Live Report - Lilitu, Hell Within, Leaves’ Eyes, Atrocity, Manntis, God Dethroned - Oct 4, 2005, CBGB, New York City
Metal Reviews
Live Concert

Release year: 0
Reviewed by Jay

As some of you may have noticed, your reviewer Ben has been absent for the last few weeks. Well, I’ll let you in on why. He was a roadie for Lilitu on this tour. When the tour rolled around to my area, I had to show up to support them, not only because they’re a kickass band, but because my colleague had just spent six weeks on the road with them. Due to unforeseen circumstances, this ended up being the last show of the tour with several bands having dropped off already (most notably Nightrage who I really looked forward to). If you’ve never been to CBGB, I can only describe it using the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi. “You’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” Well, it’s not that bad but considering the state of disrepair, the impending eviction, the lack of doors on the bathrooms and wallpaper consisting of thirty years of band posters and duct tape, it might be.

The show was delayed by over an hour due to the bus with the drums and backline being delayed. Lilitu was on first and opened the place up. Debuting some new material, they also played some of the great material from the debut album. They translate the songs well live and sound incredibly tight live. “The Delores Lesion” sounded fantastic with the dual guitar leads thanks to Derek and Jason and and the great keyboard work of Jonah Weingarten (also of Pyramaze). The newer songs are similar in style to the album and pick up where it leaves off. In addition to being great on stage, Lilitu was one of the friendliest bands I’ve ever met in person. When they tour in your town be sure to check them out.

Hell Within treads the line of metal/hardcore well but puts on a good live show. Not being familiar with their music, I took in their performance sort of half-hearted while talking with Ben. He told me tales of the road and how the Lilitu had some monetary problems. I won’t go into too much detail since Ben has already told me that he’s going to write about this further. Noah of Lilitu also let me listen to an upcoming project he did some bass work on. It absolutely floored me. He asked me not to reveal any details about this as it’s still being shopped to labels but this project is totally killer.

Up next was Leaves’ Eyes. This band has always seemed like Nightwish’s runner-up to me but they did put on a great show. Liv Kristine manages to bang out all the high notes live and sound as good as she does on the albums. Her on-stage banter to rile up the crowd is somewhat lacking though. The male vocalist, Alex Krull does some punishing backing vocals though. After their set finished, most of the perky, little goths made their way to the exit, leaving the true fans to enjoy the rest of the show. All the members of Leaves’ Eyes are also in Atrocity (excepting Liv Kristine who only does backing vocals). Aside from one of the dumbest mic stands I’ve ever seen (Blackie Lawless still takes the cake), they rocked hard. I wasn’t too familiar with them but I think I’ll have to get familiar with them. There was certainly an excellent melodic death element that translated well live.

Manntis is a Battle for Ozzfest band that is pretty metalcore. However between the hardcore style breakdowns, they throw in an At the Gates styled passage just to mess with your head. The consummate metal mutt, Manntis had the biggest pit of the evening and managed to awaken the crowd which had been pretty silent up until that point.

God Dethroned closed out the night. I envy Ben being on this tour. While I don’t wish the endless hours of driving or annoying people to deal with upon myself, watching God Dethroned close out the show each night would be reward enough by itself for me. Ben even remarked about how it was sinking in that this show would be the last time he saw them close. First, this band is tight. They know their songs in and out and just pound them out live. With a setlist equally balanced between new and old songs, the Dutch quartet ground the crowd into fine bits with their blast beat attack. “Arch Enemy Spain” “The Warcult” “The Tombstone” and “Nihilism” sounded incredible live. Manic headbanging and air-drumming followed the time of their assault.

When all was done, the bands took pictures with each other outside the venue, celebrating the end of the tour and another chapter in their lives ended. From here, all the bands went their separate ways. It was a great night not only in terms of the live performances but the warm camaraderie that was shared between almost all in attendance.

Killing Songs :
Jay quoted
Other albums by Live Report that we have reviewed:
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Live Report - Genesis - The Last Domino? Tour - 25 September 2021 - AO Arena, Manchester, UK reviewed by Goat and quoted
Live Report - Mgla, Lvcifyre, Wode - 15th March 2019 - Rebellion, Manchester, UK reviewed by Goat and quoted
Live Report - Pestilence, Grimaze, Damim, Cryptic Shift - 23rd February 2019 - Rebellion, Manchester, UK reviewed by Goat and quoted
Live Report - King Crimson - Uncertain Times Tour - 9th November 2018 - Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK reviewed by Goat and quoted
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