Metallica + Machine Head + The Sword
Venue: Los Angeles Forum Date: December 18th, 2008 By: Dave Schalek
Many of you will, no doubt, be surprised to hear that I managed to
convince myself that Metallica are worth paying some attention to
once again. In fact, I went so far as to attend the recent Metallica
concert held at the Forum on December 18th, the second of two shows.
I told myself that my real intention was to see The Sword, one of
the better melodic stoner metal acts to appear on the scene since
Monster Magnet (some of you may be even more surprised to hear that
I have a soft spot in my heart for well done, melodic stoner metal),
but I was also anticipating my first Metallica show in over 20
years.
At any rate, I made damn sure to get to the Forum in time to see
The Sword, starting right on the
dot at 7pm. In front of a sparse crowd and on a stage centered in
the arena, The Sword were fucking awesome with tight musicianship,
crystal clear sound, and an excellent range of mostly instrumental
songs culled from “Gods of the Earth”. They played an excellent half
hour set and didn’t get much of a reaction from the crowd as I ended
up berating the typical Metallica-is-the-heaviest-band-in-the-world
knuckleheads around me to pay attention to some great metal.
Assholes.
Machine Head were next,
replacing Lamb of God who were unceremoniously booted off the bill
for the two L.A. shows for some unfathomable reason. Machine Head
flat out sucked. They should promptly fire whoever was working their
mixing board as the sound was a muddled mess throughout their entire
set. Granted, the L.A. Forum is a cavernous arena not well suited to
metal, but there’s no excuse for the garbage that was delivered
tonight. Except for the double bass, you couldn’t hear the drums,
the bass was non-existent, and Rob Flynn’s voice was also buried in
a wall of guitar sound that was mixed way too low. From a veteran
band on the second night of two shows in the same arena, this was
absolutely pathetic.
Metallica delivered the goods
for a mammoth, two and a half hour set. Good sound, a good stage
show, and well-executed showmanship accompanied a better than
expected set list that studiously avoided their string of three
atrocious albums (take a wild guess). Highlights included “The Four
Horsemen”, “Ride the Lightning”, “Fight Fire With Fire”, “One”, and,
strangely enough, “Breadfan”. Five new tracks from “Death Magnetic”
were included, and were pulled off very well and mixed in nicely
with the aforementioned classics. There were a few moments that
dragged over such a long set, as I cannot stand any of the material
from “Metallica” and the band did get a bit sloppy during “Master of
Puppets” (shades of ’86, eh, Skull?). The closer was “Seek And
Destroy”, played with the house lights on as logoed beach balls
dropped out of the ceiling onto the crowd below. The crowd, somewhat
exhausted at this point, was revived as people enthusiastically
booted the copious beach balls all over the arena.
Overall, I had a good time at a good performance. I won’t go as far
as to say that Metallica are “back” in some manner, but there were
hints of the greatness of years past. Incidentally, Metallica have
enough money; I bought a t-shirt from The Sword, instead.
Check out the ceremonial trappings at
http://metalrunsinmyveins.blogspot.com
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Destruction + Debauchery + Scared To
Death The Underworld, London 16/12/2008
Review by James Young
London was to prepare for a German invasion tonight in the form of a
death metal band and two thrash groups, one of course being the
mighty Destruction. Anyone who heard them at Bloodstock (which
wasn’t hard - they were deafening) would tell you that they are on
top form at the moment, and it’s lucky for us that they are happy to
come to the UK quite often. Maybe for this reason, alongside the
Christmas cold and credit crunch, the turnout wasn’t overawing, but
this didn’t mean that there couldn’t be maximum destruction tonight.
