WARMOTHERFUCKINGBRINGER: I can safely say, that after last night, this band, fucking CHANGED. MY. LIFE. Now, I've seen them already, at Killfest, but they completely and utterly topped themselves in every possible fucking way last night. To start off, John kept leaning over and seeing that I was screaming the lyrics, so me and him were face to face and I was screaming into the fucking mic, and the energy off the crowd for them was just infuckingsane. At one point, this kid I know from Guitar Center, climbed on stage, and screamed "TOTAL WAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!" with John, and John didn't mind at all, but the dickhead security kicked him out. So anyways, first time I saw them, they didn't play At The Crack Of Doom, so I was disappointed, but THIS TIME, ohhhh they played it, they motherfucking played it all right, but this time, he wanted a fucking wall of death, now I was in a tiny ass wall of death for BFMV at Mayhem '09, but I wouldn't say that it counts, and all the other times walls of death were called at past shows, I would pussy out, but this time, he said "I want you motherfuckers to split up into 2 sides, I think you know what that means, and I screamed "FUCKING WALL OF DEATH!" and he smiled, and I couldn't contain myself, and I fucking darted over to the right side, I was right next to Adam, and we just nodded at eachother, and they played the acoustic intro, and then as soon as the blasting kicked we all ran like fucking gladiators, and............fuck I can't even describe it. It was just so perfect and rewarding, and just reassures me that moments like that are why I fucking live for Metal. Moshed with Roberto, he ran straight into me and I slid back lolz. And they played Beneath The Waves, which was amazing and screaming all the lyrics, especially the chorus was rewarding. And then at the end, when they played Combat Shock, me and this dude next to me were screaming the chorus in each other's faces out of nowhere, it just happened, but we just looked at each other and started screaming, and it made me think "Now THIS is what Metal is all about.". So anyways, they completely stole the show (I also got their Guitarist's pick at the end, keepin' up mah streak. Lolz.) and for the first time ever, I don't know what score to give them, they were so far beyond perfect, sooo.......... Priceless/10
The Black Dahlia Murder/Nile/Skeletonwitch/Hour Of Penance March 24th, 2012 The Intersection, Grand Rapids, Mi
Well the day started off with my friend, my brother, and I heading up to Grand Rapids to see one hell of a show. The drive took fucking forever but it was all worth it. Parked right across the street from The Intersection it was my first time there and I would really like to go to more shows there. The line wasn't very long when we arrived but it quickly got longer near the time of doors. We chatted up with some old-school thrashers who were there to see Skeletonwitch. It was also glorious their was very few scene kids at the show which made it 10X better. Also this is one of the few shows that I have gone to that I love evry band on the bill. They eventually let us in and grabbed a spot on the rail. Now its time for the bands.
Hour Of Penance: This was Hour Of Penance's 3rd show ever in the U.S. and you could tell they were excited. I had never even heard of them until they got announced on this tour. And let me just say they bring it live though I didn't know very much material it was a kickass set. They opened with the new song "Sedition Through Scorn" which brought it. After every song they would thank us for showing up which too my surprise alot of people showed up for their set. it wasn't until "Paradogma" the crowed got a huge pit going. I really like Hour Of Penance and encourage you to check them out because you won't be disappointed. 8/10 1. Sedition Through Scorn 2. Paradogma 3. Slavery in a Deaf Decay 4. Ascension 5. Decimate the Ancestry of the Only God 6. Misconception
Skeletonwitch: Next up was Skeletonwitch and I was pretty fucking excited. The old-school thrashers made they're way up near us. This was the first time I have seen Skeletonwitch and was not disappointed. When they came out and kicked into they're first song the crowd went crazy. Everyone headbanging or moshing it was an awesome sight. The band itself played extremely tight and sounded fantastic. I would love to see them on they're own headlining tour. Nevertheless it was fucking straight in your face blackened thrash metal. At the end my brother got a pick which was his first pick so that was cool. 9/10
