VADER / KATAKLYSM / DESTRUCTION / SPEED-KILL-HATE / GRAVEWORM / THE ABSENCE
Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago, Illinois 6/3/2006
by Dr. Abner Mality
This
was one of the better underground metal packages afloat in 2006,
offering a ton of headbang for the buck with seasoned bands at the top
of the bill. Was there any way that I could pass it up? Is a hog's ass
ham?
So it was that I hooked up with my frequent companion for these events,
the effervescent and somewhat whacky Mistress Hydra to head down to
Logan Square Auditorium. This was a new venue for me and I was rather
pleased with it. It was pretty easy to get to with Hydra behind the
wheel, even though I got a lecture on the etiquette of moving from her.
"Most important rule: pack your shit," she exclaimed with gravity as we
dodged bad Chicago drivers on the way to the LSA. I can always count on
words of wisdom from this blonde philosopher, as well as a tasty visit
to the Nhu Hoa Vietnamese restaurant, which we both highly recommend.
We got to Logan Square a little early and amazingly, were able to walk
right up stairs without any kind of a check at all. The House of Blues
this ain't. Although it's quite a nice older place on the second floor,
somewhat reminiscent of Milwaukee's Eagles Club. It boasted a full
service bar, which Hydra and webmaster Sgt. Deth took full advantage of.
Sarge and wife Kathy joined Hydra and me for an evening of
neck-challenging metal. Many of the photos here are courtesy of Sarge
and Kathy.
First band was highly touted newcomers, The Absence, supporting their
debut record on Metal Blade. As you might expect for a first band, the
sound was far from perfect. These guys came across like a Black Dahlia
Murder mixed with the Gothic feel of a Daylight Dies…sad but aggressive
and occasionally dropping tempo for a twin guitar lament. Vocals were
pretty monotonous ripped lung shrieking. I thought they were OK, but
nothing special…but Hydra kind of liked them because of their Gothy
feel. Crowd response was actually pretty decent for a first band.
From Italy came Graveworm, a band I never particularly cared for that
much. Hydra got a snicker out of the slogan on the back of their
T-shirts: "Unleash Italian Darkness"…and I can't say I blame her. This
was a band that mixed high velocity black metal with Lacuna Coil style
Gothness. The keyboard sound I thought was smothering throughout, and
the 5 million-word a minute trollish croaking from the singer was
wearying after the first song. I didn't get much out of these guys, but
they definitely had their fans, and the Mistress gave them thumbs up as
well.
Next up was a band I was looking forward to checking out,
Speed/Kill/Hate, featuring the most underrated lead guitarist in
American metal, Dave Linsk of Overkill, mangling the strings. Dave's
former Overkill brother Tim Mallare was originally drummer on this
project but his place tonight was taken by Tony Ochoa. Another Overkill
member, Derek Tailer, was also out for "personal reasons", but his spot
was taken by Prong bassist Mike Longwood. With such a hodge-podge of
thrown-together talent, the set could have been sloppy and half-assed,
but instead it provided a nice stiff jolt of oldschool thrash.
Overkill resemblances were naturally present, but I could detect a good
bit of Nuclear Assault and Slayer in the mix as well. The choruses were
extra catchy and got the old neck bobbin' just fine. Linsk cut loose
with some great wailing solos...what a cruelly neglected talent this guy
is. Maybe he doesn't look enough like a guitar hero, but I'd put him
ahead of just about anybody else who played tonight. Speed/Kill/Hate was
very entertaining given the mediocre sound and short set time and I
look forward very much to checking out more from them. Hydra considered
this her fave band of the evening, even though she often mangled their
name by calling them "Hate/Speed/Kill", "Kill/Speed/Hate", and the
close-but-not-quite-there "Speed/Hate/Kill".
It was rather gracious of German graybeards Destruction to accept the
third slot on the bill, considering that they are the longest serving
band on the tour. They were one of the bands that kick-started the great
age of German thrash in the 80's, but that was over 20 years ago and
the times, they are a changin'. Tonight's headliners Vader hit with a
precise ferocity than Destruction could only have dreamt of in their
heyday. Still, they're a fun oldschool band and one of Sarge's favorites
for sure. Tonight they hit the ground running, filling their brief set
with relentless thrash and looking every inch the classic thrashers.
