amount during their set though. There were quite a few people there that knew Opeth and their style, but there were also a bunch that didn't. They were easily identified by the "WTF?" looks on their face whenever Opeth would drop into a clean section of a song, or pretty much through all of "Windowpane." These sections don't exactly fit in a stereotypical metal show. I don't care though - Opeth rules. The only bad thing about their set is that one of the guitars was barely audible, which made the songs sound pretty funny in places. Grade: A-

Lamb of God occupied the next-to-last slot, and because of it, they had a longer set, probably on the order of an hour and a half. They're a force to be reckoned with nowadays, and it was evident as soon as they came out. They showed up Slayer when I saw them together a few months back, and they were aiming to claim this show as their own as well. They easily had the tightest and most well-mixed sound of all the bands that played, and they weren't taking prisoners either. They played quite a few older songs, including my personal Lamb of God favorite, "Vigil." They also played a good three or four songs off the new album "Sacrament." They were on throughout their whole set, and the crowd was loving it. They definitely achieved their goals and stole the show. Grade: A

Gigantour is Dave Mustaine's baby, so it's natural that Megadeth headlined the show. This was my fifth time seeing Megadeth, but sadly, it was probably the worst show I saw them put on. I'm not sure why, but Dave Mustaine just wasn't on. He seemed visibly agitated for the first couple songs, walking off to the sides of the stage to talk to stage hands between songs and during long instrumental breaks. It may have been due to time restrictions, because he made a point of announcing that they had to rush through their set due to the hard kurfew present at Pine Knob. In any case, he just wasn't on his game. His vocals were pretty weak through most of the songs. He sings with a few distinct styles, and it didn't seem like he was hitting any of them. The mix was also really bad. The vocals and drums were noticiably quiet, while the guitars were way too loud. I like loud guitars as much as the next guy, but they shouldn't drown out the rest of the band. The set list was pretty strong, and they played a new song off the album they're releasing next year. It sounded pretty good. Not "Rust In Peace"-era Megadeth good, but good nonetheless. Grade: B

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Tuesday, September 26 2006, 1:59 AM

I've been pretty busy lately, which is one of the reasons I haven't written about this show yet. The other is the fact that I've been pretty lazy with the website. Not a good formula for timely posting. Oh well.

I was anticipating this show a good deal, since Clutch is one of my favorite bands of late, and I'd get to see them in a pretty intimate setting - the Temple Club in Lansing. I would say that the Temple club could hold maybe a thousand people at most, which is pretty small on the grand scheme of things. I went with a buddy from work, Gene, and bumped into Bryan, a former co-worker, as well.

The first band to play was Year Long Disaster. They were a solid three piece hard rock band with a lot of energy. Gene and I were a little worried when we heard them while waiting in line, but they grew on us as their set progressed. They seemed to have a lot of early hard rock/metal influences in their sound, like Motorhead and Judas Priest, so it wasn't too hard for me to like. I'd definitely say they were worth another listen. Grade: B

Next up was The Bellrays. They were a bit less in my ballpark style-wise, but their set was a lot of fun. They seemed like a great opening band, because their set was really energetic and they were devoted to getting the crowd pumped up for the headliners. I really don't know how to classify their sound, but I think it's pretty safe to say that they were a straight-ahead rock band with a certain amount of punk influence musically. In any case, they were decent, even if not completely in my wheelhouse. Grade B-

Clutch closed out the show, and they did it with a vengeance. I was pretty worried early on, though... After the first or second song, they lost part of the stage power, and it took a few minutes to fix. Neil Fallon seemed pretty pissed, and I had toughts in the back of my mind of Axl Rose and all of his antics, but the power was restored and things progressed swimmingly. Clutch has some pretty rabid fans, and they were present en masse. Clutch ate it up, and gave it back. The TC was a-rockin'! They played most of the songs I would expect to hear, and quite a few new songs as well. Neil Fallon played guitar on a good quarter of their songs, which I found odd. When I saw them a year ago at Harpos, he only played on one or two songs, and they played two full sets worth of songs. I think most of the songs he played on were the new songs, which might explain it. Overall, they were great. Being twenty feet from the stage makes for a great show when the band is on, and they were. Grade: A

