So the first band to open was The Absence, I believe, from California. They were... not bad. As soon as he said they were American I thought, "oh great, bring on the thrash." However, the music was decent and the singing not bad. They also all sported impressively long hair and wicked beards. Except the drummer, he looked like he might be a member of Our Lady Peace in his spare time, hah! Given my usual leary outlook on American metal bands, I was considerably not horrified by them.
Belphegor was another classic example of how to ruin a great drummer by turning his work into NOISE. Mindless smashing siunds were all I heard. Like I expected from the first band, these guys brought on the thrash. It did a great job of reving up the crowd and all those moshers seemed to really like it, but I've been well known for not having any taste for thrash. Other points of note include... well... ok, listen, to all you singers out there... if you can sing with a growl, sweet, but if you can't talk with it - don't. We don't care, I promise. This guy was trying to growl while he spoke and he honestly sounded like Kermit the Frog if he had gone hardcore. I could only laugh at him. It was ridiculous. The guitar player (I think) was really creepy looking and the singer brought out what I might've thought was a BDSM mask if I hadn't been at a metal concert, which was just kind of strange. Whatever you're into I guess. Really, I wasn't impressed with them at all. Also, I found them to be just a bit too loud. Yes, I realize I was at a metal concert, but it was just... harsh, and not in a good way.
Sami Hinkka (bass) and Petri Lindroos (vocals and guitar) of Ensiferum
Next on the list was Ensiferum. I was actually more stoked to see Ensiferum than I was to see Amon Amarth because I'm a bigger fan of folk metal than death metal. This happened to be another episode of "can that scrawny little guy really growl?"
Markus Toivonen (guitar) in the front and Emmi Silvennoinen (keyboards) of Ensiferum
And he could, and he was wicked. I wasn't familiar with anything they played except the intro, which is from Victory Songs, but I truly enjoyed all the music. The bass player was playing on a 7-string bass, which was incredible, and they threw in a metal Stairway to Heaven intro to one of their songs that was pretty cool. I really like the keyboarding in Ensiferum so I was sad that their touring pianist seemed to be turned down a bit and most of the time I couldn't hear her. The music was still great but I could've used some more of her. I imagine there won't be any complaints if they keep her in as a full time keyboardist for the band because, when I could hear her, she was very good. Unfortunately, they didn't play for very long. For headlining with Amon Amarth, I really think they could've done with a longer set that around 30 minutes. They could've eliminated Belphegor entirely and just had Ensiferum play through there too - that would've been ideal to me.
The visible parts of Ensiferum
So lastly was Amon Amarth. I haven't listened to them much but for a straight-up viking/death metal band, they're pretty sweet. I liked With Oden on Our Side so I bought Twilight of the Thunder God at the show, and I've since been enjoying it.
They opened with TotTG, which was sweet. Others that I caught, were Free Will Sacrifice, Guardians of Asgaard (so heavy and so awesome), Where is Your God?, Valhall Awaits Me (the only song of theirs I really know offhand, and really enjoyed), Hermod's Ride to Hel (another one I vaguely recognised, which was also amazing live), and Cry of the Black Birds (unbelievable). They introduced a couple older ones to me, like Death in Fire, which was wicked and heavy, and I have to say, the mosh pit took up pretty much the entire floor of the Warehouse and looked pretty brutal.
As for the band, I didn't see the drummer pretty much at all, but I could hear him and that was enough, he was great. The bass player was on a 5-string, playing low and heavy, the guitar was intense, and the singer was amazing. He's really smiley and makes the crowd feel like the band really appreciates being able to play for us. As for the music, for me not recognizing most of it, and it being heavy death metal, moshing music but without the thrash, I loved it. It made me want to bang my head and growl, which not a lot of music does. They had some nice looking synchronized head-banging and the band toasted their horns (literally) of ale (beer?) to the crowd in the oldschool viking manner.
Ted Lundström and Johan Hegg of Amon Amarth
Amon Amarth raising their horns to toast
This was their second time in Calgary, first time headlining, and I left the show with a good feeling just of having sincerely enjoyed myself in the presence of a band I don't really know very well. I really hope they come back again once I get a bit more familiar with them. I enjoyed the show a lot and I'd recommend them to anyone who likes that heavy viking/death metal.
Drinking the toast
Year: October 2008
Opening bands: The Absence, Belphegor, Ensiferum
Who I went with: Michael Widmer, Graham Widmer*, Gianna Romano*
Location: Calgary - The Warehouse
* Sorry about the shit pictures - The Warehouse is terrible for getting good shots for some reason.
Amon Amarth, head banging
No comments:
Post a Comment