I wasn’t exactly Scared To Death
by the opener, with their understated stage presence and friendly
German hospitality, but looks can be deceiving, and these fairly
young guys played a rousing set of thrash metal. Unfortunately, some
tracks were a little bit Metallica-like and a tad flimsy, such as
the deceivingly titled ‘Extreme Aggression’ (not a Kreator cover),
not helped by the non-existent drums in the mix. This was the only
downer though, as the best songs from this three-piece came in the
form of the more melodic numbers. This newer form of thrash is a bit
like Marmite, and has polarised fans of bands like Megadeth and
Kreator, but I’m very much a fan, and found the NWOBHM infused
thrash attack of ‘Paint The Whitehouse Black’ and ‘Holy War’
excellent to hear. Ernst Kramheller appeared a very competent
guitarist, handling both the leads and frenetic solos effortlessly,
whilst barking his gruff vocals all the while. This was these guys’
first trip to the UK, and they seemed to love it, with bassist Kevin
Fischer grinning and pumping the crowd up through each number. There
couldn’t have been a more appropriate bill for Scared To Death than
this, and although the crowd numbers weren’t impressive, their
performance was, and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of them
in the upcoming years.
Debauchery at first glance stuck
out like a sore thumb tonight, coming out covered head to toe in
blood and unashamedly declaring that they play ‘death metal’. After
a bit of a false start when a guitar amp cut out, it became a bit
clearer why they were chosen (apart from being country mates with
the other bands), because although being quite brutal, they
displayed a tremendous musicianship and catchiness which mirrored
that of thrash metal - after all, one is just a heavier form of the
other. This was a really tight performance - the music had the
pummelling nature of Cannibal Corpse, with songs such as ‘Back In
Blood’ sporting a slab-heavy intro, mixed with the driving force of
Deicide. Add in some beautifully gore-oovy hooks which Six Feet
Under would be proud to call their own, and intelligently written
solos which had the bluesiness of a hard rock outfit, and you have
all the ingredients for a great band, which had more than a few
stubborn thrash metallers’ heads turning. As friendly as vocalist
Thomas was in between songs, his textbook death metal grunts through
songs such as ‘Warfare’ and ‘Cuntkiller’ were only surpassed by his
blood-curdling screams. Finishing with the catchy as heck ‘Death
Metal Warmachine’, which is still stuck in my head to this day, this
band blew me away like very few bands can these days. If you’re a
Cannibal Corpse or Six Feet Under fan and you missed this gig for
any reason, do yourself a favour and check them out.
It was Destruction time, and
coming out to a ditty which I can only put down to different senses
of humour, an hour and a half of carnage shook up the Underworld.
Twenty five years young and still going strong, and not to mention
an incredible sound to boot, something so very rare these days, we
heard everything from the very old, which came in the form of the
misspelt but savage ‘Total Desaster’, to the brand new. This came in
the form of some choice cuts from the latest album including title
track ‘Devolution’ and ‘Urge (The Greed of Gain)’, which was
preceded by a bizarre diatribe by Marcel " Schmier" Schirmer about
bangers and mash (probably the cultural difference rearing its head
here again…). You wouldn’t think there were only three people on
stage, with Schmier cutting an imposing presence, switching between
his three skull-covered mic stands, whilst Mike Sifringer shredded
away with the energy of an army of men. As previously stated, the
crowd wasn’t massive, but this didn’t stop the violence being
unleashed when relentless tracks such as ‘Thrash Till Death’ pounded
through our central nervous systems. Amongst the classic thrash
anthems which were delivered, ‘Invisible Force’, ’Cracked Brain’ and
‘Life Without Sense’ showed Destruction at their most, well,
destructive, topped only by a medley of ‘Antichrist’ and ‘Release
From Agony’. If this wasn’t enough to make your head ache for days,
Marc Reign launched straight into one of the best drum solos I’ve
heard for a long time, which brought things to a thrash-gasmic
climax when the rest of the band came back and played ‘Tormentor’.
The Butcher made two appearances tonight in the form of ‘The Butcher
Strikes Back, and ‘Mad Butcher’ in the encore, which was also
composed of the brilliant ‘Nailed To The Cross’, the rather
unfestive ‘Curse The Gods’, and the aforementioned ‘Total Desaster’,
completing possibly one of the most enjoyable sets of the year.
A thrash-tastic gig, which delivered on all levels. If all gigs were
like this I’d be a happy man, but for now we could all go home safe
in the knowledge that we’d witnessed greatness. Let’s hope
Destruction make the annual visit next year and tear things up just
as well. Awesome. |
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