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Wednesday, July 26 2006, 8:03 PM

Another string of sweet concerts just came down the concert news wire, and all in a ten day span. It would seem that my hearing is going to take a beating... :)

2006/09/15 - Mastodon at The Majestic Theater, Detroit, MI

2006/09/19 - Clutch at The Temple Club, Lansing, MI

2006/09/24 - Gigantour 2 at Pine Knob (a.k.a. DTE Energy Ampitheater), Clarkston, MI

I just saw Mastodon a few weeks ago, but they were in an opening slot and didn't get to play that much. They're headlining this tour, and should have ample room to play a ton of their songs, which will make for a sweet show. It's totally neat that Clutch is playing right here in town, so I won't have to go very far to see this one. The Temple Club isn't that big, so tickets may be hard to come by. This year's Gigantour has another round of sweet bands, including Megadeth, Opeth, Arch Enemy, and Lamb of God. Those four bands are probably enough to force an accident in my pants, but the idea of Gigantour is to have nothing but technically excellent bands who know how to rock, so I'm sure I'll find more bands to enjoy as well.

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Tuesday, July 18 2006, 2:41 AM

This show was billed a bit lower on my list of concerts to see this year because there was only one awesome band on the bill instead of many, but since Shadows Fall is one of my favorite bands, I wasn't about to miss it. Jon made the trip up from Cincinnati for the weekend in order to see the show as well. It's kinda sad too. Jon and his wife are moving to Arizona within the next month, so this is probably the last concert I'll see with him for a looong time. This was also a first in that we went to a show at Harpos and arrived on time, and saw every band that played. Most of the time we show up fashionably late, miss a couple of the opening bands, and enjoy the higher quality bands later on. Well, we saw all six bands that played, for better or worse.

We also lost significant amounts of water through perspiration. It was over 90 degrees outside when we got there, and it was at least 20 degrees hotter inside. It was hotter than a snakes ass in a wagon rut. Combine 100+ degrees of heat plus a bunch of sweaty metalheads, and you get a recipie for a lot of stink. It was the only time I can think of where I can safely say that the shirtless sweaty mosh pit guys were the intelligent ones. They at least allowed their bodies to excise body heat in a more efficient fashion.

The first band was a local band tacked on before the bands on the bill, and I didn't catch their name. I think it was something involving the word Cold, but I didn't hear it clearly. They were solid and did what they did pretty well, although they could totally benefit from a second guitarist to lay down some leads. Their guitarist had some good rhythim chops, but their sound would have been bolstered with another guitarist. I can't say much though - I'm not up there playing. Grade: B-

The first of the billed bands was Still Remains. Interestingly enough, they're based out of Grand Rapids, and perhaps because of that, they seemed to have a pretty good following. It seems well earned too. They jammed. They only had 20-30 minutes of stage time, and they crammed it full... full of three songs. Totally my type of music. They sport dual guitars and a keyboardist, so they have all sorts of room for melody on top of the rhythm. I checked out their page on myspace, and I'm equally impressed with the recorded versions. I'll definitely be on the lookout for their stuff the next time I make a CD run. Grade: B+

The next band up was Bury Your Dead. Ugh. I totally could have done without these guys. I can't say they were totally horrible as far as bands go, but they were 100% not my style. They were serious testosterone-heads, like what you would get if you took Vinnie Paul, Dimebag, and Rex ouf of Pantera during the Far Beyond Driven years, and replaced them with three apes banging on things. All you'd have left is Phil Anselmo with some primates, and Bury Your Dead wasn't much different than that. Their entire catalog seemed to exist on the bottom two heavily down-tuned strings of their instruments, and that's not a good thing. You seriously could have cut the top four strings off each guitar, and the top two off the bass, and there would have been absolutely no difference. They also thought it was pretty cool to spin their guitars around their bodies in unison, hula-hoop-over-one-shoulder style, and it got really old. They did it at least three times per song. If they spent as much time writing songs as they did practicing their guitar-a-hooping, they would be much better. Grade: D+

