The Summary Judgment Reviews:

Tour Title: New England Metal and Hardcore Festival

Rating: 4.5 Skulls

Reviewed by Pestilence (4/13 - 4/14/01, Worcester, MA):

Dimmu Borgir
Photos by CYN
Hello all, Pestilence here. Abyss was unable to make this past weekend’s event (something about his little pink skirt I think), so the readers get to hear my take on this weekend of metal. The main reason Abyss will be sorry that he missed this one is that in this venue buying alcohol was not an issue (see last week's Metal Meltdown reviews for the background information on this thought). I spent the better part of both days at the bar (from which you can easily view and hear the bands, especially when you have my stature) hanging out with Pat from Now or Never records and swilling beers like they were the water I never consume ordinarily. What Abyss will not be sorry about is the fact that there was no smoking in the venue! For me the evil 3 always go hand in hand, beer, smokes and metal, so this was certainly a hindrance. Most actually followed the rules, and even I was out on the sidewalk taking my smoke breaks for the most part. The only place you could get away with smoking in the venue was in the pit, which came in very handy for the bands I could not miss a note of. The only other problem with this venue was that the mezzanine area, where the labels had their tables, was so sweltering that I could not deal with being up there at all. So apologies to all of you that I did not get a chance to say hello to. God bless you for dealing with that heat. Lastly, congratulations to the promoter for putting on such a well-organized event. I won’t mention names, but someone else’s shows never seem to come off without a hitch. This show was not only run perfectly, it actually surpassed expectations and accumulated some nice surprises. The main stage was run so efficiently that some of the second stage bands got to play the main stage due to the fact that they were so far ahead of schedule. How often to you see something that cool happen? Exactly… never! Now on to the show:
The first band I saw on Friday was Year Of Our Lord. I was not familiar with them beforehand, but what a great way to start the festival for me. They completely smoked! I would advise picking up their album for sure. I would have gotten one myself, but that damn sweltering mezzanine! Pessimist was next, and even though they have played the last few years I have always missed their set. I was certainly happy to finally have seen them as it was well worth the wait. Now I know what the hype is all about. Vital Remains was up next, and I got down to the pit for them. As every other time I have seen them, they performed excellently, and managed to have the pit churning in rare form. The new singer did a good job pulling off the tunes, even though his stage presence was a little lacking, and the addition of Kelly Conlon on bass was a nice finishing touch for this band. Trevor and Catastrophic hit the stage soon after, and man do they have some fan support. Everyone was going apeshit for this brand of death.

Lamb of God
I forgot to mention that the guitar sound was mixed very low all Friday night, so the true live sound of these bands was not captured as well as it could have been. Catastrophic definitely were impressive, but I will have to get my hands on some studio material to truly learn their sound. Some good ‘ol Florida death metal came next in the form of the mighty Monstrosity. For you death-heads unfamiliar with this band, take my simple advice and go purchase their albums. I 100% guarantee that you will be impressed to the utmost. The new age (read the “new millennium” as opposed to “something like Enya”) thrashers, Lamb of Priest? - Burn of God? Oh yeah, Lamb Of God took the stage after and provided some more variety in the sea of death metal that came before them. They thrashed hard and had the crowd (which was a packed house by the way - completely sold out) incited to an almost riotous frenzy. Completely drunk at that point with lungs blackened to a deathly state, I began to mentally prepare myself for what I considered to be my opus of the night beginning with The Haunted and flowing right into Dimmu Borgir. This was my first time seeing The Haunted live and my anticipation for the mastery was at a peak. I was not disappointed in the slightest. They scorched the stage with their energetic riff-laden brand of thrash, not missing a note. I was also very psyched for Dimmu as my last experience with them, 2 years ago in New Jersey, was infected with sound problems from hell. This time, the sound was top-notch, and even though the lack of guitar volume made it difficult to discern the newer material (which I do not know very well yet), the classic tunes came off without a hitch. My favorite of the night was the I.C.S. infested epic known as “The Insight & The Catharsis”. After Dimmu, I was forced to abandon my mission due to extreme inebriation and left for home to lick my wounds. Thus, I missed the performance of Cannibal Corpse, and from what I heard it was not something to be missed.

