The Black Dahlia Murder/ Born From Pain/ Maroon
Live At The Mean Fiddler, London, 18/06/2006
By James Willcock
I arrived at the Mean Fiddler to find the first band of the evening, Maroon, had taken the stage just prior to my arrival. Hailing from Germany, this five piece plays a somewhat predictable, yet fairly enjoyable metalcore, pitched somewhere between the more melodic end bands such as Trivium and Shadows Fall and the more extreme end of the genre, with band such as The Black Dahlia murder. The five piece produced a fairly tight, relatively energetic set, with the vocalist talking to the crowd between songs, even if I did find him slightly annoying, although I cant really remember why now. Anyway, the set, although decent enough, simply served to enforce the realisation Ive had more recently that a lot of smaller metalcore bands are starting to all sound the same. One of the few things that help distinguish this band from the ever swelling sea of band seeking to capitalise on bands at the forefront of the metalcore movement is their more obvious influences by European, particularly Scandinavian bands, outside of the obvious In Flames referencing of Killswitch Engage and the like. This extends past melodic death and into some slight tendencies toward grindcore as well. On the upside, the crowd seemed to enjoy them, with more people moving close to the stage and bouncing around in the crowd (even if it was mostly hardcore dancing) than Ive seen for a while for the opening act at a gig. And Ive just found out from their bio that theyre straight edge vegans. Take from that what you will.
Before the next act took the stage, I took a while to get a beer (or several) and actually took in the composition (if thats the word I want) of the crowd. Three things struck me- firstly, the Mean Fiddler seemed distinctly emptier than Id seen it before.
Secondly, a month before my 21st birthday, I was one of the oldest people in the crowd, the average age must have been about 18. This always troubles me at a metal gig, especially as when I started going to gigs at the age of about 16 I swear to god the oldest person in the venue was older than 21. But then, I didnt go to such Metal Hammer, etc. sanctioned gigs, even if this one is actually good. Point two may explain point one- a lot of the kids had their exams on at school (after all the gig was on a Sunday, school day after- hahahaha)
Thirdly, not only was there more than about 6 females in the audience, I have to admit, I wouldnt have minded taking some of them home. This is something I really am out of my depth with- attractive girls at metal gigs that dont have their boyfriend attached to them like a limpet. However, going back to point 2, I would advise that if you did take one home, check some ID first, because in the eyes of the law, statutory rape is still rape.
Soon enough, I forgot all about the little kids surrounding me as the second band of the evening, Born From Pain, appeared. Another five piece, this time from the Netherlands, who according to their website play, an energetic mix of modern NY-style hardcore, with a big metal influence. What that means is that the their music was tending more towards the hardcore end of the spectrum than that of Maroon and, in fact, most other metalcore bands out there. However, despite this, once again, there was little original on show here and nothing to set it apart from the swelling ranks of the modern hardcore/metal crossover scene.
Once again, that said, the music was well played, aggressive and certainly seemed to carry on warming up the crowd, although as I have noticed before it quickly reached its peak with a few kids hardcore dancing and generally bouncing around the pit, and most people not just avoiding the pit but seeming almost to completely avoid moving as much as possible. Apart from literally a half dozen people throwing horns and head banging up at the front rail, hardly anyone in the crowd seemed to be moving, yet when a song finished they would all cheer in approval. Whatever happened to good old rocking out?
To finish off the night, The Black Dahlia Murder arrived, all be it in slightly lacklustre fashion- as is usual for smaller gigs, the band themselves came out to set up the stage, it was more that when they walked backstage after finishing setting up, they simply turned around walked back out and started playing, with no announcement or grand entrance to alert the crowd.
Once they did start playing, this was more or less forgotten as they fired into a set of their own brand of more brutal end death influenced metalcore, with plenty of blast beats, often seeming to replace breakdowns in many places, making the music pleasingly unpredictable when compared to other bands in the same vein. As they are more heavily inclined to the melodic European death metal scene than other bands in the metalcore genre, listing bands such as Carcass and At The Gates as major influences, they consequently have a more extreme, less melodic sound than other similar bands. In fact, I would even venture that they are, essentially, a melodic death metal band, rather than anything else.
I also found it quite amusing to see all the kiddies around me become somewhat confused by the blast beats in particular, they didnt know how to move to the music, and especially because it meant there wasnt a lot of hardcore dancing going on.
