|
w/Korpiklaani, Primordial, Moonsorrow, Blackguard and Swashbuckle
The Palladium
Worcester, MA
May 1, 2009
 Last year, when folk metal had taken over Europe and solidified itself as a major metal genre, the powers that be tried to crack into the notoriously metal-phobic American market. Bands like Tyr, Turisas, and Ensiferum proudly marched across the United States playing their distinctly Northern European style on the tour called Paganfest. Even more surprising was that they were enormously successful. A year later, another round of folk-tinged bands came through the USA for Paganfest II. This time around Swashbuckle, Blackguard, Moonsorrow, Primordial, and Korpliklaani were on the bill, many of them doing their very first American tour. They had epic shoes to fill.
Arriving halfway into the opening band, Swashbuckle, fellow scallywag Goz and I were greeted to inflatable palm trees on stage next to the band dressed in full pirate garb. I grinned at him, enjoying the over the top spectacle of the band. He scoffed at my enthusiasm for such ridiculousness. The place hadn’t quite filled up yet, but a handful of local regulars came out early to see Swashbuckle. They play old school Thrash, unlike many other pirate themed bands that seem obsessed with incorporating as many folk metal influences as possible, excluding Running Wild. Though most of the audience was unfamiliar with the band, they made their presence known, putting on a great show, and whetting our appetite for what was to come.
The second metal newcomer on this bill was the Canadian folk tinged melodic death metallers Blackguard. Like Swashbuckle, few members of the audience knew their music. Nevertheless, Blackguard had tremendous energy and power; all anchored by their frontman Paul Zinay. Their music may have not fit in with the rest of the Paganfest lineup, but this early in the night that didn’t really matter. By now, the venue had begun to fill up, and when Zinay called for a circle pit, which was videotaped by the crew, the place just erupted. The show was now in full swing, and ready for the top acts on the bill.
Up next was the band Moonsorrow, whose has a small, yet rabid fan base. Those fans packed the front row as Finns came forth to unleash their unique brand of folky black metal. Moonsorrow focus on drawn out, subtle epics. However, the songs rarely wander, and always maintain a clear focus. The band played them with an overwhelming sense of majesty and honor, despite the language barrier of their Finnish lyrics. As their show progressed, people standing around the back or middle of the Palladium dribbled forward towards the floor. Everyone was curious. By the end, most of the audience members were pushing and shoving for a closer look at Moonsorrow, even though most of them having never heard their music before. They won plenty of fans over that night.
There aren’t really words for Primordial’s set. Alan “Nemtheanga” Averill’s presence is literally unlike any frontman I’ve ever seen. His immense voice, accented by his ghoulish yet appropriate costuming is tremendously evocative. That said, Primordial were one of the best bands I’ve ever seen live. Opening up with “Empire Falls,” the crowd sang along to the chorus. “Where is the Fighting Man…;” the moment was jarring and surreal. Throughout the show, Primordial played favorites from their last two albums, The Gathering Wilderness and To the Nameless Dead. Songs like “As Rome Burns” and “The Golden Spiral” echoed and brought the audience to an engrossed standstill. Towards the end of their set, Nemtheanga got on the mic and asked the crowd if they had any Irish blood in them. Being New England, a good chunk of the audience cheered back. This of course, was the lead in to their stunning, morose epic “The Coffin Ships,” which details the Irish immigration to America. Nemtheanga was clearly moved to play the song in an area so heavily populated by Irish-Americans. After the song, he claimed “some songs still come from the heart.” They finished their all too short six song set with “Heathen Tribes.” The show was so powerful that the audience was left in silence with a few scattered cheers, instead of tumultuous cheering.
Folky polka metal band Korpiklaani were up next, headlining the festival. Now the folk metal nerds really had their fun. Instead of pitting, there was jigging. There were just as many kilts as black tee shirts. While many of the “true” metal fans inched towards the back for Korpiklaani, who they may have considered a joke band, they eventually came around. As they kept playing, most of the hardened metal crowd couldn’t help but resist and join in on the pit jig. Metalheads had their sweaty arms draped around one another gallivanting across the Palladium floor. Throughout songs like “Beer, Beer” and “Happy Little Boozer,” the appropriately inebriated crowd shouted along at the singalong anthems. Korpiklaani were one of the more sheerly entertaining bands of the evening.
Paganfest II lived up to and exceeded expectations thrusted upon its predecessor. Fans exited the Palladium shouted in brazen, drunken glory. Here’s to Paganfest III!
