...for those who care. It should be noted that most of the bands I saw I had little previous exposure to, and therefore I judged them entirely on their live show. A band by band breakdown:
3 Inches of Blood - Good, not unbelievable, but quite enjoyable. But then again, I guess metal about pirates should be enjoyable.
Behemoth - Holy fuck, they were awesome. I wasn't expecting much, but they put on a hell of a show, despite the goofy get-ups and medieval headgear. Hooray for black metal.
Between the Buried and Me - My friend Dave loves these guys, I was skeptical because of the stupid name. To my surprise, they put on a very solid show, I'll have to check them out a little more.
Bleeding Through - The keyboard player was hot. Beyond that, I was not impressed. They looked like Good Charlotte trying to play metal.
Bury Your Dead - Metalcore. Not good. Fuck these guys.
Cephalic Carnage - Stoner grind? Hell yeah. They were a lot of fun. The guitar player was wearing a Reverend Horton Heat shirt, which made me so happy I nearly squealed like a kid on Christmas.
Dark Tranquility - I really like what I've heard of this band, but unfortunately, when they came on I was so drained I fell asleep. I only caught three or four songs, but those songs were pretty fuckin' kickass.
God Forbid - Eh.
Hypocrisy - These guys were great too. They weren't among my favorite bands playing this weekend, but I liked their set a lot.
Ice Pick - Terrible, generic, wannabe-Hatebreed hardcore. I left during the first song to go smoke a cigarette, which in retrospect was a bad idea, since they did a Sheer Terror cover. Now, Sheer Terror is the greatest hardcore band ever, and I would have loved to get violent during one of their songs, even if it was played by these losers.
Red Chord - First band on saw on Saturday. I gotta buy their new album, they fucking smoked. Powerful, fast, heavy, energetic, definitely cool.
Sonata Arctica - Flower Metal! Seeing as I have a huge soft spot for cheesy power-metal, I absolutely loved these guys. Pretty out of place in the festival, but I enjoyed the hell out of them.
Strapping Young Lad - One of the main reasons I went to this festival. Two complaints about the set, it was only 20 minutes long because of the festival setting, and the asshole behind me who kept yelling for "Gallagher to get off the stage." Beyond that, I mean, come one, it was fucking SYL, of course it was awesome. Highlights: Devy's banter, "All Hail the New Flesh", and "Oh My Fucking God".
Terror - I've seen these guys a bunch of times. Their old stuff is good, solid hardcore that gets my blood flowing. Their new stuff is above-average metalcore that does not interest me. Half the set was good, half not so much. They were a lot better the first time I saw them a few years ago. The lead singer is still and idiot though. All that "unity, outcast, blah blah blah" shit gets real fucking old real fast.
Headliners...
Cryptopsy - I'm embarassed to say I'd never heard these guys until the show. Wow. I mean, wow. Biggest damn drumkit I've ever seen. Just brutal, awesome death metal for an hour. I loved it. At the end of the set, Lord Worm came out and ate and entire goblet of live worms. I found that amusing. Bottom line, Cryptopsy is awesome.
Chimaira - I've seen these guys before. They don't suck. They're not particularly great either. Their new drummer is from Dying Fetus, so they had some good percussion going for them.
Soilwork - I don't like these guys that much. I slept during their set.
Nile - I adore Nile. When the new album comes out next month I am buying it immediately. What an awesome set, covered a lot of ground and was absolutely brutal. Highlights: all the new stuff, "Ramses Bringer of War", and a "Black Seeds of Vengeance" sing-a-long to finish the set.
Danzig - This guy is one of my musical heroes. Yeah, he's a fucking prick in real life, but he puts on a good show. Unfortunately he played a lot of newer stuff, which I'm not a big fan of. It was cool, but I had a hard time getting excited. Good old songs he played: "How the Gods Kill", "Her Black Wings", "Twist of Cain" and of course, "Mother". The best part of the set though, was when Doyle came out and they played Misfits tunes. Unfortunately they only played a handful, which completely gave me blue-balls. "20 Eyes", "Skulls", "Mommy...", "Die Die My Darling", "We Are 138", "Earth A.D." that was it. Overall, I enjoyed the set a lot, but it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth because if should have been 3 hours long instead of 70 minutes. That's not Danzig's fault though.
King Diamond - It was King motherfisting Diamond, so naturally it was awesome. Every aspect of the show was great. The hot chick dancing around. King stabbing a doll through the mouth with a dagger. The lights. King rising from a coffin. The legendary bone-crucifix microphone. King Diamond didn't even break character until the set was 35 minutes old. I'll admit that my knowledge of King Diamond is limited to "Abigail" and Mercyful Fate's "Don't Break the Oath" but when he played "A Mansion in Darkness" I got ultra excited. His second encore was "Evil" by Mercyful Fate, which was also great. At one point he also said the audience was "totally awesome." That pretty much sums up the weekend: King Diamond said totally awesome.
Bands I missed that I would have liked to see:
Obituary (played first night, when I wasn't there)
Ion Dissonance (ditto)
Evergreen Terrace (got their late)
Walls of Jericho (forgot when they were playing)
Black Dahlia Murder (played the same time as Cephalic Carnage)
That wasn't really too brief.
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Topic: A brief review of the New England Metal & Hardcore fest. (Read 9362 times)