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with Megadeth and Machine Head
Tsongas Arena
Lowell, Massachusetts
May 17th, 2007
For May 17th, 2007, the trio of Machine Head, Megadeth, and Heaven and Hell came to the Tsongas Arena in Lowell on one of the most high-profile metal tours in the last decade. It doesn’t get much better than these bands together on one stage.
After getting lost on the way there (Mapquest sucks!), we came in at the end of Machine Head’s show. Then the wait for Megadeth began. Fans crowded onto the floor, anticipating the legendary band’s arrival. Once they took the stage, they went in to their new album’s opener, “Sleepwalker.” The crowd went nuts, but thankfully, kept the moshing to a minimum. There were no crowd surfers during Megadeth’s entire set, which made this true metal fan very happy.
Megadeth had the perfect set list. Most fans were delighted by the fact that they played a majority of songs from their earlier albums, including somewhat forgotten classics like “Wake Up Dead” and “Take No Prisoners.” Then Dave got on the mic and plugged their new album, and played the single “Washington is Next.” Apart from one track off of “The System Has Failed,” the rest of the show consisted of classics. They played “Peace Sells,” “Tornado of Souls,” and a spot on version of “Hanger 18.” After leaving, they came back for an encore, pumping out classics like “Symphony of Destruction” and “Holy Wars.”
All in all, Megadeth’s set was near perfect. No one could have asked for a better set list, and there didn’t seem to be any screw ups at all, not even in “Hangar 18!” The Drover brothers from Eidolon are a great addition to Megadeth, and they proved it by whipping out Friedman solos flawlessly.
After a very long wait between sets, the legendary Heaven and Hell took the stage to a thunderous roar from the crowd. Just the presence of metal luminaries such as Tony Iommi and Ronnie James Dio was enough to make this a fantastic show, but they had more up their sleeve. First of all, Dio is a great front man (duh); his live presence and crowd interaction is unmatched. After their opener, “E5150,” Dio thanked the crowd for being there, called them his “family,” and the band went into “The Mob Rules.”
Sadly, all of the songs in their set were from the Dio-era Sabbath days, as it turns out they cannot legally play the songs from Ozzy’s era. Nevertheless, Dio’s natural on-stage charisma matched with the presence of the legendary Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice more than made up for it.
Most of the songs they played were from the Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules albums, although they did do a few tracks from Dehumanizer. In addition, they played a few new songs, including “The Devil Cried.” Their other new songs were incredibly doomy—sounding like they came straight from the early days of Sabbath. The band’s instrumental talents were on full display, highlighted by a seven minute drum solo by Vinny Appice.
After a 2+ hour set, the band came back on stage to give the crowd a rendition of “Neon Knights.”
If one were to rank the ten greatest metal bands of all time, both Megadeth and Black Sabbath would certainly be on the list. With both of these bands playing a concert together, you could expect nothing less than pure greatness, and that is what was delivered.
A -Adam Kohrman
with Necrophagist, Decapitated, Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation, The Faceless, As Blood Runs Black, Ion Dissonance, and Beneath The Massacre
The Palladium
Worcester, Massachusetts
July 6th, 2007
Self-proclaimed "The Most Extreme Tour Of The Year," and given the band roster I don't know who would dispute it.
This extravaganza of extremity kicked off in the middle of the afternoon, so being the working stiff I am, I didn't get there until 7pm or so, as The Faceless was just leaving the stage. I'm sorry I can't comment on the earlier bands, but if they were anywhere near the caliber of the final four of the night, then it must have been a most satisfying day for those able to see it from the start.
Cattle Decapitation took the stage and made it immediately clear that they weren't going to get "served" by any other band that night. Drawing heavily from their latest 2 full-length discs (Karma.Bloody.Karma and Humanure), the band sped vigorously through their set of morbidly humorous grind. Guitarist Josh Elmore's nimble, off-the-wall guitar work sounded great alongside Travis's "stuck pig" vocals. Totally disjointed and manic. I didn't think the drummer (Michael Laughlin) was totally on his game, but he wasn't sloppy enough to detract from an enjoyable set. Travis repeatedly leaned back, spat into the air, caught the spit gob, and wiped it on his sweat-soaked shirt. I'm still trying to figure that out...
Cephalic Carnage were up next and really upped the ante. Despite vocalist Len's somewhat more static stage presence, C.C. flat-out killed. Since I was finding it hard to find concise words to pin down the experience, I ended up cheating and borrowing some sentiments from their bio, which states it better than I can. Their set, again mostly from the latest 2 releases (on Relapse), blended mind-melting guitar technicality with inhuman drumming, smatterings of jazz sensibilities, blistering passages of unfathomable speed and technical proficiency seamlessly melded with varied vocal assaults and mesmerizing progressions. Their newest disc, Xenosapien, is further proof that C.C. are leaders in creative grindcore. They were full-tilt and super-tight. They even sent out "Kill For Weed" to the stoners and "the straight edge stoners." Good sports.
Polish death icons Decapitated set the table for Necrophagist, and did a solid job of it. Stylistically, Decapitated is a bit more straightforward than the other 3 bands I caught, but no less vicious. The last time I caught these guys (also at The Palladium) they were the openers and suffered lousy sound. This time around, the sound was more in their favor; they had a longer set; and the crowd was behind them. Drummer Vitek put in a thunderous performance, really putting a huge kick into the material, again pulled mostly from more recent releases...which is fine with me, since the latter 2 Decapitated discs happen to be my favorites by them.
