metalmike
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We need it as a liquid in our veins instead of blood
Posts: 298
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Post by metalmike on Jul 15, 2023 7:20:30 GMT -5
I hit the first night of Stormbringer II Metalfest at Ralph's Diner in Worcester, MA last night. Only one night for me, like last year, because I can't stand for hours on end in a sweaty club anymore. Doors opened at 4 but I work so I didn't get there until around 7:30 (not to mention the parking is minimal and I had to walk over a mile from where I left the car). There were a lot more people here this year than last, though the place is still tiny (capacity is maybe 300 people). It was nice to see a good sized crowd on a Friday (last year on Saturday, there were not nearly as many people for Glacier and Gatekeeper). Hopefully they will keep this fest going as it is the only way I'm likely to see some of these bands in the U.S. where touring for small bands tends to be fiscally impossible.
I missed Bastard Cross, Ryghar and Knight & Gallow but caught the last couple of songs from Indiana's Throne of Iron. Like last year, the sound in Ralph's is a challenge and Throne of Iron seemed to be struggling. It didn't help that their bass player apparently bailed before the show so it was just guitars and drums. Maybe there's something there with these guys, maybe not, it was hard to tell.
The next few bands were the ones I really went to see. Legendry was up next and again, the sound was a problem, especially on the leads, which cut in and out a couple of times but they persevered. They played a couple of new songs including a lengthy one that featured an electric violin and sounded pretty good, especially if you like old Rush. They wrapped up with a solid cover of Manilla Road's "Necropolis" which really got the crowd going. I spoke to the guitarist at the merch table and they have a new album coming out later this year. Hopefully they go all-in on the long, weird tracks like the one they played tonight.
Shadowland followed and definitely sounded better, despite singer Tanya Finder saying she had laryngitis. I couldn't tell and it was a nice mix of songs from their EP and debut album. Good stuff, not amazing but Finder worked the crowd well. A good set.
Sonja was up next and they avoided some of the sound issues by setting up their own drum kit (most bands used the house kit) and backline. The sounded really good and much of the crowd was there to see them. There was even a mosh pit (admittedly a small one) that got going at one point. They ended with maybe the most unexpected cover of the night, Manowar's "Bridge of Death" and they killed it. The place was really into it, singing along. Great set.
I didn't stick around for Destructor even though I would have liked to but I had a long walk back to the car and it was after 11 and this old man turns into a pumpkin at midnight. More great bands tonight (Visigoth and Traveler headlining) but the show is sold out (another great sign for future fests).
Next up, Overkill in a couple of weeks with some Canadian guy I know
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Post by metalcrypt on Jul 16, 2023 8:16:10 GMT -5
Next up, Overkill in a couple of weeks with some Canadian guy I know
Not that fucking guy again...
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metalmike
Staff
We need it as a liquid in our veins instead of blood
Posts: 298
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Post by metalmike on Jul 18, 2023 20:15:26 GMT -5
Next up, Overkill in a couple of weeks with some Canadian guy I know
Not that fucking guy again... Right? At least he likes good music
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Post by metalcrypt on Aug 1, 2023 7:01:01 GMT -5
Canoed my way over to the Overkill/Exhorder/Heathen show in Boston with MetalMike last Saturday. There was a fourth band (opener) named Sunlord from New York playing, we had no idea they were on the bill before they got on stage. That did explain the unknown LP and CD at the merch table. They were good. The singer sounded like Lemmy when he spoke. I'll let Mike fill the details. Took me 7.5 hours to drive back here yesterday because of work on a bridge (incidentally, 15 minutes from home, but it took over an hour to cross it). Still tired from that. I wanted to record the first two bands, but the light on my phone was on (I hit something by mistake, I guess). Thankfully, Mike knew how to turn that off, so I was able to record Exhorder and Overkill: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ5Q82o3kyN6ODEsrIQnzjDI6cKqxaGOS
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metalmike
Staff
We need it as a liquid in our veins instead of blood
Posts: 298
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Post by metalmike on Aug 1, 2023 18:30:53 GMT -5
Canoed my way over to the Overkill/Exhorder/Heathen show in Boston with MetalMike last Saturday. There was a fourth band (opener) named Sunlord from New York playing, we had no idea they were on the bill before they got on stage. That did explain the unknown LP and CD at the merch table. They were good. The singer sounded like Lemmy when he spoke. I'll let Mike fill the details. Took me 7.5 hours to drive back here yesterday because of work on a bridge (incidentally, 15 minutes from home, but it took over an hour to cross it). Still tired from that. I wanted to record the first two bands, but the light on my phone was on (I hit something by mistake, I guess). Thankfully, Mike knew how to turn that off, so I was able to record Exhorder and Overkill: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ5Q82o3kyN6ODEsrIQnzjDI6cKqxaGOSIt was a really good show, apart from some Canadian guy recording the whole thing. Wait...
