Dethklok -- Montreal, Quebec -- November 5th, 2012

[VoidFlame]

Venue: Metropolis

I don't have time for a full review, but I'm going to try to do one for the Anaal Nathrakh show this wednesday. Anyway, here's a really quick summary. I wasn't actually going to go to this in the beginning, but I bought one of my friends (a huge ATR and Dethklok fan) a ticket for his birthday, so I went with him and had a blast in the end. The turnout wasn't exceptional: 2/3 of the venue capacity wasn't exceded at any moment.

The Black Dahlia Murder: Fun and aggressive as always. The guys seemed to have a blast (and to be high as fuck) on stage, and so did the crowd. There were some pits and lots of chanting. The sound sucked though; the triggers buried the guitars completely.

All That Remains: Their set felt like a reunion with an old friend. I had not seen them since the In Flames tour about 4 years ago and I had not listened to their records seriously. Hearing the three songs they played from The Fall of Ideals was absolutely fantastic, plus Phil and Jeanne's vocals were surprisingly spot on and brutal. The quality of the sound mix also went up a few notches, but they had some problems with the drums, which caused some delays and forced them to cut a song from their set. Speaking of the set, I thought there were too many pop-rock influenced songs (like "Hold On" or "Two Weeks"), but it made sense, because these were the songs that the kids around me seemed to enjoy the most.

Machine Head: Probably the best band performance of the evening. Everything about it was massive: the sound (those slow parts were crushing!), the stage setting and the band's presence. These guys seriously have what it takes to play in big arenas. The pits for "Imperium" and "Aesthetics of Hate" were the best of the night, and opening with "This Is the End" was a great choice in my opinion. However, the length of the set (only five songs ) and the lack of old school material was very disappointing.

Dethklok: My first time seeing them and it was one of the most entertaining shows I've seen, the videos were hilarious; Brandon and his crew totally exploded my expectations. Except for the feedback problems they had in the beginning, the songs were executed perfectly. The band didn't move that much, but their staticness was compensated by the video aspect of the show. My highlights were the all time classic "Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle" and when Brandon spoke to the crowd with all the Metalocalypse main characters' voices (except Murderface, of course).

Overall, it was a really pleasant evening with these four catchy, accessible, yet excellent bands. Nothing too demanding, just pure fun.



The Black Dahlia Murder

A Shrine to Madness
Moonlight Equilibrium
On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood
What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse
Malenchanments of the Necrosphere
I Will Return


All That Remains

This Calling
Dead Wrong
Six
Aggressive Opposition
Hold On
Down Through The Ages
Stand Up
Become The Catalyst
Two Weeks


Machine Head

This Is the End
Imperium
Aesthetics of Hate
Locust
Halo


Dethklok

Deththeme
I Ejaculate Fire
Hatredcopter
Dethsupport
Murmaider
Andromeda
Awaken
Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle
Ghostqueen
The Gears
The Galaxy
Thunderhorse
Go Into the Water
Crush the Industry

[W0unds]

Nice review, sounds like a good time. I am taking a friend to the Toronto date tomorrow for the reasons you have stated: primarily that these are all accessible, quality bands (newer ATR is a bit iffy).

[sarsip]

ATR is a shell of what was a great band. The last good album was The Fall of Ideals.

[VoidFlame]

Originally Posted by sarsip

ATR is a shell of what was a great band. The last good album was The Fall of Ideals.

Yep, that's pretty sad, because The Fall of Ideals and This Darkened Heart were among the best albums of american metalcore.

[scouinci]

I talked to Phil about playing songs from behind silence and solitude once again. He said he would love to because those songs are very special to him but whenever they play something from behind silence or this darkened heart crowds supposedly just stare at the band with a "wtf are they playing look on their faces" sad

[W0unds]

Originally Posted by VoidFlame

Yep, that's pretty sad, because The Fall of Ideals and This Darkened Heart were among the best albums of american metalcore.

Agreed.

First time I listened to For We Are Many I let my hopes get built up by the opening track "Now Let Them Tremble..." thinking the entire album was going to have a heavier tone to it than Overcome. Man was I disappointed.

[VoidFlame]

Originally Posted by scouinci

I talked to Phil about playing songs from behind silence and solitude once again. He said he would love to because those songs are very special to him but whenever they play something from behind silence or this darkened heart crowds supposedly just stare at the band with a "wtf are they playing look on their faces" sad

That's the same argument that Anders of In Flames uses not to sing old songs. They should have some consideration for the old school fan portion of the crowds, even if it's minoritary.

Originally Posted by W0unds

First time I listened to For We Are Many I let my hopes get built up by the opening track "Now Let Them Tremble..." thinking the entire album was going to have a heavier tone to it than Overcome. Man was I disappointed.

Yeah, I got the exact same feeling when my friend played it in his car two years ago.

[tenchimyo]

So All That Remains went on before Machine Head for this date?

[VoidFlame]

Originally Posted by tenchimyo

So All That Remains went on before Machine Head for this date?

Yep, looks like they're swapping.

[sarsip]

I remember seeing Brand New Sin/ATR/Shadows' Fall in front of a capacity audience of 80 people. Amazing show!! That was Behind Silence tour for ATR.