Friday
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Shatter Messiah. Nice of them to switch places with Suspyre, especially with the small crowd at that point. It was a good band to start with (loved the Oopma Loompa intro!). Fun frontman, solid hard power / thrash voice. Overall, though, the songs (and the style) were a bit same-y after a few.
Suspyre. It took me a while to get into them, maybe because of sound issues early on - especially with the keyboards. But by the last couple of tracks, they were really in stride and sounded great. Obviously enjoying themselves, or at least good at faking it
Benedictum. My surprise band of the weekend! I had their CD for a while, and I filed it as "good but not necessary to listen to any more". But live, WOW. I'd go see them again in an instant. Great, thick sound. Their singer Veronica was just charming; from their pictures I figured she would come off as a bad-ass metal chick, but that was definitely not the case.
Solitude Aeturnus. Well, what can you say. Robert Lowe sounds better now that he does on my cassettes of their first two records. He, and they all, were spot on. The thing is that on most of their records, I have a few favorite songs picked out but don't really need to listen to them for long periods at a time. And sure enough after about 40 minutes of their set, I felt that I'd had my fill. I didn't *not* like it, I thought they sounded great, but I hit my limit after that time.
Lethal. Didn't know their material, and wasn't compelled to stick around after the first 4-5 songs. Sometimes you just have to be happy for the people who are getting to hear one of their favorite bands even though you may not be getting much out of it yourself. Rob was clearly having fun out there on the floor, so I was happy for him!
Saturday
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Thurisaz - Great at what they do, but it's not my thing. I did love the "headbanging" segments, you know, when they're all bent over their instruments chugging away and jackhammering themselves up and down.
Novembers Doom - So Jason got to hear his song from The Knowing (Silent Tomorrow) and I didn't get to hear mine (In Memories Past), but I won't hold that against anyone. I think they played that one back at Powerfest 2005 anyway. This was my second chance to hear the new stuff live, and it just slays. The best part of the set was Paul serenading his daughter Rhiannon during Autumn Reflection - and then later having half the crowd at the front flash their horns back at her as she leaned over the balcony with hers, being the good little metal daughter that she is! Awesomely special stuff there. Thanks, Paul.
Saturnus. OK, here's a band I have listened to in bits and pieces before, enough to know I probably would not listen to a full CD at home or anything. But seeing doom live is almost as much about the mood that it sets as it is about individual songs, and Saturnus was absolutely mesmerizing. Listening to that slow, thick deep harmonic sound in my face at loud volumes was almost like being hypnotized. I loved it. I still don't think listening to their CDs at home or in the car would have the same effect for me, but I'd gladly check out another show of theirs if the opportunity comes up.
Martyr. I think it's really cool that Dee Snyder decided to go into technical metal. Just kidding! It was just the hair, you know. I told several people I was convinced that Martyr's drummer must be a robot because it is simply not possible that he is human. Watching any one of Martyr's members was awe-inspiring, but when I tried to take in everything coming at me at once, it mushed into that wall of sound effect. I know there were lots of interesting things going on, and visibly their playing was astonishing, but not being familiar with the songs made it hard for me to keep up. There was about a 20 minute stretch where it really worked for me as a whole, though.
Atheist. The big difference here is that I know some of their songs, especially ones from Unquestionable Presence, which they played a lot of. So I enjoyed this set more than Martyr's. And Tony Choy is amazing. Kelly Shaefer sounds a lot better live than on the old badly produced CDs. And I wonder if its better for him to not be playing guitar, too, because he makes a very entertaining front man. He clearly loves his music. Good stuff.
Ken
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Shatter Messiah. Nice of them to switch places with Suspyre, especially with the small crowd at that point. It was a good band to start with (loved the Oopma Loompa intro!). Fun frontman, solid hard power / thrash voice. Overall, though, the songs (and the style) were a bit same-y after a few.
Suspyre. It took me a while to get into them, maybe because of sound issues early on - especially with the keyboards. But by the last couple of tracks, they were really in stride and sounded great. Obviously enjoying themselves, or at least good at faking it
Benedictum. My surprise band of the weekend! I had their CD for a while, and I filed it as "good but not necessary to listen to any more". But live, WOW. I'd go see them again in an instant. Great, thick sound. Their singer Veronica was just charming; from their pictures I figured she would come off as a bad-ass metal chick, but that was definitely not the case.
Solitude Aeturnus. Well, what can you say. Robert Lowe sounds better now that he does on my cassettes of their first two records. He, and they all, were spot on. The thing is that on most of their records, I have a few favorite songs picked out but don't really need to listen to them for long periods at a time. And sure enough after about 40 minutes of their set, I felt that I'd had my fill. I didn't *not* like it, I thought they sounded great, but I hit my limit after that time.
Lethal. Didn't know their material, and wasn't compelled to stick around after the first 4-5 songs. Sometimes you just have to be happy for the people who are getting to hear one of their favorite bands even though you may not be getting much out of it yourself. Rob was clearly having fun out there on the floor, so I was happy for him!
Saturday
--------
Thurisaz - Great at what they do, but it's not my thing. I did love the "headbanging" segments, you know, when they're all bent over their instruments chugging away and jackhammering themselves up and down.
Novembers Doom - So Jason got to hear his song from The Knowing (Silent Tomorrow) and I didn't get to hear mine (In Memories Past), but I won't hold that against anyone. I think they played that one back at Powerfest 2005 anyway. This was my second chance to hear the new stuff live, and it just slays. The best part of the set was Paul serenading his daughter Rhiannon during Autumn Reflection - and then later having half the crowd at the front flash their horns back at her as she leaned over the balcony with hers, being the good little metal daughter that she is! Awesomely special stuff there. Thanks, Paul.
Saturnus. OK, here's a band I have listened to in bits and pieces before, enough to know I probably would not listen to a full CD at home or anything. But seeing doom live is almost as much about the mood that it sets as it is about individual songs, and Saturnus was absolutely mesmerizing. Listening to that slow, thick deep harmonic sound in my face at loud volumes was almost like being hypnotized. I loved it. I still don't think listening to their CDs at home or in the car would have the same effect for me, but I'd gladly check out another show of theirs if the opportunity comes up.
Martyr. I think it's really cool that Dee Snyder decided to go into technical metal. Just kidding! It was just the hair, you know. I told several people I was convinced that Martyr's drummer must be a robot because it is simply not possible that he is human. Watching any one of Martyr's members was awe-inspiring, but when I tried to take in everything coming at me at once, it mushed into that wall of sound effect. I know there were lots of interesting things going on, and visibly their playing was astonishing, but not being familiar with the songs made it hard for me to keep up. There was about a 20 minute stretch where it really worked for me as a whole, though.
Atheist. The big difference here is that I know some of their songs, especially ones from Unquestionable Presence, which they played a lot of. So I enjoyed this set more than Martyr's. And Tony Choy is amazing. Kelly Shaefer sounds a lot better live than on the old badly produced CDs. And I wonder if its better for him to not be playing guitar, too, because he makes a very entertaining front man. He clearly loves his music. Good stuff.
Ken
Chicago Powerfest is no doubt a highlight of the year here in Chicago. Keep it up!
