|
My comments first pertain to the venue and atmosphere of this concert, which is almost as important as the music that
is going to be presented. The venue for this show is The Opera House in Toronto, Ontario. As I waited in line outside, I was
impressed by the amount of fans lining up, and the anticipation shown by these fans. Once inside, I realized that this was
a much smaller courtroom then I usually operate out of, but in this case, being small helped the situation. It crowded three
to four hundred rabid fans into a tight place, which allowed the energy to transfer well from the fans to the bands on stage.
Then, there was a surprise. As I was in my chambers, I was made aware of some special guests in attendance. Naturally,
I questioned these guests on their business, and it turned out that a band dropped from the bill on that these guests, Into
Eternity, were taking over for at least this stop. This was quite a pleasant surprise, not only due to the fact that these
are nice guys, but it meant that this show arguably had three of the best death metal acts performing in one night.
Aborted, from Belgium, opened with a quite brutal set, which set the pace for the rest of the night. They were quite solid,
with good speed and limited mistakes. Though, it is hard to discern mistakes when such a crushing wall of sound is coming
against you. I had thought that Aborted, on cd was boring, and due to this, I figured that they would be equally as boring
live. But, they were very good at showing energy and emotion which made flat music (on cd) come to life.
The second act was Despised Icon, which either should have opened, or not played on this bill. They were playing well,
and had a lot of energy and stage presence, but they are very focused on the more core side of grindcore, which did not fit
this bill. They were not well received by the crowd, who kept chanting “Cryptopsy” between songs. Despised
Icon is seemingly to metal to be on a metalcore show, but are too core to be on a metal show. The crowd was rude and wrong
in it’s actions, but the sentiment behind these behavior seemed to be correct. One reason is the fact that they
have two vocalists\frontmen running around on stage, without instruments, which is both too busy, and plainly not metal.
Then the mighty Into Eternity took the stage. I was intrigued to see this somewhat new incarnation of IE, as their line-up
has changed since Buried in Oblivion. At times, they seemed out of place on this bill, as their frontman is a power metal
vocalist, in both voice and action, and not a brutal death metal frontman. Despite this, the crowd went crazy for them, and
it felt grand. There were a lot of sweeping guitar solos, and beautiful trade-offs between the vocalists, which is everyone
but the drummer. This was brutal, but in it’s own way. It was interesting at the end of the night to compare the
leading style of the frontman with the style of Lord Worm.
Next up was the Mighty Cryptopsy. Their set started out with a slight disappointment. Lord Worm did not use his coffin,
which I was hoping to see, as that is partly what he is famous for. But, he redeemed himself by hauling out his goblet of
worms, and devouring them, and offering them to the audience. Although I could not understand anything really he was saying,
he acted like a deranged madman who was fighting with inner demons during the show. It was quite persuasive, and added a level
of brutality to the show. Like I said, it was interesting to see a light hearted frontman in Into Eternity, followed by a
serious crazy men running around on stage. They played all of their trade-mark songs, with a lot of focus on the old material,
particularly off of None So Vile and Blasphemy Made Flesh. Plus, they played my favorite song, Cold Hate, Warm Blood off Whisper
Supremacy. After the set, I was convinced that Cryptopsy is the most extreme band out there, with a dizzying array of sound
and complexities in this music. Plus, Flo put on a clinic on how to drum as a drummer, not just some guy that plays drums.
Last, but definitely not least, was Suffocation. After the release of Souls to Deny, and the absence of Doug Cerrito,
I thought that Suffocation was past their prime. I found Souls to Deny flat and boring, but as Aborted showed, a good band
can do wonders with material in a live setting. Terrance Hobbes put on a show with his guitar work, and the whole band succeeds
in being super-tight and organized. After going through their whole catalog, they decided to tease the audience with just
a hint of a new song, and it sounded to hearken back to Effigy or the album before, which is hailed as the best death metal
album ever. Another added bonus was that they did not want to stop playing. They kept playing song after song, and even brought
out some of the members of God Forbid to do a part of one of their songs. After officially ending, they came back and played
a two song encore.
Therefore, with a night full of brutality, great music, amazing musicians, and stellar frontmen, I have had a hard time
formulating a judgment to pass on. One thing that was very nice was that they were all supportive of the other bands playing,
even Despised Icon who were treated rudely by the crowd. My judgment then, is this, bands around the world should take notice
of all these bands. Not only are they the best, but they do quite well at putting on a show, and even have some class. All
of the bands spent time mingling in the crowd before and after their sets. They other thing that should be followed is how
to interact with a crowd, whether it be a crazed madman, or an energetic “child”.
I should also condemn the behavior of the crowd, from the hassling of Despised Icon, to be moronic. There was plenty of
crowd-surfing, and a few people jumping off the speaker stacks. This is not dignified behavior. Just because one appreciates
brutal, animalistic, music does not mean that they have to act like an animal. The metal scene needs to show that we have
brains and can behave, and show that we are better than the popular music scene.
|
