Celtic Frost / 1349 / Sahg
The Vic Theatre Chicago, IL 9/23/06 Review
by Dr. Abner Mality
And
now the circle is just about complete. Celtic Frost is just about the
last of the bands I needed to see before I die. Bit by bit, they have
all fallen into place. The "original" Kiss. The "original" Black
Sabbath. The mighty Venom. Halford back in Judas Priest. Overkill.
Slayer. Death. Testament. And now, Celtic Frost. Never thought I'd get
the chance.
The Gods have smiled upon their humble servant, Dr. Abner Mality, and so
in this year of their glory 2006 (by the reckoning of the Crucified
Nazarene) and on the date of September 23, 2006, I hustled into Chicago
on a grey and gloomy day which saw the heavens open up with a torrential
downpour. My concert companion Mistress Hydra said "Bet the Frost guys
are loving this!" and I had to agree, even though it was a hair-raising
experience navigating Chicago traffic in a thunderstorm.
We got to the Vic Theater a little late after gorging ourselves on
Mexican food at nearby Mi Tierra restaurant. My burrito was the size of a
football and packed with tasty steak while poor Hydra was only able to
finish half her Chile Rellenos. Thankfully, neither of us were hit by
Montezuma's Revenge during the show or its aftermath. After a minor
mix-up regarding our passes to the show, I managed to snag a very
pleasant Mr. Archaon from Norwegian hellraisers 1349 and we had a nice
chat at the nearby Cosi coffee bar. Keep checking the interview section
for the results of my discussion with him!
When Hydra and me made it into the Vic (security is more relaxed and not
as anal as House of Blues), Norwegian doom band Sahg was wrapping up
their first track. This is one band that is better live than on record.
Singer Olav's voice was extremely rich and soulful and not so much a
blatant clone of Ozzy or Bobby Liebling as on the debut Sahg record. He
had real presence, as did the rest of the band. The sound was clear and
excellent as they pounded through their crushing doom metal with purpose
and confidence. The Chicago metal crowd, which can be both tough and
appreciative, gave a good response to Sahg as they played tracks like
"Godless Faith", the Kyuss-y "Repent" and a hard-driving cover of
Pentagram's "Live Free or Die". This live set went as well as it
possibly could have for Sahg and makes me eager to see what they do
next.
1349 certainly makes for quite the contrast to Sahg. It might just be
that these Norwegians are the fastest band in the world right now...at
least, among bands that have human drummers. Their recent album
"Hellfire" lives up to its apocalyptic name and delivers aggression and
speed almost beyond comprehension. It takes a very steady hand at the
live mixing board to make sure such material doesn't turn into mush in a
concert environment. Alas, that hand was not in evidence tonight. It
seems that 1349 is just too much live. Their set sounded like somebody
attached a microphone to the space shuttle's engines after take
off...white noise, almost impossible to pick up a riff in some places.
This is what I had feared. Their inhuman drummer Frost was not with
them, but a suitable replacement in former Nile skinsman Tony Laureano
was found, so rhythm was not a problem. The guys came out with energy
and threw all the black metal poses, but the sound just was not there. I
could make out "Chasing Dragons" and "I Am Abomination" but it was
exceedingly hard to discern what other tracks were being played.
The crowd was well into it and there were more than a few present just
to see these guys. But the sound must be PERFECTLY balanced if 1349's
music is to be anything other than mud in the live setting. We didn't
get it tonight. It may be blasphemous to say this, but sometimes, you
can be TOO fast!
Speed was never the forte of Celtic Frost. For 20 plus years, the gloomy
Swiss masterminds have dwelt in their own domain, apart from the rest
of extreme metal. They have influenced countless bands, but no one has
ever managed the mixture of crushing sludge and adventurous
experimentation that Frost has. Sailing into Chicago after an absence of
18 years, the question was: can these guys still hang?
Is George Bush a liar? The faithful partook of a rapturous crusade
tonight. Frost has got to be the HEAVIEST band on Earth...still! Not
heavy in terms of the insane speed we saw with 1349 or the overdone
noise of goregrind, but with sheer musical WEIGHT! Oozing with a
pulverizing groove and incredibly down-tuned malevolence, we heard the
band at their thickest and crustiest tonight, in a set heavy with
classics from their first three albums and some goodies from their
strong new release "Monotheist".
The beast lumbered on stage to the thunderous sludge of "Procreation of
the Wicked"...one of my all-time faves that shows Frost mastered
hypnotically heavy groove better than anyone. Martin Eric Ain, once an
effeminate vampire in frilly shirt, is now a big bear of a man with a
wild mane of hair and a bushy beard you could hide a racoon in. Dressed
in dark monk robes, he ferociously stalked the stage headbanging like a
madman. He was definitely the most active of all the members of the
band.
The set leaned heavily on old classics. "Visions of Mortality"..."Circle
of the Tyrants"...the Hellhammer-penned "Necromantical Screams"...all
put in their appearance to grind our ass to dust. Hollow-eyed Tom
Gabriel Fischer, wearing his black beanie and with jaw set in a
perpetual angry grimace, made for an ominous master of ceremonies. For a
couple of fleeting seconds, he was seen to actually grin at the
rapturous response from the crowd, but soon enough returned to his stern
mask of morbidity. I didn't catch the session guitarist's name, but he
had to be a good 15 years younger than Ain and Fischer. It certainly
wasn't Erol Unala. This face painted ghoul was restrained in his stage
presence, but wow, he could certainly shred with that patented Celtic
Frost "warbling" guitar solo. He captured that sound PERFECTLY! As for
new drummer Francesco Sesa, he proved his chops with a bludgeoning
attack that was completely unassisted by triggers or trickery. Celtic
Frost 2006 matches the best of any past era of the band.
More killer classics erupted from the stage. "The Usurper" and "Jewel
Throne" made for an awesome dual assault. "Dethroned Emperor" and "Dawn
of Megiddo" demonstrated the doomier side of the band...this is truly
heavy shit. They dipped into "Into the Pandemonium" for the Goth-tinged
"Mesmerized" and "Triestess de la Lune", which gave Fischer a chance to
show his emotionally anguished moaning. I was hoping they'd play
"Mexican Radio" and "Babylon Fell" but alas, it was not to be.
From "Monotheist", they raged through "Ain Elohim", the fastest number
and the simplistic but unforgettable "Ground", which Tom described as a
song he both loves and hates.These cuts fit right in with the Frost
standards, though I was surprised they didn't do "A Dying God Coming
Into Human Flesh", which is getting a lot of exposure. Some wag from the
crowd yelled for something from "Cold Lake", the band's disastrous
"glam" album but no "Cherry Orchards" was forthcoming.
Celtic Frost had the crowd in the palm of their hand as they wrapped up
their set with the epic "Synagoga Satanae" from "Monotheist". Packed
with more feedback than a million garage bands, this is extremity that
can go head to head with any of today's younger acts. But it was a
prelude to the night's biggest disappointment, as the band simply left
the stage without an encore. Most of the crowd stood around confused
until it was obvious there would be no return. I was rather miffed and
so was Mistress Hydra. After so many years, you think they'd play an
encore for Frost-hungry fans. But no, that was all.
I have to say almost all of my favorites were played. It was truly an
experience to see "Into the Crypt of Rays", "Procreation of the Wicked"
and others pounded out on stage by a Celtic Frost at the top of its
game. Overall, a pretty good show, but I sure would have liked to hear a
few more from C.F. Maybe we won't have 18 years to wait for the next
visit...
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