Next up was Darkest Hour. They were also really good, and deserve a follow-up. Jon and I were both pretty down after Bury Your Dead, so it was good that Darkest Hour saved the day. I don't know if they mandated it, but there was some seriously out-of-place music being played before their set. We heard some Billy Ocean, along with bunch of lame 80's pop stuff that sounds like it came from the Top Gun soundtrack... at a metal show. WTF. Even though we were being inundated with lame music, we happened to see Darkest Hour's lead guitarst warming up, and we knew they wouldn't suck. The man was ripping off a serious solo in that warmup, and he did the same during their set, along with much more total awesomeness. I don't know if I liked them as much as I liked Still Remains, but they're close. Grade: B+

Poison The Well closed out the opening bands. Their set marked a first in my concert viewing experience. I've seen a lot of bands that I've never heard of before. Some I've liked, some I've hated, some I could tolerate, etc. With every other band I've seen, I've been able to key in on whether I like the band or not within a few songs. With Poison The Well, this was not the case. Starting with their first song, and ending with their last, I was completely confused. I couldn't latch on to anything in their music, good or bad. I watched them play, and what I saw indicated that they were skilled players, and what I was hearing should have been good as well, but it wasn't. I stood in a stupor for the whole time they played, and it didn't break until they left the stage. Jon has a strong musical background, and he was actually somewhat angry after hearing them play. He said they were breaking most of the 'rules' that define what makes music good, such as sticking to key signatures, time signatures, and other things. There are ways that you can alternate between key and time signatures, but they still typically follow some standard patterns, because those patterns sound good. These guys sounded like they were just stringing random riffs and song segments together, with no musical 'glue' to properly string them together. What is even more mind boggling to me is that a good portion of the crowd knew the songs, and was singing along word for word. It made me feel as though I was missing something, even though I'm fairly confident I didn't miss much of anything. Grade: F

Shadows Fall closed out the show, and they kicked ass. Their sound is huge on CD, and it's just as huge on stage. They played a somewhat abbreviated set, which was somewhat disappointing, but every song they played was sweet, and they totally nailed them. The show further solidfied my belief that Shadows Fall is one of the most talented in the newer wave of bands in metal, and that they'll be a driving force for a long time. There's absolutely no weakness in their lineup. Every member is grade A, top notch. The highlight of their set for both Jon and I was "A Fire in Babylon." That song is a total jam, and easily one of my favorite SF songs.

Another neat thing is that we got to see Brian Fair's legendary dredlocks. I can't say I've ever been a fan of dreds, but those things were intense. He appears to be around six feet tall, and his dreds hang down to mid-calf at least. It must have taken years and years to grow dreds that long. What's even crazier is that he headbangs with them when he's not singing. There has to be some coordination with the other guys on the stage, because his dreds clear a circle with a 10-foot diameter when he headbangs. They could easily knock an instrument out of someones hands - no joke.

I can't say that their show was top-notch because it was so short, only around 50-60 minutes, but what they did pack in there was awesome. Grade: A

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Monday, July 10 2006, 12:56 PM

I guess it's just not my year for concerts. First off I have to ask - who starts a concert, which lies squarely in downtown Detroit, at 5:30 PM? I've only once heard of a concert starting before 7 PM on a weekday, and that was Gigantour last year. They had to start early though, as they had 10 bands that had to play, and had Pine Knob's 11PM outdoor-concerts-must-stop policy to contend with. This show, however, did not. Since the show started so early, we completely missed the two openers - Some band I don't know, and Children of Bodom. It sucks that we missed CoB, but I've seen them twice before, so I know what they're like. The other bands I've only seen once at most.

We arrived just in time for Mastodon. I saw them once before at the last Slayer show I attended, and at that point I didn't know any of their stuff. I was well prepared this time. They played a bunch of good songs, and a couple new ones off their new album, "Blood Mountain," which comes out sometime later in the summer. As much as I like their music, I think that the transition to live music isn't always the best for them. Their sound is naturally very thick, raw, and unproduced, and when that's combined with high volume and less-than-optimal acoustics, it just kinda turns into a droning noise that really makes it hard to pick out the subtle nuances that make their sound so unique. I still dig the show they put on though. They're a supremely talented band with a bright future. Grade: A-

