Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Goatwhore

Yes, I listen to a band called Goatwhore...

They are a Blackened Death Metal band from New Orleans. (I love that phrase Blackened to describe a band that aren't primarily a Black Metal band but do have some influences from it. Usually I make up dumb phrases like that to describe bands, but that one is actually used by magazines and such. It reminds me of something charred.) I first saw them open for Watain two years ago and have been a big fan ever since.

Early this month I pre-ordered their new album from Metal Blade Records, it also came with a poster, and a t-shirt with the album cover on it. I tell you that to tell you this story: I walked in to the concert venue cleverly called "In The Venue" (no joke), and walked up to the merch booth. The guy behind the counter said, "Dude, sick shirt!" I noticed that my shirt was not available to purchase from the band and that I was the only person in the place with that particular Goatwhore shirt on. That made my weird little mind very happy. As I stood watching a few bad local bands, I noticed this guy walk up and sit behind the merch booth. Was that just?.... no it couldn't... or could it? It had been two years since I'd seen them play, but I was positive that the singer of Goatwhore was sitting 5 feet away from me. A quick google search for a pic of him confirmed my suspicion. He was very gracious in taking a pic with me, and was a very cool guy. He looked at my shirt and yelled at the merch guy, "Why the hell don't we have these shirts?" The merch guy says, "The printer screwed them up." So the singer, who's name is Louis Benjamin Falgoust II, asked where I got my shirt. I told him that I pre-ordered the album (both on vinyl and CD), and that it came with it from the record company. He just smiled and said, "Right on man!" It was cool!
Louis Benjamin Falgoust II and TKA


Now the second cool part of the night: as I am standing watching the local Death Metal band Dead Vessel play, they aren't too bad by the way, the guitarist for Goatwhore comes out to ask the singer something. The singer points to me and the guitarist comes over and asked to see the shirt. So we started talking and went into the bar area of the club where it was quieter. I bought him a beer and we talked about the new album, and how I was a big fan. He was a weird guy, and was pretty awkward. But I was in awe that I had impressed to members of a band that I really enjoy.

Iced Earth! Finally!

Thrash Metal band opening for a Power Metal band, followed by a Prog Metal band? Sound weird? Well it happened!

The day was February 24th, I landed at SLC International airport in the early evening. I had just gotten back from a cruise heading down to Mexico. I barely had time to put my bags in my apartment when it was time to head to a concert I'd been looking forward to for a long time: Iced Earth and Symphony X.

The show started out with the Neo-Thrash Metal band Warbringer. Warbringer - Living In A Whirlwind It was weird seeing these guys on the bottom peg of a tour again. Just last year they had been headlining their own tour, although I didn't see them because it was on the same night as another concert that I felt had priority. They are highly regarded as one of the bands at the forefront of the New Wave Of Thrash Metal that has come about in recent years. They really get the crowd moving, and are an impressive live act.

Now here is were I got a little let down: Warbringer leaves the stage, the roadies drop their backdrop and behind it is Iced Earth's backdrop. The way the ticket was printed and the impression of everyone I talked to, was that Iced Earth were to be the headliner. Iced Earth had not been to Utah for 8 years, the amount of time I've know of them and have loved their music. Now they were an opener and that meant they were going to play a shorter set than the headliners, what a bummer. Iced Earth, along with Kamelot, and Jag Panzer, are the leaders of the American Power Metal scene. American Power Metal sounds a lot different from the traditional European Power Metal such as Blind Guardian or Helloween, but the similarities are there too (Iced Earth - Birth Of The Wicked, Kamelot - The HauntingBlind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other SideHelloween - Back Against The Wall). But to my sorrow I realized as the band took the stage that the singer was not Matt Barlow, the voice that made me love Iced Earth in the first place. I've since learned the singer's name is Stu Block, but he sounded identical to Matt Barlow and could even hit higher notes than Matt could. The performance blew me away! A very acceptable replacement for Mr. Barlow. It was my first Power Metal show, and I really hope not my last.One thing I did notice about Power Metal concerts is that there are a lot of nerds there... maybe its because the entire genre was started on medieval themes and J.R.R. Tolkien's books.
Iced Earth

Seeing Symphony X after Iced Earth was not exciting for me, like going to church on Christmas when you're a kid: I've opened my presents, got exactly what I wanted and asked for, now I had to leave it and go to boring old church. Don't get me wrong, I really do enjoy Symphony X and own a few of their albums. But I enjoy them like I enjoy the band Dragonforce, one or two songs at a time; unlike other Prog Metal bands like Dream Theater, Fates Warning, and Porcupine Tree, all of whom I can listen to all day long. There is something about them that makes me exhausted when I listen to them too much, a feeling I also get listening to Yngwie J. Malmsteen for a long time. One of their best songs, in my opinion is Symphony X - Out Of The Ashes. Had they been on before Iced Earth I probably would have enjoyed them a lot more live, and surprisingly Symphony X's set was a half hour shorter than Iced Earth's. This was the first time Symphony X had ever played in Utah, and the giant crowd that turned out was a great representation of our Metal scene (for once). I definitely would see them again if they come back, it was just that they were after my beloved Iced Earth that made me a little miffed at them.
Symphony X
Random After Thought: My Favorite Power Metal Bands
  1. Helloween
  2. Blind Guardian
  3. Edguy
  4. Iced Earth (Matt Barlow albums)
  5. Kamelot (Roy Khan albums)
  6. Tobias Sammet's Avantasia 
  7. Demons & Wizards

Testament

"Oh yes, there will be blood..." the chilling line from the SAW movies ran through my mind as I stood in line outside The Depot on February 15th. I was waiting to see Thrash Metal gods/demons (whichever you prefer) Testament destroy the stage of the small venue.

