Allright, saw them at Clutch Cargo's in Pontiac last night. Soilent Green and Chimera opened.
Soilent Green - Typical yogurt vocals nu-metal. Singer had decent stage banter and energy, two axemen stood still and stared at their fretboards. Bassist played THE UGLIEST BASS EVER, a Parker that looked like it was built from a stage prop from the original Star Trek shows. Nothing to write home to mom about. Move along.
Chimera - AWESOME attack to start their setlist! They had blood-red spotlights moving around wildly and huge strobes at each side that really REALLY impressed the shit outta me. Visual bombardment as well as musical. Heavy, brutal, moving around on stage as much as they could, working that crowd, and looking like the seasoned pros they are. I'm not a fan of their music, but I'm definitely a fan of their performance. I'll try to absorb their stuff and see if it grows on me out of respect for their performance last night. The four smoke machines made the moving spotlights look so monstrous and the strobes turned the clouds into columns of forboding evil! Excellent stage production for just an opening band, and as little as it took (Four scanners and two strobes and four smokers) they looked massive on stage. Well done, Chimera! You guys know how to do it right.
The Almighty KLOK - Those cartoon snippets are so damn funny. I didn't really think blending the live band with all those videos would work, but I was wrong! Totally awesome! The crowd went APESHIT BAT CRAZY. I mean CRAAAAZY. It was a capacity crowd and ALL of it went psycho. We got squashed back and forth from all sides. Usually I enjoy doing Perimeter Patrol for mosh pits and bouncing folk back into the center, but there was no center! All-encompassing ass-whupping! After the first five songs, it died down a bit and we could actually pay attention to the show instead of the flying bodies around us. Castratikron turned that crowd into one huge choreographed headbanging session! SOFA KING AWESOME! Murderface leaving to take a piss was easily the funniest of the videos. I never actually saw Gene drumming, all I could get was two cymbals moving and the edges of some toms. The guys out front were not too excitable, they were concentrating on their FLAWLESS execution of the songs. Downright perfect. Never seen a band come out and play that tight and that accurate. Not a single flub that I could notice. Mike Keneally was definitely enjoying this whole death metal vibe, and he looked hella satisfied by our reactions out in front. They were all stone-cold with their poker faces on, super serious, super concentrated. Brendon didn't do any stage banter until the end, cuz the videos WERE the stage banter. But he did say, "You guys so close to Detroit, with all your crime and your Mayor, you are the most brutal city in the whole United States!" Heh heh.
I know Dethklok is supposed to be a fictional band. But these guys were absolute professionals and perfect on stage together. Brutal, unforgiving, unfaltering, and completely entertaining.
I think this will be their last medium-sized venue tour. Next time around, they'll be in the 3000-seat concert auditoriums. They're just too good and have too many people coming to their shows to ignore their potential.
Soilent Green - Typical yogurt vocals nu-metal. Singer had decent stage banter and energy, two axemen stood still and stared at their fretboards. Bassist played THE UGLIEST BASS EVER, a Parker that looked like it was built from a stage prop from the original Star Trek shows. Nothing to write home to mom about. Move along.
Chimera - AWESOME attack to start their setlist! They had blood-red spotlights moving around wildly and huge strobes at each side that really REALLY impressed the shit outta me. Visual bombardment as well as musical. Heavy, brutal, moving around on stage as much as they could, working that crowd, and looking like the seasoned pros they are. I'm not a fan of their music, but I'm definitely a fan of their performance. I'll try to absorb their stuff and see if it grows on me out of respect for their performance last night. The four smoke machines made the moving spotlights look so monstrous and the strobes turned the clouds into columns of forboding evil! Excellent stage production for just an opening band, and as little as it took (Four scanners and two strobes and four smokers) they looked massive on stage. Well done, Chimera! You guys know how to do it right.
The Almighty KLOK - Those cartoon snippets are so damn funny. I didn't really think blending the live band with all those videos would work, but I was wrong! Totally awesome! The crowd went APESHIT BAT CRAZY. I mean CRAAAAZY. It was a capacity crowd and ALL of it went psycho. We got squashed back and forth from all sides. Usually I enjoy doing Perimeter Patrol for mosh pits and bouncing folk back into the center, but there was no center! All-encompassing ass-whupping! After the first five songs, it died down a bit and we could actually pay attention to the show instead of the flying bodies around us. Castratikron turned that crowd into one huge choreographed headbanging session! SOFA KING AWESOME! Murderface leaving to take a piss was easily the funniest of the videos. I never actually saw Gene drumming, all I could get was two cymbals moving and the edges of some toms. The guys out front were not too excitable, they were concentrating on their FLAWLESS execution of the songs. Downright perfect. Never seen a band come out and play that tight and that accurate. Not a single flub that I could notice. Mike Keneally was definitely enjoying this whole death metal vibe, and he looked hella satisfied by our reactions out in front. They were all stone-cold with their poker faces on, super serious, super concentrated. Brendon didn't do any stage banter until the end, cuz the videos WERE the stage banter. But he did say, "You guys so close to Detroit, with all your crime and your Mayor, you are the most brutal city in the whole United States!" Heh heh.
I know Dethklok is supposed to be a fictional band. But these guys were absolute professionals and perfect on stage together. Brutal, unforgiving, unfaltering, and completely entertaining.
I think this will be their last medium-sized venue tour. Next time around, they'll be in the 3000-seat concert auditoriums. They're just too good and have too many people coming to their shows to ignore their potential.
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