Michel and I were both pleasantly surprised by Sun Lord. No frills, kind of a thrashy Motorhead and the singer got the crowd into the show despite being on stage before 7pm. Within seconds after the house lights came up, Michel stepped all over me trying to get to the merch table to grab an album. He was successful.
Heathen was up next and even though I reviewed their Empire of the Blind record a few years ago, I couldn't name a single song by them. I remember playing the Victims of Deception album on my college radio show, but nothing stuck. The were good, really good. They sounded great (honestly all the bands sounded great which I was not expecting) and crushed their 40 minute set, once again riling up the crowd for the subsequent bands.
Exhorder is a band I knew by name only but I was impressed. Probably the heaviest band of the night even after the bass player's amp shit the bed and he walked off the stage. Michel and I agreed, with no disrespect to him, the band sounded just as crushing with only the guitars and drums.
Overkill was the band I really wanted to see and they did not disappoint, other than I would like to have heard a few more older songs. They did play "Horrorscope", "Hello from the Gutter", "Elimination", "Rotten to the Core" and "Powersurge" and when you have 20 albums, I guess you have to spread things out. Blitz sounded like no time has passed since Taking Over and the rest of the band was tight. The rhythm guitar player pissed me off the entire set, though. He did this stupid thing where he threw his pick in the air and tried to catch it in time for the next chord but he dropped it often and he seemed to be staring at some people on the second level (Michel and I were on the third level where the geriatric section was) almost the entire set. Maybe he had family at the show or was trying to pick someone up, I don't know. You can see him doing it in Michel's video. Annoying.
My big takeaways were all the bands kicked ass, the House of Blues was comfortable (it was very humid that day but the inside of the venue was nice), all the drummers played out of the minds and sounded incredible, and it was fun introducing Michel to Liquid Death (canned water)
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mjolnir
Staff
Your observations of my nonsense fail to excuse your bad sense
Posts: 319
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Post by mjolnir on Aug 1, 2023 22:38:38 GMT -5
Canoed my way over to the Overkill/Exhorder/Heathen show in Boston with MetalMike last Saturday. There was a fourth band (opener) named Sunlord from New York playing, we had no idea they were on the bill before they got on stage. That did explain the unknown LP and CD at the merch table. They were good. The singer sounded like Lemmy when he spoke. I'll let Mike fill the details. Took me 7.5 hours to drive back here yesterday because of work on a bridge (incidentally, 15 minutes from home, but it took over an hour to cross it). Still tired from that. I wanted to record the first two bands, but the light on my phone was on (I hit something by mistake, I guess). Thankfully, Mike knew how to turn that off, so I was able to record Exhorder and Overkill: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ5Q82o3kyN6ODEsrIQnzjDI6cKqxaGOSIt was a really good show, apart from some Canadian guy recording the whole thing. Wait...
Michel and I were both pleasantly surprised by Sun Lord. No frills, kind of a thrashy Motorhead and the singer got the crowd into the show despite being on stage before 7pm. Within seconds after the house lights came up, Michel stepped all over me trying to get to the merch table to grab an album. He was successful.
Heathen was up next and even though I reviewed their Empire of the Blind record a few years ago, I couldn't name a single song by them. I remember playing the Victims of Deception album on my college radio show, but nothing stuck. The were good, really good. They sounded great (honestly all the bands sounded great which I was not expecting) and crushed their 40 minute set, once again riling up the crowd for the subsequent bands.
Exhorder is a band I knew by name only but I was impressed. Probably the heaviest band of the night even after the bass player's amp shit the bed and he walked off the stage. Michel and I agreed, with no disrespect to him, the band sounded just as crushing with only the guitars and drums.
Overkill was the band I really wanted to see and they did not disappoint, other than I would like to have heard a few more older songs. They did play "Horrorscope", "Hello from the Gutter", "Elimination", "Rotten to the Core" and "Powersurge" and when you have 20 albums, I guess you have to spread things out. Blitz sounded like no time has passed since Taking Over and the rest of the band was tight. The rhythm guitar player pissed me off the entire set, though. He did this stupid thing where he threw his pick in the air and tried to catch it in time for the next chord but he dropped it often and he seemed to be staring at some people on the second level (Michel and I were on the third level where the geriatric section was) almost the entire set. Maybe he had family at the show or was trying to pick someone up, I don't know. You can see him doing it in Michel's video. Annoying.