Let me complain about some people real quick, these people are purist Hardcore Metal fans. The two drunk idiots behind me in line were, I believe, barely above the limit of being called Homo Sapiens. Yes they had the ability to speak, but LITERALLY every other word was F*@#. Yes they had the ability of bipedal movement, one of them even took this skill to his advantage by walking to the construction site next to the line of people and urinating for all to see. Then the thing that really makes me loath these basic creatures, and unfortunately they speak for every Hardcore Metal fan I've met, is when someone walked by in a Black Sabbath t-shirt and they started dissing THE FOUNDERS OF THE ENTIRE GENRE YOU LIVE FOR. They went on to complain about Judas Priest and the gay guy that sings for them, complained about how Anthrax isn't really Thrash Metal, and the worst offense of all, said Iron Maiden was overrated. I was about to commit double homicide on the streets of The City of Salt. I never understood genre purists (phrase I made up), they find one little niche and never ever leave it. Now being a Metalhead I can completely understand doing this with the entire Heavy Metal genre, but these other purists who stick to a sub genre of Metal (Thrash for example) and then decide that all other Metal before or since is shit? WTF?! People like them are what make Metal chat rooms a waste of time. I honestly have on my iPod an L.A. Guns and Venom playlist! Yes I add Hair/Glam Metal with early Black/Death Metal, and ya know what? I'm not ashamed of that.

Bitching aside, I could not believe I was going to be seeing Chuck Billy sing. Up there with Dave Mustaine of Megadeth and Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth of Overkill, Chuck Billy has one of those Thrash Metal voices that can growl and bellow to the depths of the Earth, or can be melodic and convey real sincere emotion. I was crazy stoked to see them play!

I met my good friends Darrell and Kari at the show, we sat along the wall of the venue catching up and talking about upcoming shows and such things. When the opening band Truce finished their set and Testament finally come out and started, my friend Darrell was instantly gone into the crowd to get a better view and to thrash around the pit a bit. I stayed over to the side with Kari and all our jackets and items and was amazed at the range this guy still had after 25 years of singing and surviving a battle with cancer! Over his career he has indeed gone from a clear, high pitched singing style to a more grunting and growling style as the band evolved. But he can still hit some of those notes from the early albums. Two or three songs into the set, Darrell comes back and asks if I want to go closer to the stage while he watches the stuff. I wander into the crowd, it is between songs at this point, and make my way to the stage. As the band starts the next song a mosh pit opens up right around me! Of course I'd end up in a mosh pit, just my luck. I decided, "what the hell?" and began to shove and be shoved in this pit (only the second I'd ever been involved in, the first, and I thought last, was during a Cannibal Corpse show in Denver. At that time my mentality was, "If I only do one mosh in my life I'd say Cannibal Corpse would be the one to do it to."). Anyways, I'm moshing. This bald headed dude is coming towards me when he gets elbowed in the face and blood splashes onto my arm. Not a large amount of blood mind you, but blood nonetheless. "No big deal, it didn't get in a cut on my arm or anything," I says to myself, "I'll wash it off after this song is over." But the more I look at this bald man who continued to mosh dripping blood from his nasal passages, the more I wanted... nay NEEDED to wash it off of me! I said screw this song, and quickly got to the restroom to wash the blood off in the hottest water they had.

The show left my ears ringing (that doesn't happen often anymore), and longing for more Testament! I know I usually say this about bands or shows I'm reviewing but if you do indeed get a chance to see Testament, DO NOT MISS IT! And thanks to Darrell and Kari for rocking out with me!

100th Concert!

One hundred concerts! Its a mixed feeling, one of "Wow that's a lot of concerts!" but also a feeling of "That's it? That's all I've been to?"  The latter thought is obviously ridiculous to most people.

The show consisted of Children Of Bodom, Eluveitie, and Threat Signal. It was one of the few times that I've seen such a huge support for the opening act. There were as many people there to see the much less popular band Threat Signal and there were to see the headliners COB. Threat Signal are a Canadian Melodic Death Metal band, I was pretty impressed with the performance they put on and when I heard them play this song, Threat Signal - Fallen Disciples, I had to buy their newest album.

