Kataklysm/Dimmu/Hoglan's Drum Extravaganza review

[EricT]

Got there (after being taken from my house by a group of people; they payed my way in though, so no big deal)... Proceeded to the bar. Got stopped by a new security guard working there. Had to wait for the normal one to show up till I could get in the bar. Eventually got in, grabbed a Guinness and headed for the floor to see Kataklysm.

As usual Kataklysm played a very good set. Can't remember the whole setlist exactly but it was mostly expected songs: Serenity In Fire, Ambassador of Pain, Let Them Burn, Crippled and Broklen, As My World Burns, As I Slither and 2 others I think (Not in Order).

Devildriver came on, I hurried back to the bar. One thing I must note from having to hear them:The drummer is awful. AWFUL. Talked to Hellhammer a bit... And by talked I mean said "Arcturus... WHY?!" And "Whens the new Winds coming?!" which the latter was answered by "Very Soon".

Now for the interesting part of the night. Unearth's drummer left a few days ago, and his replacement? Gene fucking Hoglan. He was a mad man on them there drums. I went down side stage to where I could get a good look at the man play, drowned out what other sounds were being broadcast, and it was just awesome. Sadly, he took off right after the set, guess he was beat, so I didn't get to ask him "SYL... WHY?!".

Dimmu came on after what seemed like a 30 minute wait. Hellhammer was a beast on his kit... very enjoyable to see him do his thing. However, the rest of the band was on/off. Setlist from what I remember was (In order, I think, and I'm gonna elaborate on the "on/off" comment of earlier) :

Progenies Of The Great Apocalypse (Didn't do so well this time around...)
Vredesbyrd (This actually turned out OK live)
Cataclysm Children (About the same as above, but had some really weak moments)
Kings of the Carnival Creation (Awful live)
A Succubus In Rapture (Very excellent, actually, and wasn't expecting it on this tour)
Sorgens Kammer (Extremely awful... Can't believe they actually bothered to play this.)
Indoctrination (It was ok... song gets old after a few minutes of it being played though)
The Serpentine Offering (Listened to the first minute, went and took a piss and grabbed another drink)
Some other new song that sounded exactly the same. (See first part of above, went outside and smoked)
The Insight And The Catharsis (Probably one of the better songs to choose from on SBD, played out well live)

Then the rockstar "Lets wait 5 minutes while the fans scream our name!" bullshit.

Spellbound By The Devil (I quite enjoyed this...)
Mourning Palace (Enjoyed this even more so)

A few disturbing audience (edit: Err, and other things. Forgive me, bit drunked) things: Some kid Hardcore Danced in front of me during Vredesbyrd, Shagrath using the words "True Norwegian Black Metal", and a circle pit formed during Mourning Palace.

Overall, it wasn't as bad a set as I thought it was going to be, but it wasn't too good either.

 

[Metal head87]

A few disturbing audience things: Some kid Hardcore Danced in front of me during Vredesbyrd, Shagrath using the words "True Norwegian Black Metal", and a circle pit formed during Mourning Palace.

Overall, it wasn't as bad a set as I thought it was going to be, but it wasn't too good either.

Hahahaha, I remember when he did that at the NY show. I was laughing, even though I still love the music.

I thought their show was mediocre though. Definitely one of the most disappointing shows I'v ever been to.
Did Hellhammer do a drum solo?

 

[EricT]

Oh, and some guy was trying to convince me that Gene drummed on Human and Spirtual Healing. I responded "No dude... He drummed on ITP and Symbolic." He continued arguing that he drummed on Human and SH for quite the while. I just kept laughing.

 

[EricT]

I thought their show was mediocre though. Definitely one of the most disappointing shows I'v ever been to.

Didn't find it disappointing since I went there with no hopes of any sort of a half decent set at all... Definitely helped my higher opinion of the set in the end, I think.

 

[Metal head87]

Unfortunately, I did have high hopes. They were great the first time I saw them, even though I didn't know any of their music back then (went for Nevermore and Hypocrisy, but I figured I'd stay for Dimmu to see if they were really as bad as people made them out to be).
I thought their sound was great this time around, but the show didn't feel intimate or anything. It was basically a cheese fest and it did not really feel like they really cared about being there. They talked to the audience a lot and all, but it just felt fake. Dedicating a song to all the pretty women (I think A Succubus In Rapture) was one of the cheesiest things I've ever seen.
Setlist was very short too. Plus, no For All Tid or original Stormblast songs.

I guess I was also pissed that I only got to see two Kataklysm songs, and had nothing to do for a couple of hours until Dimmu came on. Bitching about how much Unearth and Devildriver suck with total strangers and getting a little stoned doesn't take up too much time

 

[EricT]

Yeah, it was A Succubus In Rapture. Funny thing was, I think there was about 3 chicks in the audience total. Atleast 3 good looking ones, which are the only ones I'll bother to count. Rest were fatties or looked like men.

 

[Metal head87]

The show I went to was packed with gorgeous girls. Not like goth ones or anything, somewhat normal girls. But all of them were with guys.