The Haunted/ Municipal Waste/ Wolf
The Mean Fiddler, London, 5/5/07
By James Willcock
I will make this a fairly brief review, for I write it in an empty classroom in a Florida high school (no, really [I should point out James lives in London, and is thusly a c**t for going on holiday again less than a week after getting back from Italy. Dirty smelly hippy. - RG]), under strict instructions from editing demi-god Russell to get the review done ASAP, so that the record label can relax. If I don’t, I fear he will molest me in the foulest ways only he can think of [it’ll involve saltwater taffy, I can assure you – RG]. So…
First band of the evening to take the stage was Wolf. What can I say that will get the message across to you - they play old school metal, in the sense they clearly wish they had been playing in the 70’s with Deep Purple and the like. Problem is, they bring nothing new to the fold, playing material that not only has been done before, and done better, but has not been modified in at least 25 years, so for a band to come out playing it now, it just sounds a bit tired. However, if you happen to like the idea of a band playing “proper metal, like they used to, with none of this shouting nonsense”, you may well like them.
Next up was Municipal Waste. The name had rung a bell, but I wasn’t familiar with their stuff, so a quick web based info hunt gave me the following information - they’re from Richmond, Virginia, and they play “crossover” - a fusion of thrash and hardcore. However, this is not to say they are what I would term metalcore (Killswitch et. al.), and their hardcore is not of the whiny, emo haircut variety. No, these guys immediately bring to mind the stylings of S.O.D. , with hints of Biohazard. The music is essentially fairly old-school thrash with some hints of hardcore (circa 1990), with rapid fire, not-really-rapping, sort-of-shouting vocals, and lyrics mostly focused on getting wasted and having a good time.
They were an energetic band (with the set culminating with the vocalist crowd surfing on a boogie board whilst finishing off the song, with the crowd’s help), while the crowd itself got moshing, circle pits and a general upbeat party atmosphere going, and all without any flailing of arms and legs like some kind of spastic doing an impersonation of a ‘70s kung fu film [I bet you fitted right in. Bitter, moi? – RG]. All told, I enjoyed myself.
Then, for the main act, The Haunted. Having seen them the last time they played London back in November (see the review below) whilst on The Dead Eye release tour, I wasn’t sure what to expect this time round. This is because last time, as could be expected, they played a large amount of material from The Dead Eye and not a whole lot else. Now, given that I think that The Dead Eye is by far their weakest album so far, and long for the days when they go back to the full on thrashy style of the first albums, I found the previous gig a bit disappointing. Fortunately, with the album release now behind them, the band presented a better mix of material from the albums. This is not to say that there weren’t several songs from The Dead Eye, including The Medication and The Flood, and several more taken from rEVOLVEr, such as 99 and No Compromise. However, if I remember correctly (and please bear in mind, I’ve been drunk quite a few times since the gig, via a fieldtrip in Italy before winding up in the USA 2 weeks after the gig) we were also treated to The Hate Song and Chasm from the first album, a song from One Kill Wonder and, as the set finale (and quite possibly the highlight of the evening) Dark Intensions/Bury Your Dead. The problem in the set list this time was less the weighting of material from The Dead Eye, but more the low count of songs from …Made Me Do It and One Kill Wonder, which I doubt is a coincidence seeing as these are the two albums that don’t feature Peter Dolving on vocals.
Speaking of Mr. Dolving, we were, as usual, treated to another one of his bizarre insights on life, this time with a rant about being in awe of his father’s penis as a child, and now marveling at his son’s awe at his penis. This was an introduction to a song. Absolute fruit loop [with a future role in the catholic church possible? – RG]. Penis envy aside, The Haunted played extremely well, as could be expected, and I, as well as much of the crowd, thoroughly enjoyed the performance, with the energy carried over from Municipal Waste’s set allowing a fully energized performance on the crowd’s part from the first note, with plenty of moshing, circle pits and a couple of walls of death.
In summary, a good (but not great) set from The Haunted, with good support from Municipal Waste and a pass the time performance by Wolf.