Although I dont know a vast amount of The Black Dahlia Murders material, the majority of songs seemed to come from the more recent releases, especially Miasma. Particular songs included in the set were the singles Miasma and Paint It Black, which only lasted a fairly mediocre 40 minutes, especially given the band has three full length albums and an EP under there belt. The last comment I can make about the set is, having moved side stage to get a better view of the band, the whole band did move around the stage virtually constantly, with the kind of energy that only a young band who are enjoying themselves can ever seem to manage.
Overall, I would have to say that this entire gig, from start to finish, despite being good, was thoroughly unspectacular- 6.5/10
Live At The Mean Fiddler, London, 18/06/2006
By James Willcock
I arrived at the Mean Fiddler to find the first band of the evening, Maroon, had taken the stage just prior to my arrival. Hailing from Germany, this five piece plays a somewhat predictable, yet fairly enjoyable metalcore, pitched somewhere between the more melodic end bands such as Trivium and Shadows Fall and the more extreme end of the genre, with band such as The Black Dahlia murder. The five piece produced a fairly tight, relatively energetic set, with the vocalist talking to the crowd between songs, even if I did find him slightly annoying, although I cant really remember why now. Anyway, the set, although decent enough, simply served to enforce the realisation Ive had more recently that a lot of smaller metalcore bands are starting to all sound the same. One of the few things that help distinguish this band from the ever swelling sea of band seeking to capitalise on bands at the forefront of the metalcore movement is their more obvious influences by European, particularly Scandinavian bands, outside of the obvious In Flames referencing of Killswitch Engage and the like. This extends past melodic death and into some slight tendencies toward grindcore as well. On the upside, the crowd seemed to enjoy them, with more people moving close to the stage and bouncing around in the crowd (even if it was mostly hardcore dancing) than Ive seen for a while for the opening act at a gig. And Ive just found out from their bio that theyre straight edge vegans. Take from that what you will.
Before the next act took the stage, I took a while to get a beer (or several) and actually took in the composition (if thats the word I want) of the crowd. Three things struck me- firstly, the Mean Fiddler seemed distinctly emptier than Id seen it before.
Secondly, a month before my 21st birthday, I was one of the oldest people in the crowd, the average age must have been about 18. This always troubles me at a metal gig, especially as when I started going to gigs at the age of about 16 I swear to god the oldest person in the venue was older than 21. But then, I didnt go to such Metal Hammer, etc. sanctioned gigs, even if this one is actually good. Point two may explain point one- a lot of the kids had their exams on at school (after all the gig was on a Sunday, school day after- hahahaha)
Thirdly, not only was there more than about 6 females in the audience, I have to admit, I wouldnt have minded taking some of them home. This is something I really am out of my depth with- attractive girls at metal gigs that dont have their boyfriend attached to them like a limpet. However, going back to point 2, I would advise that if you did take one home, check some ID first, because in the eyes of the law, statutory rape is still rape.
Once again, that said, the music was well played, aggressive and certainly seemed to carry on warming up the crowd, although as I have noticed before it quickly reached its peak with a few kids hardcore dancing and generally bouncing around the pit, and most people not just avoiding the pit but seeming almost to completely avoid moving as much as possible. Apart from literally a half dozen people throwing horns and head banging up at the front rail, hardly anyone in the crowd seemed to be moving, yet when a song finished they would all cheer in approval. Whatever happened to good old rocking out?
Once they did start playing, this was more or less forgotten as they fired into a set of their own brand of more brutal end death influenced metalcore, with plenty of blast beats, often seeming to replace breakdowns in many places, making the music pleasingly unpredictable when compared to other bands in the same vein. As they are more heavily inclined to the melodic European death metal scene than other bands in the metalcore genre, listing bands such as Carcass and At The Gates as major influences, they consequently have a more extreme, less melodic sound than other similar bands. In fact, I would even venture that they are, essentially, a melodic death metal band, rather than anything else.
I also found it quite amusing to see all the kiddies around me become somewhat confused by the blast beats in particular, they didnt know how to move to the music, and especially because it meant there wasnt a lot of hardcore dancing going on.
Although I dont know a vast amount of The Black Dahlia Murders material, the majority of songs seemed to come from the more recent releases, especially Miasma. Particular songs included in the set were the singles Miasma and Paint It Black, which only lasted a fairly mediocre 40 minutes, especially given the band has three full length albums and an EP under there belt. The last comment I can make about the set is, having moved side stage to get a better view of the band, the whole band did move around the stage virtually constantly, with the kind of energy that only a young band who are enjoying themselves can ever seem to manage.
Overall, I would have to say that this entire gig, from start to finish, despite being good, was thoroughly unspectacular- 6.5/10
so that makes EVERYTHING ok 