Slayer with Soulfly and In Flames
Average Rating: 5
Go to Judgment Committee Reviews of this tour
|
Slayer with Soulfly and In Flames |
There are currently 2 Reader Reviews of this tour.
Average Rating: 5 Go to Judgment Committee Reviews of this tour |
Submitted by docmetal (9/10/02, Shaw Conference Center, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada):
I respect and admire Slayer and their fans. Everything they stand for is so admirable. After almost 20 years, they continue to put out albums that are reasonably consistent and they never conform to what is commercial or cool at the time. SO WHY AM I NOT A HUGE FAN? Don't get me wrong here. I think they are a quality band but there are a couple things I have never been able to get past (and believe me, over the years I have tried!). I really do not care for Tom Araya's vocals on the majority of their material...I just find it drones and is so samey alllllll the time. I also find their songs to be so similar in tempo and writing. I am an old school metal head who for example bought Kill 'Em All as an import on vinyl and I was there to buy Show No Mercy on LP as well. I have all the Slayer on CD and yet I just can't get there. So why does a guy who does not seem to be much of a fan have all their CDs... because I want so desperately to like them. I think they are a very important part of metal and they have so many fans that I feel like I am well, just wrong. Just thought I would share my inner turmoil as a metal completist before actually doing the review of the concert.Here we go: We (my cousin and I) made the 5 hour journey to Edmonton from Saskatoon (check the map - we Canadians really do sometimes get tired of explaining how to get from one igloo to the next) and arrived about half an hour before In Flames was to take the stage. Three pleasant surprises awaited us when we arrived. First, I was amazed at the number of people in attendance. I expected four or five hundred but I estimated at least 3000 people( I use the term loosely - some awful nutty characters were present - but people nonetheless) in attendance. Considering Rush was playing a few miles away at the same time, I was even more impressed. Second, the show location was excellent. The conference center actually is underground in the riverbank and is huge. The lineups were quick and the beer ticket sales and pouring was the best I have ever seen - yes I have had one or four beer in my day and that's Canadian beer which has alcohol in it (snicker) - actually I love your beer - we look like beer guzzling gods when we come down for a visit. Beer prices were reasonable as well... things were looking good. Third, a 4th band was added to the bill and was playing as we went in. The band turned out to be a solid six-piece with 3 band members sharing the vocals which were all different styles of death and hardcore. They played 5 or 6 songs, all of which I thought were very well done. They turned out to be Down With The Sun which I had heard of but never heard. Will definitely check out their stuff later.
After a short break, In Flames was on stage and we were pumped. I had warned my cousin of the white outfit deal so there were no surprises their (thanks Judgment Committee, and man do those outfits really suck - not sure why they want to look like potscrubbers and linecooks. I had a job washing pots when I was in university and have trouble remembering the look working for me). Outfits aside, my first exposure to live In Flames as well as first exposure to live Swedish death metal was all that and more (underground bands just do not seem to crazy about playing in front of crowds of a couple hundred in halls similar to most 70's basements and then getting paid in Canadian dollars which is a bit more than zero with today's US/CDN conversion...can't figure out the problem???). The set list was awesome including the R2R material (Cloud Connection, System) which I think is an amazing album by the way. They played "Behind Space," "Bullet Ride," "Pinball Map," "Clay Man" and "Colony" as well. I still want to cry because the set was so short but they promised to be back, hopefully as a headliner. I will be there.
In Flames is so amazing live. They are so professional, talented and cohesive. I have never seen metal look so effortless. WOW. Anders Frieden is a great frontman who works the crowd so well. From what I had read in the other reviews in other cities, I did not expect many of the fans in attendance to even know who they were which was the opposite of what happened. At least 1000 people were quite familiar with the band. Even the band noticed it... Frieden pointed out how this was the first time they had gotten this response over here. Mandatory crowd pleaser comments??? Maybe, but I fell for it and it made me proud to be a Western Canadian metalhead.
In Flames gets 5 skulls from me as an opener, for making the trip everything it needed to be and for the tight live set. I would have bought a concert shirt to show my admiration but they only provided one choice: a white baseball tee with burgundy sleeves and a so-so logo of R2R on the front. I haven't seen a concert tee so ugly since the mid 80's when Twisted Sister's Stay Hungry shirts were all pink with a picture of DEE on the front in full make-up. Sorry guys, I love ya but I just couldn't do it (especially at 50 bones a piece).