Lamb of God was up next. This was the only band in the lineup that I hadn't seen before, so I was hoping for a good show. They didn't disappoint. They played pretty much every song I would have liked to hear. One thing I noticed is that they played noticbly slower than the recorded versions of their songs. It just could be that they wanted to introduce another element of heavyness to spur on the moshers down on the floor - who knows. In any case, they put on a great show with a lot of energy. Good times. Grade A-

Slayer closed out the bill, and were another small source of disappointment in the show. They played a good number of their 'classics,' but they just didn't really seem into the show. They just went through the motions from my perspective, and I could have sworn that I heard a few miscues in a couple songs. Not exactly something you'd expect from a band that's been around as long as they have. One possible source of their lack of enthusiasm very well might have been the crowd itself. We all made the observation that the crowd in general was much more enthusiastic for Lamb of God. A good portion of people were just standing around while Slayer was on stage, and I actually saw a few people sleeping towards the end of the show. Well, they may have been passed out drunk too, who knows. Not everyone shares my no-drinking-at-concerts sentiments. In any case, Slayer wasn't looking great, and neither was the crowd. This may have contributed to something I've only seen once or twice in all of the concerts I've been to - the headlining band not coming out for an encore. I guess I can understand, but it's rather disappointing. Grade: B-

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Sunday, May 14 2006, 4:03 PM

It starting seem that I'm destined to fail every time I try to see Nevermore live. The first failure was due to a misinterpretation of the stage schedule at Gigantour, but this time I was where I should have been! Well, apparently their singer, Warrel Dane, either wasn't able to perform, or wasn't even in the place. I couldn't make out what they said over the PA from where we were standing. In either case, I was pissed. They were the band I was looking forward to in this show, and they ditched. Lame.

Evergrey played first, much to our surprise. I would have placed them just before the headliner in that lineup, but I don't plan concerts. They might have been doing a rotating opener thing too, who knows. Since they were the first opener, their set was pretty short. I think they may have only been able to play 6 or 7 songs. They played some older ones, such as Blinded, She Speaks to the Dead, A Touch of Blessing, and maybe another one. They also played a couple songs off their new album, which I have yet to acquire. They sounded good - tight, clean, and in control. The volume on the keyboards was a little high, and it overshadowed the guitars in a lot of the verses, which is a drag. Both of Evergrey's guitarists can really shred, so they should always be front and center in my book. Overall, they were solid, even with the short set. Grade: B+

Nevermore... yah. After a 30-minute stage change, they didn't play. Grade: F-

The next band up was Throwdown. I saw them once before when they opened for Fear Factory, and they were pretty much what I remembered. They have a testosterone-laden vibe that's comparable to Pantera's "Far Beyond Driven" and "Vulgar Display of Power" albums, but they don't have the powerhouse on guitar that was Dimebag Darrel. I can't say that I was overly impressed with these guys, but at the same time, this music would be good to listen to if you were pissed off, or as workout music or something similar. The only member that was really impressive was the drummer. Jon commented that he should find some other bandmates to play with, because he was by far the most talented in the group. I agree. Since they had extra time to play due to Nevermore's absence, they threw in a few cover songs to extend their set a bit. They played "Roots, Bloody Roots" by Sepultura, and they sounded pretty good at it. That's not saying that much though, because it's a damn easy song to play. The other song they played was "A New Level" by Pantera. They played it in tribute to Dimebag, who was murdered on-stage about a year and a half ago. Jon and I both wondered how well they would pull it off. They did fine for the first part, which is just heavy rhythm. They cut the song off and went into one of their songs at the point in the song where the solo is played, which is probably a good thing. We could forsee nothing but a guitar abomination in the future if that guitarist tried to play a Dimebag solo. Overall, they weren't horrible, but not really my style. Grade: B-

In Flames headlined the show, and they were pretty good. I only have three of their albums, and my lack of knowledge about their catalog was really apparent. They played a good number of songs, probably in the 14-18 range, and I only recognized four of five of them. It didn't really matter though. They rocked out, no two ways about it. Their set was energetic, and the crowd matched it. The equalization on the guitars really bothered both Jon and myself, however. Both guitars seemed to be exceptionally mid-heavy, and their leads were almost inaudible during the first half of their set. The sound guys seemed to balance it out a little in the second half, but the treble was still too low. In Flames sports two very talented guitarists, and to barely be able to hear them flexing their muscles is a travesty. Overall, their show was quite good, and it will probably inspire me to go buy a few more of their CDs to fill in the gaps in my collection. Grade: A-