My big takeaways were all the bands kicked ass, the House of Blues was comfortable (it was very humid that day but the inside of the venue was nice), all the drummers played out of the minds and sounded incredible, and it was fun introducing Michel to Liquid Death (canned water)
That all sounds very cool except for the Liquid Death. For $12 a 6-pack, you too can experience the joys of drinking out of a garden hose.
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Post by metalcrypt on Aug 2, 2023 6:59:09 GMT -5
Beer was US$13. Brutal. And it didn't agree with me that night. Unlike the two venues we went to in Cambridge last year, this one didn't have free water.
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Post by metalcrypt on Aug 2, 2023 6:59:29 GMT -5
Oh and that Sunlord album (222) is pretty good.
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Post by metalxxx on Aug 3, 2023 17:32:07 GMT -5
In the middle of the Beyond the Gates festival in Bergen. The line-up is nowhere near as good as last year but some gems from the first two days:
Midnight. Motorhead/Venom worship as I am sure you all know. Fun as all hell. Only like two songs from the new album which was kinda surprising (I liked it) but otherwise very cool.
Possessed. Got fucked by bad sound on the first couple of tracks but holy fuck did they deliver. I ended up in the pit on The Exorcist (and many other songs) and wrecked my knee but holy fuck was it worth it. Saw them a couple of years ago and was blown away. Same this time around. Lots of energy and more or less every song kicked so much ass.
Deicide. Played Legions in its entirety and then some. Did not expect Benton to be that good of a bass player. I am not a big death metal guy but I like Legions and that set was flawless. They played one more song from an album I own (SoR) so it was not really something I looked forward to but was somewhat pleasantly surprised by.
Today I saw Ruins of Beverast (really fucking good), Blood Incantation (meh), Gorgoroth (never got them, just give me fucking De Mysteris-era Mayhem) and…. drum roll… Pertubator. Guilty pleasure of course but I had a blast during Pertubator. Tomorrow I look forward to Stormkeep, Eternal Champion, Primordial (To the Nameless Dead set), Alcest and Kreator.
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metalmike
Staff
We need it as a liquid in our veins instead of blood
Posts: 298
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Post by metalmike on Aug 3, 2023 18:49:04 GMT -5
In the middle of the Beyond the Gates festival in Bergen. The line-up is nowhere near as good as last year but some gems from the first two days: Midnight. Motorhead/Venom worship as I am sure you all know. Fun as all hell. Only like two songs from the new album which was kinda surprising (I liked it) but otherwise very cool. Possessed. Got fucked by bad sound on the first couple of tracks but holy fuck did they deliver. I ended up in the pit on The Exorcist (and many other songs) and wrecked my knee but holy fuck was it worth it. Saw them a couple of years ago and was blown away. Same this time around. Lots of energy and more or less every song kicked so much ass. Deicide. Played Legions in its entirety and then some. Did not expect Benton to be that good of a bass player. I am not a big death metal guy but I like Legions and that set was flawless. They played one more song from an album I own (SoR) so it was not really something I looked forward to but was somewhat pleasantly surprised by. Today I saw Ruins of Beverast (really fucking good), Blood Incantation (meh), Gorgoroth (never got them, just give me fucking De Mysteris-era Mayhem) and…. drum roll… Pertubator. Guilty pleasure of course but I had a blast during Pertubator. Tomorrow I look forward to Stormkeep, Eternal Champion, Primordial (To the Nameless Dead set), Alcest and Kreator. Sounds like some good stuff there. I didn't think much of Midnight's early stuff but the last couple of releases were pretty good and they killed opening for Mayhem last year. I would love to see Perturbator. Terror 404 and Darkest Days are great albums
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Post by metalxxx on Aug 4, 2023 16:47:33 GMT -5
Yeah I have to check out more Pertubator. It was absurd seeing the crowd move from Marduk (I skipped them) to Pertubator and start dancing.
Today I saw Stormkeep, Eternal Champion, Primordial, Alcest and Kreator.
Stormkeep: I really like their records so was cool to see them at the club stage. Lots of people showed up to see them. They sound like Emperor and Dimmu Borgir, only trying to make things as epic as possible. Works like a charm and worked well live.