A -Adam
Paradise
Boston, MA
May 16, 2009
 Buzz and the boys in the Melvins realized last year they were celebrating their 25th year since their inception so after their tour with Big Business wrapped up they embarked on a 25th Anniversary tour with their original drummer Matt Dillard and Dale Crover on bass for half of the set. Covering their 1983 material with Dillard was the first priority in their almost two-hour set, which included "Forgotten Principles", "Set Me Straight". Buzz commented when he wrote those songs he was more into punk back then that's why they were so fast!
Covering the whole Houdini album with Trevor Dunn on bass including the KISS cover "Going Blind" and album favorites like "Hooch", "Honey Bucket", "Hag Me", "Teet", "Sky Pup" and "Joan of Arc". After they played Houdini they broke out probably one of the best sets I've EVER seen them do, including their cover of Alice Cooper's "Ballad of Dwight Frye". Choice cuts like and "With Teeth", "The Bit", and "Spread Eagle Beagle" were tunes I hadn't heard in awhile in a Melvins set list!
They also brought out some classics from older albums like "Black Bock", "Suicide In Progress", and "Oven" and kept the crowd cheering with each obscure song they did. Buzz was in fine form playing a metal (literally) guitar and wearing his trademark black momo. Dale of course was kicking on the drums and Trevor laid down some nice bass work. Although for a small portion of the set it was just Buzz and Dale, which was fine with me, but I love the extra heaviness the bass adds to their songs.
For a band like the Melvins to be cranking out songs 25 years later is a true test of their originality and endurance. While other bands have totally sold out or faded into obscurity they continue to flourish and gain more fans every year. If you've never seen the Melvins live before I suggest doing it soon!
A -Matt Smith
Sonar
Baltimore, MD
May 22-24, 2009
The Three Assclowns hadn't had a road trip since we all went to see Celtic Frost two nights in a row in NYC in 2006, so we were MORE than psyched for this excursion and eagerly anticipated it for many months before it arrived. Having just gotten laid off from my job the week before, I needed a good rocking out and this was just what the Doctor ordered. We arrive in Baltimore early afternoon on Friday and checked into our room, which was THE Hotel to be staying at because immediately we saw Bolt Thrower members hanging out in front of it. Not wanting to look TOO much like fan boys we flashed them the horns and went up to our room to start drinking. Snapperhead and Porkslap beer is what Goz treated us to first and I must say it hit the spot as I was buzzed and ready to go check out some metal at the club.
 We were really looking forward to seeing Hail of Bullets the most and were tickled black to meet up with none other than Martin Van Drunen mingling in the crowd amongst the festival goes outside. So after praising him in person and some photo ops we went inside to check out the club. I liked the fact they had two stages, one outside in the parking lot next to the highway (literally) and one inside so if you wanted fresh air you could step outside and sit on the grass and grab a bite to eat if you were feeling munchy, and we were most if the weekend! Speaking of munchy, there was a nice long way trip to a restaurant/brew house that Mike almost didn't make it to, as we were walking in the hot afternoon (80 degrees) downtown Baltimore city sun. Dressed in a black t-shirt and black jeans Mike became a solar panel and I still laugh my ass off at the sight of his pale face as we finally sat down at the table when we arrived nd as Goz and I ordered brews, all Mike was wanting was, WATER!!!
Band highlights were the mighty return to the states after 15 years, Bolt Thrower, who got to play TWO nights in a row because Pestilence cancelled, Asphyx, Martin Van Drunen's other band that played that weekend, and it should be noted it was their first time in the states after like 20 years or so! Napalm Death kicked some serious ass, Mayhem were okay, but they got a little boring after awhile and went over their allotted time which took away from Asphyx's set. Atheist were kind of yawn inducing, Abscess kicked ass, Immolation were Immolation, Destroyer 666 were right the fuck on, as was Aura Noir, my favorite new band I hadn't heard before this fest. Brutal Truth and Absu were good, Hail of Bullets kicked MAJOR ass, on the outside stage in the hot sun no less! It looked like Martin was going to get DEHYDRATED, but thankfully that didn't happen, but we would have liked to hear him sing that old Pestilence song! Sigh, were another of my new favorites complete with a fire breathing female keyboardist. General Surgery, Cephalic Carnage, Venomous Concept, Cattle Decapitation, Birdflesh, Pig Destroyer, Misery Index all rocked. Wolves in the Throne Room put on a mind inducing set as did their brethren Krallice. Unearthly Trance kicked some major ass as did Withered and Lair of the Minotaur!