And then came Necrophagist. It's really hard not to sound foolish when heaping accolades on this band, but they deserve every bit of praise they get and then some. Both Necrophagist albums are excellent progressive, extreme death metal; and seeing a whole set of it delivered note-perfectly live is pretty mind-blowing. We got pretty much everything off Epitaph and a couple off the debut. All 4 guys were pulling off some amazing musical skill feats, and the newest member, drummer phenom Marco Minnemann, hammered out a seriously impressive solo late in the set...and drum solos don't usually impress me. How anyone manages to play one Necrophagist song is impressive enough; a whole set of it really puts a lot of other bands to shame. Out of their hour-long set, I only heard them loosen up for about 5 seconds in one passage before falling back into lock-step. On the whole this set was like all of the most difficult Suffocation passages played back-to-back. Absolutely impressive and totally devastating.
Throughout the show, the music incited pit dancers to do their thing. While some of it got pretty intense, the Palladium staff didn't overreact to it nor turn a blind eye. Thanks to them for not stifling the fun. It was an amazing night!!
A -Mark Fields
Middle East Upstairs Cambridge, Massachusetts
May 13th, 2007
A night of metal is always a good night indeed, and when the metal happens to come from 3 great bands and a couple of local openers, it makes a good night even better. Cabin Boy Adam and I decided to see just how good it would be.
 Local black metallers Witch Tomb started off the night. While the band looked the part, covered head to toe in black grease paint, the sound was terrible, and therefore the music was almost indecipherable. Maybe I'll get to see them again when they have a better mix, and hopefully they will come off better then.
Another local band, Cold Northern Vengeance was next. It took a song or two for me to get into them, but once I did, I saw a band with a good deal of talent playing some great, technical black metal. Somewhat reminding me of Dissection at times, CNV had some impressive riffs, and relentless drumming to keep everything going. Keep your eyes out and go see them live if you live in New England.
Nachtmystium was up next. They ripped through their entire 45 minute (or so) set ith blazing guitars and bass lines that the crowd seemed to enjoy quite a bit. The sound was still a bit muddled for them, but they did a good job of blasting us away for their entire set.
Tampa's newly reunited Angelcorpse absolutely destroyed for the next 45 (or so) minutes. Playing classics as well as a few choice cuts from their upcoming release Of Lucifer and Lightning, they showed that the time apart didn't effect them at all. New drummer JR Daniels was amazingly good, keeping up with the incessant blast beats without a problem, while Gene and Pete shredded their strings with speed and precision. Not a spot of rust on these guys.
Sweden's Watain were up next. With the stage setup for them, complete with skulls, upside down crosses, and some nasty smelling incense burning, it was time for them to hit the stage. Upon stepping onto the stage, vocalist/bassist Erik Danielsson lifted a cup of something up, then proceeded to dump it onto the crowd. Turns out this was pigs blood, as judging by the rancid smell that permeated the room immediately afterwards. The band was decked out in leather and spikes, with plenty of corpse paint, and blood dripping from their hair. Doesn't get much more metal than that.
A good portion of their set was comprised from the amazing Sworn to the Dark release. "Legions of the Black Light" and the title track were both standouts, and the crowd went nuts when they covered Dissection's "The Somberlain". Their set seemed to end rather abruptly, but maybe that is just how they decide to do it.
Overall, it was a most metal show, and the sold out crowd all left with ears ringing and necks strained from headbanging. Oh, and a select few left smelling like rotten pigs.
A -Goz
with Jake Brennan and Bloodhorse
Ralph's Diner
Worcester, Massachusetts
May 25th, 2007
What a Friday night lineup the Doomriders had organized for Ralph's, one of my favorite bars in Worcester on this late Spring night! I walked upstairs to the bar with the stage to the sounds of unholy heaviness as Bloodhorse were making it through the end of their set. All I can say is I HAVE to see them do a full set, because they¹re power was explosive, and if you¹re into Electric Wizard with a hardcore stoner edge, then Bloodhorse is definitely a band to check out. A three piece, Bass/Vocals, Guitar, Drums, they have a perfect blend of stoner metal and just enough hardcore edge to get you moshing, instead of zoning out! I picked up they're Black Lung Rising EP they were selling and must say if there is more of this to come, then I'm eagerly awaiting the full-length!
Up next was Jake Brennan, doing a solo set of his songs. He was a nice contrast to the heaviness that would be dominating the stage for most of the night. With just aan electric guitar and a mic he knocked out some bluesy well written rock songs that can get you moving even without his backing band behind him. In many ways I can see why the Doomriders had him on the bill, so people could give their ears a break and have a nice diversion from the rest of the bands on the bill!
As Clouds were setting up I noticed both guitar players had SUNN half-stacks set up so I knew I was in for some searing ear splitting guitar sounds! I was not disappointed as they came out with a wall of guitar sound that was both melodic, heavy, and loud as hell! I had to keep my earplugs out for a song just to absorb the full beauty of their SUNN amps sound, then quickly put them back in to prevent further damage to my valuable ear drums! Clouds brand of heavy stoner rock has a bluesy edge to it with some smokin' guitar solos and balls out rhythm section to go along with their heavy riffage. Their CD Legendary Demo is a good example of their live sound but to see them live is to fully experience them as they were meant to be heard!
After Clouds knocked me out with their power it was tine for the twin-guitar stoner attack of Doomriders! Out supporting their Black Thunder CD, they came out blazing and anyone who has seen Doomriders before knows they're in for a treat when they come out on stage. From the twin harmony guitar solos to the screaming vocals and tight rhythm section they never disappoint your heavy stoner rocking needs! Working up the crowd throughout their hour plus set I don¹t' think there was one person not moving in the place while they were on! Crazed and frenetic on stage they kept the adrenaline flowing through songs like "Ride Or Die", "Fuck This Shit", and "Drag Them Down".
When a show like this happens it can only be described as monumental! To get so many cool local kick-ass bands together in one place is definitely a reason to get your ass out and see it!
A -Matt Smith
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