We headed to the beer garden for the break before Soulfly. We only managed one beer before the lights went down and the tribal thumping began. I am not a huge Soulfly fan... I like Max and I like some of the material but I did not set my expectations high. I think this is what lead to my enjoying this set more than I expected. I like Max's voice and he sounded great as did the rest of the band. I prefer the material that is not Kornish which seemed to be the general consensus (many did "Jumpdafukup" but nothing like at a Korn show which I have seen and enjoyed immensely despite not really liking their material much). I thought the drummer was good despite the goofy red and black hair. I thought him pretty ballsy to play a drum solo with Lombardo lurking but it sounded pretty cool and led into a full band tribal drum interlude that would make the Blue Men Group proud. The highlight for me was their version of "Roots Bloody Roots"... it went over well so obviously there were many Sepultura fans in the house.
My enjoyment of Soulfly material is never likely to exceed 2 to 3 skulls but as part as this tour I have to give them 5 skulls. Not my cup-o-tea but if it was I would have been much more impressed.
One more break, one more beer then on to Slayer. As mentioned above, I suspected this was going to be work for me as is getting into their albums and I was not wrong. They sounded great, they played well and their set list was great as I could tell from the true Slayer fans in attendance. The highlight for me was "The Antichrist" from Show No Mercy, which is my favorite Slayer album if I had to pick one.
Slayer material for me could do no better than 3 skulls but you could ask for no more of a live show from them, so I must give them 5 skulls. I expect Slayer fans would trash me for my comments but I welcome comments from any who have similar feelings or from someone who has the magical way I can appreciate this band more.
Lastly, despite sitting here writing this review, I am watching many of the 9/11 shows on TV tonite and I would like to express my deepest sympathy for the families and friends who lost loved ones a year ago. I remember the sickness I felt watching this tragedy unfold and it feels like yesterday and probably always will.
I still remember thinking how appropriate Slayer's album title felt last year at this time when so many people were suffering. I hope no such title to be appropriate again.
Submitted by Pat Martineau (9/7/02, Roy Wilkins Auditorium, St. Paul, MN):
Wow! It was great to see all four original members of Slayer up there thrashing away. It just hasn't been the same without Dave at the backbone. Anyway, this is a review so I'll start with the first band that played, DownTheSun or DoWntHesUn or whatever nu-metally spelling they use. Doesn't matter because they sucked. The folks in the band somehow forgot to actually write songs. I like a little structure in the music I listen to, no matter how out there it is. These guys had none. They screamed a lot, played downtuned guitars, had synth sounds, and screamed some more. At one point they announced their "new single" which made me laugh really hard.Next up was In Flames. Now I've never been a big fan of Euro-metal and In Flames did nothing to change that. I did bang my head to a song they said was was from their first album because it sounded pretty old school and kicked some ass. Their new stuff, which was actually quite distinguishable from their older stuff, sucked ass. When the dude tried to sing somewhat cleanly he sounded like some strange Marilyn Manson/Katherine Hepburn cross-breed. No good.
Next up was Soulfly. Now I know the reviewers on this site are metal purists and turn their noses at such nu-metal stylings, but Soulfly kicked some serious ass and got the crowd seriously heated up. Come on, it's Max. Max is a seasoned professional and what they put out there was big and heavy. Throw in a couple Sep songs, a drummer that brutalates (is that even a word?), a killer percussive break and you have some good shit. Nu-metal or not, Soulfly won me over along with the two guys who were with me. That should account for something.
SLAYER!!!!! Just to show how into this set I was, when the show was over I looked over to my left and noticed a whole group of what appeared to be strippers. I didn't even notice them come in. I was too busy banging my head to SLAYER!!!! I won't go over the set list because it appears it didn't change much from show to show. It was great to hear all their old gems, especially with Dave on the drums. In a live setting their newer stuff doesn't stand up to the older stuff, but it doesn't matter because sub-par Slayer is a hundred times better than just about anything else out there. All the dudes are in good shape (damn, hasn't King gotten buff over the years?) and they look like bad asses up their grinding their axes. At one point during the show I was invisioning the Metallica of today standing up there playing their wimpy Load shit when all of a sudden Slayer comes out and kicks all their asses, ripping off their limbs and using them as drumsticks, pulling out their teeth and using them as guitar picks and best of all is Lar's head stuck on the end of Kerry King's... axe? Wait, maybe that was a Gwar concert. 5 fucking skulls!
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