Diecast
Having survived day 1 (they’ll never vote me off, dammit!) with little to no adverse side-affects, I was pumped for more action on Saturday. I made it to the show a little earlier than on the previous day, and therefore saw quite a bit more of the action. I was still drinking and smoking heavily all day, and I am finding that I cannot remember exactly what order I saw the bands in. It doesn’t really matter much as I completely remember what I took in. The online schedule lists All Out War as having performed on Saturday on the second stage. I absolutely watched them, but they were moved to the main stage and it could have actually been on Friday… whatever! Anyway, that is a band to check out for sure, as they completely shredded with their Gothenburg-esque style of loud and heavy thrash. Watch out for them in the future. I caught a little of The Berzerker’s set of techno-chaos. These guys are completely insane (and not because they wear the masks) as the music is hectic and the underlying industrial/techno vibe (no, not like in dance clubs, like in really good metal) adds a unique feel to their sound. I have not yet completely grasped their music, but I can say that their live performance certainly captures the insane energy on the studio recording. I will be listening more for certain. I also caught a little of the hardcore/ metal antics of Dissolve, and remember being satiated at the least. At this point it gets really foggy, but the next 3 bands I caught in some order were Haste, Diecast and November’s Doom. I do remember that Haste and Diecast played at the same time and therefore I only caught about half of each set. Haste plays a very metal-friendly style of hardcore that was a crowd pleaser on the second stage. Diecast is also a hardcore band, but I’ll be damned if I can pin down exactly why they are so awesome… because they certainly are. Even their (almost) radio-friendly song was blowing me away. This is a band I could get very used to. Let’s hope they continue to belt out the original power they have now, and that they don’t move more into the nu-metal category of accessibility. They are too good to let the trends destroy their art… I hope. Novemember’s Doom did a great job playing aggressive death/ doom on the main stage beginning the infusion of energy that kept rolling the entire night. I also caught the black metal/ aggressive thrash antics of Noctuary somewhere in that same frame of time. This is another second stage band that got moved to the main stage giving them a much bigger audience to impress.

Haste
I must have been outside smoking for an extended period of time after that, as I certainly missed Skinless and Exhumed much to my dismay. Dying Fetus was up next, and for some reason I did not enjoy them as much as I have in the past. I have seen them at least 4 or 5 times, but this was the first time that not much of an impression was left on me. Shadows Fall must have been a highlight for many as they put on a great stage show (as always) belting out the creativity born right here in Gothenburg, Massachusetts. The crowd was going completely nuts for this band. After Shadows Fall I had to mentally prepare as 2 of my favorites were up next on the main stage. Opeth was first, and to be honest, they really raised the level of musicianship with their performance. They played at least one track from every single studio record, and of course raised the battered flag of metal high with the incredible “Demons Of The Fall”. They blew my mind completely. These guys are the Led Zeppelin of our days, and anyone who is not a fan yet needs to seriously get their act together. I was a little nervous waiting for Amorphis to take the stage, as the week before they completely let me down. Don’t get me wrong; they played excellently at the March Metal Meltdown, but they only showcased songs from the last 2 records. I am a big Amorphis fan, and since the first time I saw them play the sound was so horrible (also 2 years ago in New Jersey), my expectations for another go round were very high. Well, this time they didn’t disappoint in the slightest. They played 2 songs off every album beginning with Tales From the Thousand Lakes, giving them the perfect combination of the heavy aggressive material and the newer more ambient and friendly stuff. In one word, awesome! The math metal band from Sweden headlined the night and officially closed this year’s festival. That’s right; Meshuggah flew in from abroad just to play this single gig. I am not really a big fan of their musical style, but they sounded great nonetheless.
And then I collected all my toys... and went home completely inebriated once again. God I love metal!