The Mean Fiddler, London, 5/5/07
By James Willcock
I will make this a fairly brief review, for I write it in an empty classroom in a Florida high school (no, really [I should point out James lives in London, and is thusly a c**t for going on holiday again less than a week after getting back from Italy. Dirty smelly hippy. - RG]), under strict instructions from editing demi-god Russell to get the review done ASAP, so that the record label can relax. If I don’t, I fear he will molest me in the foulest ways only he can think of [it’ll involve saltwater taffy, I can assure you – RG]. So…
First band of the evening to take the stage was Wolf. What can I say that will get the message across to you - they play old school metal, in the sense they clearly wish they had been playing in the 70’s with Deep Purple and the like. Problem is, they bring nothing new to the fold, playing material that not only has been done before, and done better, but has not been modified in at least 25 years, so for a band to come out playing it now, it just sounds a bit tired. However, if you happen to like the idea of a band playing “proper metal, like they used to, with none of this shouting nonsense”, you may well like them.
Next up was Municipal Waste. The name had rung a bell, but I wasn’t familiar with their stuff, so a quick web based info hunt gave me the following information - they’re from Richmond, Virginia, and they play “crossover” - a fusion of thrash and hardcore. However, this is not to say they are what I would term metalcore (Killswitch et. al.), and their hardcore is not of the whiny, emo haircut variety. No, these guys immediately bring to mind the stylings of S.O.D. , with hints of Biohazard. The music is essentially fairly old-school thrash with some hints of hardcore (circa 1990), with rapid fire, not-really-rapping, sort-of-shouting vocals, and lyrics mostly focused on getting wasted and having a good time.
They were an energetic band (with the set culminating with the vocalist crowd surfing on a boogie board whilst finishing off the song, with the crowd’s help), while the crowd itself got moshing, circle pits and a general upbeat party atmosphere going, and all without any flailing of arms and legs like some kind of spastic doing an impersonation of a ‘70s kung fu film [I bet you fitted right in. Bitter, moi? – RG]. All told, I enjoyed myself.
Then, for the main act, The Haunted. Having seen them the last time they played London back in November (see the review below) whilst on The Dead Eye release tour, I wasn’t sure what to expect this time round. This is because last time, as could be expected, they played a large amount of material from The Dead Eye and not a whole lot else. Now, given that I think that The Dead Eye is by far their weakest album so far, and long for the days when they go back to the full on thrashy style of the first albums, I found the previous gig a bit disappointing. Fortunately, with the album release now behind them, the band presented a better mix of material from the albums. This is not to say that there weren’t several songs from The Dead Eye, including The Medication and The Flood, and several more taken from rEVOLVEr, such as 99 and No Compromise. However, if I remember correctly (and please bear in mind, I’ve been drunk quite a few times since the gig, via a fieldtrip in Italy before winding up in the USA 2 weeks after the gig) we were also treated to The Hate Song and Chasm from the first album, a song from One Kill Wonder and, as the set finale (and quite possibly the highlight of the evening) Dark Intensions/Bury Your Dead. The problem in the set list this time was less the weighting of material from The Dead Eye, but more the low count of songs from …Made Me Do It and One Kill Wonder, which I doubt is a coincidence seeing as these are the two albums that don’t feature Peter Dolving on vocals.
Speaking of Mr. Dolving, we were, as usual, treated to another one of his bizarre insights on life, this time with a rant about being in awe of his father’s penis as a child, and now marveling at his son’s awe at his penis. This was an introduction to a song. Absolute fruit loop [with a future role in the catholic church possible? – RG]. Penis envy aside, The Haunted played extremely well, as could be expected, and I, as well as much of the crowd, thoroughly enjoyed the performance, with the energy carried over from Municipal Waste’s set allowing a fully energized performance on the crowd’s part from the first note, with plenty of moshing, circle pits and a couple of walls of death.
In summary, a good (but not great) set from The Haunted, with good support from Municipal Waste and a pass the time performance by Wolf.