Nile: After a lengthy change over Nile was up. I had never seen Nile before but I knew they brought it live. And holy shit George Kollias's drum kit was fucking massive. So they opened with "Kafir!" all went well it was fucking heavy. Went through "Sacrifice Unto Sebek" all fine until towards the end and one of his bass pedals stopped working. It took atleast 15 minutes to fix the problem which sucked because they're set got cut because of it. But the guys were keeping us entertained while they were fixing the problem. They apologized and finished their set which was fucking heavy. Sound was crisp and those guys can shred. Also this is when the push really started and it started to get crazy up front. It really sucks that the set got cut short they only got 5 fucking songs because of it. I need to see them play a headlining set but it was still fun. 8/10 1.Kafir! 2.Sacrifice Unto Sebek 3.Sarcophagus 4.Lashed to the Slave Stick 5.Black Seeds of Vengeance
The Black Dahlia Murder: The main reason I came was for TBDM. The Black Dahlia Murder have to be my favorite band out there. They have one helluva fun show and their music is fucking awesome as well. When the intro to A Shrine To Madness came on my blood started pumping and the push was massive I knew it was gonna be sick. They came on and the place went berserk everyone was either moshing, crowd surfing, headbanging and anything else it was insane. Trevor knows how to have fun up on stage he dances around just having a good time. And by the third song his shirt came flying off to a huge applause which I thought was funny. Saw some scene kid trying to fight his way up front get his ass kicked into the pit so that was all of him. Also I don't know what's up but ever since I saw them in October every show after that Bart hasn't been on bass I don't know if he's gone or what. What else can I say TBDM played tight as always the crowd was brutal and just another reason I love TBDM. 1.A Shrine to Madness 2.Moonlight Equilibrium 3.A Vulgar Picture 4.What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse 5.On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood 6.Necropolis 7.Malenchantments of the Necrosphere 8.Den of the Piquerist \m/ 9.Everything Went Black 10.Miasma 11.Carbonized in Cruciform 12.I Will Return 13.Blood In The Ink \m/ 14.Funeral Thirst
After the show I picked up the new Hour Of Penance Cd and chatted with the guys and asked them about the Summer Slaughter Survivor's tour and they said they had no idea if they are on it. Also they were so appreciative for me buying their shirts I hope they come around again. Also bought a sweet TBDM tour shirt for $15. The I headed over to the merch table bought a shirt and talked to Karl Sanders for a few he is a cool dude to talk to. I was gonna get a picture with him but my phone camera is broke oh well. After that said high to Shannon on my way out and made out trek back to my hour. It was a great show and if it comes around your area you should go its worth it.
Oh and I will add in the Skeletonwitch set once I find out all the songs they played.
Yeah I'm listening to Forever Abomination right now trying to remember if they played those songs. And I was slightly surprised they didn't play Statutory Ape but I didn't bother me they have played it every other time I have seen them.
I'd guess it's because of all the Ritual songs they're playing. If I end up seeing them next month I hope I get a set like that.. wouldn't be surprised if they cut it to 10 though.
WINTER JAM 2012!!!! - American Airlines Center, Dallas TX - 3/25/2012
Ok so maybe it's not what you've been waiting for at all, but I'll review it anyway for the lulz. For those who are unfamiliar with Winter Jam, it's basically a big touring Jesus Fest that features a lot of adult contemporary worship bands with like one good band snuck in. It also has a preacher and an illusionist! (who also preaches as well). Why did I go you ask? Well for one the ticket price is only 10 bucks so it's actually pretty damn affordable and quite an entertaining night just based off that. Seriously though, the reason I was there was for the headliner of the evening, Skillet, and there is no way in hell I'm turning down the chance to see such an awesome band for that cheap of an admission price.
So my 3 other friends and I got to the venue about an hour before the doors opened to get a good spot since all seating was first come first served. We got in right away and found an awesome spot at the bottom of the lower seating section in the arena, couldn't have been happier with our seats. We waited about half an hour before the first band of the night started playing.