Reviewed by Solomon (4/13 - 4/14/01, Worcester, MA):

Amorphis
So, I decided to stay back East long enough for another two-day affair. Could I take another weekend of metal mayhem? Coitainly, although I learned from Asbury Park that festival events of this nature can be a test of endurance. Of course, no one can see all the bands all of the time, and starting my day at 3:00pm cuts into my viewing schedule, but I got a healthy dose of metal, just the same. The journey up to this venue was certainly more pleasant than my trek through Jersey. The woods off the highway through Connecticut and Massachusetts were beautiful, although I failed to catch any corpse-painted fiends running through the trees with torches held high, heh heh. Do they still burn witches, here?

Opeth
We got there too late to see much of Lamb of God (bummer), but The Haunted certainly made up for it by giving us a good smack upside the head. Speaking of black metal, Friday night was a big deal, as I was about to witness Dimmu Borgir take the stage. I had been primed by choice selections off Enthroned, Spritual, and Puritanical, and I was curious to see if one of the biggest black metal bands on the planet could deliver live. I was not disappointed. The boys commanded the stage and punched through a brusing set of tunes that culminated in the one song I wanted to hear the most, "Mourning Palace." Cannibal Corpse was the true "headliner" for the evening, but if it was up to me I would have put Dimmu in that spot, hands down. Unfortunately, Vortex's mammoth clean vocals were a little buried beneath the din of noise, but you can't expect too much clarity in places like this at that volume.
After lumbering out of bed and getting to the venue, I learned the press conference for Saturday was about to start in the bar next door, and so I scrambled back to the hotel room to grab my super-duper journalism equipment. The "conference" was fairly loose, but it was interesting to hear the panel members' take on concert violence. I had an interview with Marten Hagstrom (Meshuggah) afterwards in the same bar, which left me a bit worried, me with a tiny tape recorder and music blaring overhead. The tape came through okay, and I'm glad Marten was in the mood to talk, as he covered my questions very thoroughly. Too bad he had to leave for an autograph signing after forty-five minutes, but I felt lucky to get that, under the circumstances.

Meshuggah
Much to my dismay, I missed November's Doom's set on the main stage, but I was able to pick things up later on the second stage with Living Sacrifice. I remembered the first LS record as the most faithful Slayer rip-off I'd ever heard, and I was anxious to see how the band had progressed since then. Oddly enough, both stages were ahead of schedule, and I'd caught LS in the middle of things. Besides having two (!) drummers, I wasn't overly impressed with their nu-metal/hardcore leanings, but it was interesting to see that a Christian band had actually been put on the bill for such an event. I would have stayed longer, but I got tipped off that Shadows Fall was starting early. This is another one I didn't want to miss, as I had been jacked about seeing this local wonder again after seeing them open for In Flames last winter. The "Gothenburg, MA" boys put the pedal to the metal, and Brian (voc.) went nuts, microphone and dredlocks flying. Why the hell the plug was pulled right in the middle of the last song I don't know, but Shadows Fall ruled the evening. Opeth played marvelously, of course, and it was cool they picked material both old and new. The not-surprising "Demons of the Fall" closer didn't hurt, either. Opeth was openly pleased with the turnout that night, and the band's photo shot of the crowd with horns held aloft was one of the evening's highlights. Amorphis played well, again, and the inclusion of older material was a welcome change from the Jersey set. Meshuggah closed out the weekend with a set of turid rhythms and quirky-but-so-cool guitar leads by Fredrik. I was hoping for "Future Breed Machine," but I'll let it go (sniff).
Overall, I enjoyed this festival better than the Jersey one. The venue was nicer and the band sets were more on track. It was also cool to have only two stages to worry about instead of trying to juggle time between three. The only bad thing was the label vendors had to set up upstairs where room was limited and the crowded conditions got pretty nasty at some points. It's great to see this sort of underground support for metal in a very unlikely place.

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