Although In Flames and Evergrey were good, I would still consider this show a disappointment. Nevermore was the band I wanted to see most, and they were AWOL. I was also disappointed with the order in which the bands played. Throwdown should never have a higher billing than Nevermore or Evergrey. I can see Nevermore or Evergrey competing for or rotating through the second and third opener spots, but neither one should be playing first opener. Had they played according to my ideal arrangement, Evergrey could have an extended set, which would have been great. I did have one cool experience though. About half way through the In Flames set, Tom, Henrik, and Jonas from Evergrey came out into the crowd where Jon and I were standing, toward the back. I partook in a little hero worship and shook Tom's hand, and thanked him for a good set. It's pretty insignificant in the whole scheme of things, but it was neat nonetheless. For the record, Tom is not 6'6"-plus like Jon and I had guessed the first time we saw Evergrey, but he is 6'3" or 6'4". I guess the stage adds a few inches.

Edit: I just came across this news post, which states that the reason Warrel Dane couldn't perform was an unspecified illness. I suppose that's more acceptable than just not being there, but it's still frustrating.

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Monday, May 08 2006, 11:35 PM

My cataract surgery is tomorrow. One might think that I'd be nervous, but I'm not really. I'm hopeful more than anything. This operation won't be some miracle cure that will make my eye perfect for all time, but I'm hoping that it will at least remove the dirty veil that I've been looking through for some time now. I probably won't know whether things have been successful for at least a few days after the procedure, but waiting is part of the process I suppose.

If I am nervous about anything, it's about the Nevermore/Evergrey/In Flames concert that's coming up this saturday. I'm normally pretty excitable at a good metal show, and this will definitely be a good one. I'm not one of those guys that's in the mosh pit pummeling himself and others for hours straight - I'd rather see the show. I do, however, shout along with the music and bang my head in a manner that would probably look pretty badass if I had hair. Well, since I'll be nursing a damaged eye-bulb, I'll have to have a protective patch, and I probably won't be able to move around too much. Shouting along with the music might not even be comfortable. Who knows. I'm sure it'll still be a good time, but I'll probably have to take it easy.

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Sunday, April 23 2006, 1:59 PM

Last night I checked out Chimaira, Arch Enemy, God Forbid, and Hate Eternal down in the eternal shithole known as Harpos in Detroit. This concert marked a few firsts for me. Foremost, it's the first concert I've ever gone to alone. Why you ask? Because all the other people that said they would go bitched out. I wasn't about to miss the show though. The second is that this was the first time I've brought earplugs to a show. I didn't use them for the whole show, because they were crappy industrial type earplugs that muck up the sound completely, as opposed to other earplugs that I've heard of that let all of the sound through relatively undisturbed, albeit at a much lower volume.

Hate Eternal was the first of the "known" bands on the stage. I'd never heard of them before, and frankly, I wouldn't have been worse off if I hadn't seen them. Each of the guys in the band seemed talented, but for me at least, it didn't seem to add up to something good. To me, it just sounded like a wall of noise, and hence, I had the earplugs in for most (if not all) of their set. If I were to guess, I think this is the kind of music that metal-haters cite when they say that all metal is just neanderthal and barbaric in nature. I give them credit for being solid on their instruments, but not much more than that. Grade: C-

God Forbid was the next group up. I have to say that God Forbid was the first metal band I've ever seen where the non-caucasians outnumbered the stereotypical metal white guys. It's good to see that metal is reaching out and touching more people. It's also good to hear a band that rocks, and these guys most certainly did that. Their singer was a screamer, but he was counterbalanced by the two guitarists, which did some sweet harmonized backing vocals. It's always good to have throw that change-up to keep things fresh. The music was very heavy and had a serious groove. Each of the guitarsts have serious skills, and ripped off tons of solos each. There were also plenty of times where they met in the middle of the stage and played extended harmonized leads, which are always totally sweet. All in all, I'd give these guys two thumbs up, and would definitely check them out again. Grade: B+

Arch Enemy was up next. I've heard of them many times before, but haven't really taken the plunge and listened to them all that much. Well, I will be checking them out further, because they were awesome. More killer guitar work, to say the least. Lots of sweet riffs and hard driving rhythms. Tthey also have one of the only female singers that I've ever seen in a metal band. She's no candy ass either... she gets out there and lets it rip, and there's no doubt she's metal to the core. She's pretty hot too, but she's also vegan, which in my now-biased eyes, that reduces her hot factor. But that's a completely different story. Anyway, Arch Enemy is awesome, and they will definitely be getting more attention from me, and quite soon most likely. Grade A-

Implements of Destruction. And a phone.