With so many bands to see we had to pick and choose who we REALLY wanted to see, but in general it was a most satisfying excursion and we Three Assclowns are vowing to return next year for some more nonsense peppered with some kick ass Metal!
A -Matt Smith
w/Necrophagist, Suffocation, Darkest Hour, Winds of Plague, and more
Wesbter Theatre
Hartford, CT
June 8, 2009
 Doors for this show opened at 3pm; I worked until a little after 5 and had a 2-hour drive to the venue, so I only caught Suffocation and Necrophagist. The audience, somewhat on the young side, seemed not to grasp fully the musical greatness of these two bands...not the bands' fault.
Suffocation took the stage and wasted no time administering a savage musical beating upon the crowd. As the virtual creators of "brutal death metal" and "technical death metal" Suffocation is legendary--LEGENDARY--for a reason; and it is refreshing, every time I see them, that they deliver the goods in such authoritative style. That every one of these 5 guys loves what he does was totally obvious throughout their set, as they played their hearts out. However, this night's set deserves some slight criticism for the band's selection of songs. A full 5 weeks before the new album (Blood Oath) hit stores, and nearly half (4) of the songs played were brand new in a 9-song supporting set no more than 50-60 minutes in length? Maybe it wouldn't have been such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that aside from "Catatonia" (from Human Waste) the 4 remaining songs were all from Effigy of the Forgotten. That left well over half of their catalog--their entire output between 1993-2006--completely untouched. Sad. Still, a world-class performance, and always worth the trip.
Necrophagist again headlined this year's Summer Slaughter Tour, turning in a clinically precise and musically phenomenal set of technical/progressive death metal, but without the same kind of on-stage charisma that Suffocation had. New drummer Romain Goulon did a great job driving the band through 7/8 of the Epitaph album tracks, a handful from Onset of Putrefaction, and one new one (called "Dawn and Demise," I think) which seemed to fit in well with the other material. Necrophagist appeared not to have any merchandise for sale...weird. And it's time for them to deliver the album they said would be out this time last year. Neither of these observations diminish the quality of their set, however, which was very good.
B+ -Mark Fields
w/Necrophagist, Ensiferum, Darkest Hour, Winds of Plague, and more
The Palladium
Worcester, MA
July 18, 2009
This was a fitting name for this tour when it hit Worcester, because the Palladium had to be 110 degrees inside, and it
took a little while just to adjust to the feeling that I was going to suffocate before the night was over.
I walked in and caught the last half of BORN OF OSIRIS' set, and despite the heat, the mostly teenage crowd up
front was really into them. I had never actually heard them prior to this show, but they were pretty tight, and
were able to hold my attention and get my mind off the fact that I couldn't breathe. Some good technical,
yet melodic guitar work coupled with some swinging HC breakdowns kept it interesting, and kept the crowd moving.
Next up were WINDS OF PLAGUE and while they started off strong, things became rather stale pretty quickly. They have
a decent sound and a lively stage presence, but it became increasingly more difficult to distinguish one song
from the last. There doesn't seem to be a lot of song structure here, just breakdown after breakdown after breakdown.
I sat down in a corner for 95% of DARKEST HOUR's set. I do know that a lot of people were there for these guys,
especially since the Palladium was half-full after their set was over, but it just did nothing for me.
I can appreciate deathcore, but this just seemed completely uninspired. There's nothing new here.
The sound system is always hit or miss at The Palladium, and up to the point that ENSIFERUM took the stage, the
sound was really great, which is a big plus when watching "technical" bands play. For whatever reason ENSIFERUM
was a miss with the sound. I am a big fan of these guys, and since SUFFOCATION wasn't playing this date, they
were my main reason for being there. They played well, but if you didn't know the particular songs they were
playing, you'd have a hard time picking anything out of the garbled, over-bassy set. It was a disappointment,
especially since I know how amazing they can be live.
NECROPHAGIST closed things out for the evening, although we were expecting DYING FETUS first, who either played
very early in the day, or were unable to make the show. Luckily the sound system came back to life for NECROPHAGIST
and they dove into a really tight set. While they may not be the most exciting band to watch live (They
remain pretty stoic throughout their setlist), musically they are just dead-on, note for note. Not much variation between
tonight and the set they played earlier this year when I saw them, but the guitar work here is just pretty damn amazing.
B+ -Jesse DiGioia
|
