Metal Reviews

Seeing Midnight, Goatwhore, and Samhain on Halloween. Motherfucking Danzig on Halloween! Gonna get fuck as drunk.

Curse the Gods!! Overkill gig cancelled for next week after the owner announced he was closing down the facility. So many great shows were lined up there for the fall. Hopefully, they will parcel out the remaining concerts to some of the surrounding venues.

:( bummer

Saw Deafheaven live tonight, the guitarist had a mullet and the singer's stage presence made me so uncomfortable with life I had to close my eyes. And he did up the top button of his shirt.

Also saw Neutral Milk Hotel (pretty horns, bassist danced in circles) and Metric (perfect) last week.

Saw Architects yesterday. All their songs sound the same so I left before the encore but their singer impressed me by screaming/singing very well and generally they put on a good show. Stray From the Path opened and their singer was head to toe non-stop hype and they were groovy so I approved of them mosh mosh mosh

Just got tickets for next years Blastfest. The line-up just got even sicker with the addition of Paradise Lost. Looking forward to Moonsorrow, Borknagar, Destruction, Destroyer 666, Impaled Nazarene, Primordial, Melechesh and Finntroll in particular.

Balance and Composure show had as many people as Deafheaven show and the disparity between internet popularity and real life popularity is hurting my head/making me doubt my knowledge of what's cool these days.

best review.

Seeing Insomnium and Dark Tranquillity in Jan.

Deicide and Septic Flesh in two weeks. No Inquisition is a bummer but happy the concert is still happening after the initial venue closed down.

Saw The Hotelier last night and I suspect they are the best band.

Septicflesh is excellent live. I still haven't heard their latest album since I haven't seen it on the shelves (I don't buy online anymore due to credit card hacking). I imagine from what people have commeneted that the new album has dropped in quality compared to The Great Mass. I envy you

Seeing Samhaim and Midnight this Friday. Is that Halloween night? Fuck yeah it is.

Deicide In the Minds of Evil Tour 2014:

Local Openers Wrath/Severed Receptors

Both bands were inconsequential, but Wrath had a gifted 16-17 year old guitarist who shredded away. I didn't care for either band, as Phoenix shows are notorious for cramming the opening slots to local friends. But they did ok covering Metallica/Pantera songs while their own material was influenced by the aforementioned bands, Severed Receptors were some shit nu-metal-esque "band" with a chick that was monotone and her "metal vocals" were just screams. Horrible.

Carach Angren: Nothing about this band when they started impressed me all that much, whether that was due to the terrible sound system or the fact I'd rather just listen to Emperor. Albeit, the band had stage presence, and they got a good reaction from the crowd. They played a few songs from their first albums which fans were singing along too, and the vocalist clearly had some range and depth from bm vocals to lower dm growls. Riffs were as you'd expect tremolo picked riffs, backed up by keyboard samples similar to mid-era Dimmu, nothing spectacular but they were ok. 3 fists.

Abysmal Dawn

The band was plagued by sound issues and kept announcing that during songs, or making slight gesticulations to the sound guy while performing. As a musical unit they're very proficient- and their newer material focuses less on wanky riffs and more on heavy riffing/solos. The crowd was more or less dead for the entire show, but the guys were into it headbanging and moving as much as the cramped stage quarters would allow. They played a mixed set of older songs and newer ones from Obsolescence, and for the last song they got a pit that lasted a minute in which I fell and got my knee swollen, a guy broke his finger, and it just ended abruptly. Good set from a band that needs some more recognition 3.5 fists.

Inquisition

I had encountered these guys in April for the Behemoth tour, and was blown away by their stage presence, technical ability, showmanship, and riffs. They are one of my favorite bands and for a two piece, they carry themselves as well as bands such as Immolation, Absu, and other hardworking groups. On this occassion they just seemed rushed and didn't at least to me seem as invested as on the Behemoth tour, they didn't engage the crowd other than Incubus clearly adoring being behind the kit. The band played mainly newer material from Obscure verses, which is more melodic/focused on individual hypnotic riffs than the band's early material. The band played Those of the Night/Ancient Monumental war hymn, and I headbanged until my neck was sore. But Dagon never spoke to the crowd, he was almost as engaging as he was at the Behemoth show. They played well but just seemed a little less spectacular possibly due to the fact Deicide had an 18 song set that drained their time. 4 fists

Septic Flesh

Another one of my favorite bands who co-headlined with Benton and his crew, the set opens up with a sample from either Sumerian Daemons or Titan (i cant recall). The band of course stole the night and got the crowd engaged more so than any group before. They opened with Communion and during songs Sotiris would engage the crowd into chanting, raising the horns, or singing along. The band played nearly an entire set bereft of older material, 2 songs from Communion (Anubis/the titletrack) and other songs from Titan. They didn't seem plagued by the sound as they cleared all the issues setting up, but at the end of their set the crowd enjoyed them the most and cheered them on as they finished 5 fists

Deicide:

There isn't much to say here as I didn't stay for the entire set. I had seen Glen Benton and Steve Asheim walked through the crowd to the back of the venue, and neither of them seemed particularly excited to play. The band was plagued by sound issues with Benton angrily staring at the sound guy, telling him to adjust his vocals (which are monotone and crap). The band had ZERO stage presence for being veterans, and opened the set with In the minds of evil. My ears were bombarded by treble and the crowd while cheering and supportive, never started a pit and the energy just didn't seem to be there from either Benton (who started the set by saying "Lets get this shit over with"), or the crowd which never opened up at all. I didn't stay for the entire set as the sound was horrible, and the band just seemed to not give a fuck at all. 2 fists.

Nice write up Steve, too bad about Septic Flesh not playing older stuff but at least the Communion tracks are good. Seeing Inquisition seems worth the price of admission anyway.

Just caught the Amon Amarth/Sabaton show tonight. An awesome, well-rounded set by the Swedish viking metallers with a very enthusiastic crowd for a Wednesday night. All the usual suspects were there with Cry of the Blackbirds, Death in Fire and of course Pursuit of Vikings whipping up the circle pit quite nicely. Sabaton were a little out of place but their infectious energy and silly crowd banter made it hard not to like them. I will probably never own one of their albums but would definitely go see them live any chance I could get. Skeletonwich opened the show but were strangely without lead singer Chance Garnette. From what I gathered, he had some personal matters to take care of and couldn't finish the tour, so the band is doing it as four piece. The dedication to the fans is appreciated but the lack of vocals really robbed the band of a ton of its power and aggression. All in all, an enjoyable, alcohol-filled evening was had by everyone in attendance and many beards seemed to have doubled in size by concerts end.

Onslaught (with Neil Turbin on vocals) and Artillery tomorrow night. Both bands first time in Canada.

Is Saint Vitus decent live? They're in town this sunday, I'm a fan, but not a massive fan.

How was Danzig? I managed to catch the old fuck on the last iteration of his Misfits legacy shows. He's pretty hit and miss live but the band really smoked the night I saw them.

[quote="Nickelback666"]Deicide In the Minds of Evil Tour 2014
[quote]


I was going to go to this but decided not to at the last second.