Eluveitie
Now I was more excited to see Eluveitie than I was to see Children Of Bodom. I have seen them both before, but I am hands down a much bigger fan of Eluveitie's. Hailing from Switzerland, they seem to be the band that has taken the Folk Metal genre's banner and really been trying to spread it around the US. They are currently, or even in recent years, the only Folk Metal band I follow who's even toured the States. But I am OK with them being the ones to come because they are my favorite Folk Metal band (followed closely by Korpiklaani Korpiklaani - Vodka). But this crowd that assembled at The Complex was here for a Melodic Death Metal concert. Not a single person around me knew who they were when they were setting up. So being the Metal Missionary I am, I educated a group of about 10 people about Folk Metal and how I enjoyed the band. I told them of the amazing compilation album Pagan Fire, that is were I learned of Eluveitie, Korpiklaani, Equilibrium, and many other bands. After they played their set most the people I had talked to came back to tell me I was right about them, some asked what the best albums were. But recently this has been happening more, a multi-genre tour comes to town (usually all the bands on a tour will be on the same record label), and the different genres each get represented. So in this case the little known (in Utah) Folk Metal scene was sandwiched between two Melodic Death Metal bands and gained quite a few new followers. Eluveitie - Inis Mona Now with 8 band members the stage can get really crowded, I can't imagine the tour bus situation. But for how little room they had to move around they are an amazingly energetic band. At one point the lead singer divided the crowd in two, one half against either wall, and demanded a mosh pit style I'd only heard of, a "Battle Wall!" he cried. From my vantage point in the balcony in the back of the venue, I looked on as the the two walls of people stood facing each other, just waiting for the band to start playing their war cry. As soon as the band started the next song, the two rival factions charged each other, screaming the whole way. When they collided it was truly like a scene from ancient times when a battle would begin, but instead of spears and clubs it was only a little energetic shoving, almost a twisted game of Red Rover. I cannot wait for these guys to come back!

Children Of Bodom "Hate Crew"
Where do I begin with Children Of Bodom? They are a weird band for me, I always had a longing to be part of a band like COB because they incorporate and switch between so many genres of Metal. So in my impractical mind I'm almost jealous of that band, which I know is absolutely absurd. They are doing what I want to be doing, but at least they are doing it amazingly. I had first seen COB when they opened for Black Label Society (it should have been the other way around!), I was amazed at the show they put on. Children Of Bodom - Living Dead Beat If you want to see a high energy band that can make the crowd move the entire show then do not miss Children Of Bodom!

So overall it was an amazing 100th concert! Now I'm on the journey to 200.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

G-G-G-Ghost!

Oh my oh my, on the 29th of January I saw the band Ghost play at The Complex. Ghost's debut album Opus Eponymous came out of nowhere and blew me away! With a Classic Metal sound reminiscent of Blue Öyster Cult, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath, but with the creepy occult lyrics of King Diamond/Mercyful Fate and the Black Metal scene; they forge their own brand of Extreme Metal. Ghost "Ritual"
Ghost "Here Comes The Sun" Beatles Cover 
If the Beatles sounded like this then they'd be a great band!

Quick Metal history lesson: The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) that took place in the late 70's and early 80's took what the early pioneers of Metal put out and went many directions with it. One eventually led to the Pop/Glam Metal that dominated MTV and the world in the 1980's thanks to bands like Def Leppard along with American band Van Halen. Power Metal was born in the early 80's from the NWOBHM too, however other European countries like Germany and Sweden became the major homes of this genre. Yet another direction came to be known as Extreme Metal. Extreme Metal was born after bands like Motorhead, Venom, and Hellhammer started to play a raunchier, rawer, and heavier style of Metal. Extreme Metal includes many genres including Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Viking Metal, Folk Metal and tons of other sub-genres of Heavy Metal. Back to Ghost...

Ghost are very into hiding their identities, the band members are only listed as "Nameless Ghouls." There are 6 members in the band, 5 of them where black cloaks and the singer dresses like a dead cardinal, going as far as having an old mans face mask with a large bulbous nose attached so well that when he walked out on stage I really thought to myself "Holy crap that dude is old!"

This was Ghost's first US tour, called the 13 Dates of Doom tour. Salt Lake City was chosen as one of those few 13 cities because The Complex is amazing at making SLC a new Mecca of Extreme Metal and also I believe that Ghost's label Metal Blade Records recognizes that the underground Metal scene in Utah is something serious. I've read many interviews from bands saying the most insane mosh pits and crowds they've had were in Utah. Lots of pent up angst I guess!

Ghost's "Nameless Ghouls"



I discovered two bands with Ghost that night. One being Canada's Blood Ceremony. They sound like if Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, and Deep Purple had a baby that sang like the chick from Jefferson Airplane/Starship (to me anyway)... then that baby was taught to write lyrics by King Diamond. I was soooo impressed with them, I've never dreamed a flute could mesh so well with that kind of playing. Blood Ceremony "Hymn To Pan" I talked to their bassist after their set and made him promise they'd come back to SLC (crossing my fingers he remembers that promise).

Blood Ceremony

The other band that came with Ghost was called Ancient VVisdom. Yes that is two V's instead of a W. Dunno why but that's cool with me. They have achieved something that is very amazing: making acoustic guitars sound evil! Their songs are simple but man they are catchy. Ancient VVisdom "Lost Civilization"