Schmier just looks like thrash metal personified, with leather and
studs, long black hair flying and huge bass held up in Lemmy Kilminster
fashion. Shame these guys had such a muddy sound. It made their material
sound kind of mushy and formless when it needed sharpness and
precision. I think their drummer Marc Reign is terrible. Monotonous,
unadventurous beats that didn't enhance the proceedings at all. These
guys need a new skinsman bad because based on what I saw, Reign just
doesn't fit the bill at all.
Despite the drawbacks, Schmier and Mike put on a great show and played
killer tunes like "The Antichrist", "Thrash Till Death" and classic
"Curse the Gods". Destruction had a lot of fans, including the living
embodiment of their mascot "The Mad Butcher", whom you can see in the
accompanying pics. Appropriately enough,the band's final tune was "The
Butcher Strikes Back". It was a fun set from Destruction but to be
honest, they are no longer what they were and Kataklysm and Vader were
about to demonstrate who really rules the roost in the 21st century.
I missed the first few songs of Kataklysm's set due to my interview with
Vader's Peter. It was great to talk to Peter (thanks to tour manager
Woody for helping with this) but I sure wish I could have seen the whole
Kataklysm gig. What I did see convinces me that the French-Canadians
are an absolute killing machine. The sound quality had greatly improved
for Kataklysm, allowing the precision of their technical and melodic
death metal to become apparent. Needless to say, Max Duhamel is a blast
beat fiend. He showed more versatility and energy in 30 seconds than
Marc Reign did in Destruction's entire set. He's the underpinning of the
Kataklysm war machine. The rest of the band easily keeps pace. I always
thought the band would suffer live because of one guitarist, as their
studio work is multi-layered, but this was not the case. J.F. Dagenais
managed to sound like two or sometimes even 3 guitarists as he ripped
into his instrument. Bassist Stephan put on his own show and took now
back seat to J.F. at all, bouncing around the stage with intensity.
Singer Maurizio is one big, tough looking dude...he looks like he has 20
inch arms and could go toe to toe with Triple H! His voice held up
well, too, whether it was screechy rasps or guttural roars.
Highlights of Kataklysm's set included "To Reign Again" and "Crippled
and Broken" from the new "In the Arms of Devastation" album as well as
old favorites like "Ambassadors of Pain", "Shadows and Dust" and final
raging cut "Face the Face of War". The pit size and fury had increased
with each successive band and now had grown to cyclonic proportions.
Next step for Kataklysm has got to be a headlining tour. Check out my
interview with J.F. elsewhere at Wormwood!
It was sure a daunting task to follow Kataklysm's intense performance
but Poland's Vader was more than up to the task. Chicago has quite a few
Polish metal fans, who showed up tonight in force at Logan Square,
brandishing the Polish flag and shouting out in Polska. They had a lot
to shout about. Vader is simply one of the best live death metal bands
on the planet. They attack from the word go, finding the perfect balance
between Slayerish thrash and Morbid Angelish death metal, with just
enough of their own touches to stay unique. They featured a lot from
their great new EP "The Art of War", including "Lead Us!" and incredibly
jamming "What Color Is Your Blood?", but also dove into some very old
faves like "Dark Age" from the very first Vader album "Ultimate
Incantation".
I have to compliment the superb death vocals of Peter...so grinding, so
intense and yet much more articulate than the usual mush-mouthed
muttering of death metal vocalists. Even more than Kataklysm, Vader is a
band that has been honed and tested by years of battle out on the
roads. The result is pure deathly delight, lean and mean, packing as
much adrenaline into a short set as possible.
Vader also treated us to the only encore of the night, a run-through of
Slayer's "Raining Blood". This is one of the most cliched songs for a
metal band to cover, but Vader not only did it justice, but probably
surpassed what Slayer itself could do these days. It capped off a
furious night of metal thunder.
Hydra's fave band was still Speed/Kill/Hate (or was it Hate/Kill/Speed?)
but if she wanted metal, she got it. We headed home and tried
unsuccessfully to get some late night cheesy fries. Don't try to get
anything late night at Franco's in Chicago...they got only 3 people
working there and every ghetto freak in 10 blocks was there waiting for
something. Well, you can't win 'em all! But luscious chow at Nhu Hoa and
a night of chest-thumping metal mayhem made for a more than
entertaining Saturday night in Chicago!
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