Chimaira was the reason I made the 90 mile journey alone, and while I would like to say that they didn't disappoint, they did in a way. More on that later. I was beside myself when they broke into the first song - Implements of Destruction. My favorite Chimaira song. I didn't really think i would ever see it live since it's an instrumental weighing in at about twelve minutes, but they played it. And they nailed it. It may have been slightly abridged, but they played the vast majority of it. After they finished, the lead guitarist stepped up to the mic and said that we were in for a 'different' kind of Chimaira show tonight. The lead singer had a death his family, so he had flown home to be with his family. So, rather than cancel the show, he asked some of the guys in the opening bands to help out on vocals along with their keyboard/sound effects guy (who does backing vocals anyway). The singer for God Forbid came out and did their next two or three songs, and he did a pretty good job, although you could see that he was fishing around for the lyrics at times, and was putting the microphone into the crowd an awful lot. One of God Forbid's guitarists came out and sang the 'clean' vocals in "Down Again," and he did a pretty good job as well. The singer/guitarist from Hate Eternal came out and sang the next two songs, and he did a decent job as well, although you could tell he didn't know the lyrics either, and had to keep looking down at the lyric sheets they had written up and placed on the stage monitors. After that, the keyboardist moved his setup to center stage and took over the vocals. He at least knew the words, and the 4 songs or so he sang sounded pretty coherent and Chimaira-like. I think he pretty much wore himself out though. He looked pretty beat by the end. For the last song, which was "Pure Hatred" I believe, they gave a fan his biggest concert dream ever - they pulled him up on stage to sing. They called out for someone who knew every word, and this guy did. He nailed it. The only time he missed is when the band threw in a pause that wasn't in the album version, and he started too early. No fault of his own... it's not like he rehearsed with them.

All in all, their set was pretty good. They played all of the songs I expected them to, which made me happy. The disappointment factor stemmed from not seeing them as a unbroken unit, which led to some of the general vocal disarray. I can't fault them for it though. They soldiered on, and with some help from the opening bands, did the best they could and still made it a memorable show. I would probably have given the show a B-range grade, but they played Implements of Destruction in its (almost) entirety. Because of that - Grade: A-

archenemy chimaira concerts godforbid music reviews

Monday, March 20 2006, 3:33 AM

I was just looking through my cached posts from the Metal Underground RSS feed and put together a list of concerts I want to see in the coming months. The list is pretty good so far, and this is a good thing.

4/22/2006 - Chimaira and Arch Enemy @ Harpos, Detroit. I've been wanting to see Chimaira for a while now, and now I'll have the opportunity. Nevermore is on this tour up until 4/14, which kind of chaps my ass. I'll miss them by 8 days. Not such a bad thing though... keep reading.

5/13/2006 - In Flames, Evergrey, and Nevermore @ The Orbit Room, Grand Rapids. This show has awesome written all over it. I'll finally get to see Nevermore after the near miss at last year's Gigantour. Evergrey and In Flames are also top notch. I've seen Evergrey once, and their show was a lot of fun. I can only expect that this will be great as well. I might have to put together a pilgrimage for this one given its saturday night timeslot.

7/6/2006 - Slayer, Lamb of God, Mastodon, Children of Bodom @ Cobo Hall, Detroit. This concert is going to be like a ten ton wrecking ball with guitars. I saw Slayer and Mastodon last year, and barely escaped with my life. This one should be even better. I'm a huge fan of all four bands mentioned, so this concert will be something to remember.

archenemy childrenofbodom chimaira concerts evergrey godforbid inflames lambofgod mastodon music nevermore slayer

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