Eternal Champion: Definitely something I looked forward to. Not big enough for the big stage if you ask me but they kicked ass. They left out A Face in the Glare which is impossible to understand. That opening riff is perfection. Other than that I was happy with their performance.
Primordial: The highlight of the night for me. They played To the Nameless Dead in its entirety + The Coffin Ships. That album to me is one of the best of the 00s and except for a major fuck-up on Averill’s part on Empire Falls they were perfect. All songs on that album really comes into their own love. Great stuff.
Alcest: Probably not for everyone, but I loved it. Very atmospheric. Very French, but the hooks and melodies are just gorgeous. I kept thinking of them as elevator music many years ago. Safe to say I don’t do that anymore.
Kreator: Great set, with mostly good new stuff mixed with all the classics. Mille is an intense frontman. There were walls of death, circle pits and crowd surfing, all at his command. People were having fun but Kreator is exhausting live. Which is a good thing I guess.
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Post by metalxxx on Aug 5, 2023 17:29:05 GMT -5
Last night of the Beyond the Gates festival in Bergen. I skipped Aeternus and Taake but went to see Enslaved and Dimmu Borgir.
Enslaved played an exclusive Eld set. I am a big fan of Enslaved but I always struggled with their earliest stuff so my expectations were low. Lat year they played Vikingligr Veldi in its entirety on the same festival and I was underwhelmed so I went in with low expectations. Maybe that did me good, because I was pleasantly surprised. The material sounded really really good, and you can clearly find some of this stuff in their later, proggy endeavors. I went out to get the vinyl in the market, but sadly they were sold out. But the lesson is that I need to listen more to Eld. Other than that, they were solid as always. Grutle is a very charismatic frontman and they were tight as fuck. Only drawback is perhaps that their new drummer is no black metal drummer. Not that he screwed up anything, but it felt kinda tame.
Dimmu Borgir: I've seen them twice before, and knew what I'd get. A tight set of unspectacular songs and a boring frontman. This was no different. They played a bunch of older songs considering the venue (Grieghallen, where classic BM albums were recorded) and that they are supposedly turning 30 this year. Those songs came out quite good only because the newer material that they played is so horribly bad with a few exceptions. Safe to say I am no fan of any of their stuff although Progenies of the Great Apocalypse and Mourning Palace are both passable songs that they managed to make interesting live. Other than that a really disappointing headliner for the final night (last year we had Mercyful Fate for fucks sake).
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Post by metalcrypt on Aug 25, 2023 13:14:19 GMT -5
Warsenal and E-Force last night in Quebec City. It's a small venue (I think it's really packed at 100 people), but it still felt empty - I think there may have been 25 people there. Too bad, because both bands slayed. I had an album by Warsenal and found it OK, but their stuff comes off much better live. E-Force (that's Eric Forrest's band, he was in Voivod for a couple of albums when Snake left in the '90s). They played several Voivod songs as well as some from E-Force (the show was title "Voivod Revisited"). Also very solid performance. It's so nice to have to stand through only two bands. (No seats to give your legs a break at that venue). I filmed both sets and will be uploading them to our YouTube channel sometime this weekend.
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Post by metalcrypt on Oct 22, 2023 12:24:42 GMT -5
Anvil last night in Trois-Rivières. I arrived late for the opener, Mr. Weather, a band I didn't know. The few songs I heard were alright. Anvil played about 90 minutes. There were only maybe 30 people in the crowd, not including venue staff and road crew. Last year wasn't well attended either, which is a shame. That didn't seem to matter to the band who played a solid set throughout and seemed to be enjoying the energy of the attendees (small crowd, but enthusiastic and loud).
I recorded the show. It's on our YouTube channel.
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Post by metalcrypt on Nov 12, 2023 9:21:08 GMT -5
Trois-Rivières Metalfest, 3-night, from Thursday to Saturday. Thirteen of the 17 bands were from Quebec. Thursday was alright because it was only three bands for the pre-fest and they had some seats to rest between bands, but Friday and Saturday were brutal, standing on a concrete floor all night. I only saw a couple of songs by Martyr and Suffocation and after that I had to leave (I'd have stayed for Suffocation, but not for Kataklysm, which as far as I'm concerned don't deserve a headlining spot like that). Incantation was my favourite, super well-oiled live metal machine. Both nights were sold out. I can feel my feet but that's because they're in so much pain. If I had stayed for Suffocation, I don't think I'd have been able to walk back home.
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