We As Human: Honestly a pretty good hard rock band that would have set the tone really well if all the worship garbage wasn't playing between them and Skillet. I really found myself enjoying these guys as they made the best of the 10 min (WTF?!) they were given. Good sound and stage presence that had me wanting to see more. If you're a Skillet fan you should definitely check them out! 8/10
For King And Country: And here's where the shit fest begins. This Australian duo totally turned things around with their brand of.......gay contemporary pop music. Once again the set was only 10 min long so thankfully I didn't have to put up with them for very long. Be sure to never check these guys out. 3.5/10
Dara Mclean - Dear lord just when I though it couldn't get any worse Winter Jam throws another cringe inducing curve ball with this artist. While her name would lead one to think that she's a pop-country singer, she actually served up a big heaping plate of mushy pop music that makes Kelly Clarkson sound like Mozart. 10 minutes later it was all over, and I could breathe easy again for a short moment. 2/10
Group 1 Crew - The lights went out for this Christian lovechild of the Black Eyed Peas meets LMFAO (complete with rip-off light up suits). I was actually kind of excited to see something different but I was soon disappointed as the image they portrayed was just a charade. Right after the opening bouncy party song, they went right into some slow kind-of-catchy-but-not-really contemporary songs before finishing with a semi-poppy song. Their drummer was pretty sweet though so they get some points for that. 5/10
Building 429 - I honestly can't tell you what sets this band apart from anything else in their genre, my god they were boring. More bland ass Christian pop-rock from these guys. The guitar player looked like he was straight out of a metal band too, and just looked silly as hell dancing around the stage to this trash they were producing. D- would not see again. 4/10
Newsong - Full on straight up worship band here, complete with like 3 god damned vocalists and lyrics cheesier than a middle school love poem. I will say though they really had the crowd riled up for Jesus. This dude behind kept talking to himself, saying things like "ohhhhhh yes jesus", "thank you jesus, thank you jesus, THANK YOU JESUS!" which cracked me up pretty good. There were plenty of people were waving their worship arms up to the sky, a few teary eyed people were even spotted. The music was definitely powerful, but the lyrics just killed it. 6/10
Kari Jobe - Ok, I really don't wanna hate on this chick, she was fucking beautiful and had the voice of a damn angel. Like the previous band, the lyrics were stupid as hell, but I kinda didn't really care because the music just sounded so nice. One thing that annoyed me was she did that whole crying on stage thing that won over like.....the entire crowd but I just don't find it cute, it's sappy. Anyways I was at least able to appreciate another artist on this tour and while I can't personally connect with any of her songs lyrically, hey, at least it sounds pleasurable...........still doesn't hurt that she's cute. 7/10
Peter Furler - Apparently this guy was the former lead singer of this famous Christian band called "Newsboys", a band that I've actually seen before and didn't hate. Furler wasn't horrible either thankfully, granted it was still generic contemporary/rock music, it was at least better than some of the previous acts. The memorable low-light of the set though comes from when he started going on this rant about his faith in Jesus and said "this is more powerful than science! this is more powerful than education!"...............*facepalm*. 5.5/10
Sanctus Real - Shoot me. At this point I just don't give a damn about anything other than waiting for Skillet to come on, and there couldn't have been a more boring band to come on before them. Luckily they didn't get but like 25 minutes to play so while the pain was quite excruciating at times, it didn't last too long. Oh the sacrifices I make for bands I love.......4/10
Skillet - Holy shit I was not expecting how amazing this set was going to be. Before they came on there were 3 big black drapes lowed that surrounded the stage with the big "Skillet" logo displayed on the front. The boredom that has lingered from the previous band suddenly escaped as the lights were darkened and a violin and chello player made their way to the stage. They started playing the intro to "Whispers In The Dark" as the crowd was almost deafening at this point, about 30 seconds in to the intro flames shot up from behind the curtains as heavy guitar riffs played along with the chello and violin, the curtains then fell and the band erupted into the full song which got the crowd jumping and screaming like crazy. Just because they were on some worship festival didn't mean that they weren't bringing a full set of pyro along with them too. Flames engulfed the stage and all kinds of different explosives were going off throughout their set. And while the setlist was a little shorter than I'd like (9 songs), they played just about everything I could have hoped for out of a limited set. Tracks like "Hero", "Comatose", and "Awake And Alive" came off beautifully, and I didn't even mind a sighting of one of my favorite ballads as the song "Lucy" softened things up a bit while still keeping the emotional energy at a maximum. Overall a great set by one of the best live bands I've seen, and at $10 a hell of a steal even with all the other stuff before them. So yeah, if you're much of a hard rock fan, going to see Skillet live is a must!! 9.5/10
Lol that tour was here on st pattys day. I had to go downtown for something and they had roads closed off for a parade. I had to go behind the arena to get turned around and saw a bunch of tour buses. I was like the fuck is going on tonight. The show wasn't even listed on ticket websites so I didn't figure out what it was until days later.
You tryin to be a hero fool? You wanna see badass mother fucker?! I'll show ya a badass!!!
Comments
March 24th, 2012
The Intersection, Grand Rapids, Mi
Well the day started off with my friend, my brother, and I heading up to Grand Rapids to see one hell of a show. The drive took fucking forever but it was all worth it. Parked right across the street from The Intersection it was my first time there and I would really like to go to more shows there. The line wasn't very long when we arrived but it quickly got longer near the time of doors. We chatted up with some old-school thrashers who were there to see Skeletonwitch. It was also glorious their was very few scene kids at the show which made it 10X better. Also this is one of the few shows that I have gone to that I love evry band on the bill. They eventually let us in and grabbed a spot on the rail. Now its time for the bands.
Hour Of Penance: This was Hour Of Penance's 3rd show ever in the U.S. and you could tell they were excited. I had never even heard of them until they got announced on this tour. And let me just say they bring it live though I didn't know very much material it was a kickass set. They opened with the new song "Sedition Through Scorn" which brought it. After every song they would thank us for showing up which too my surprise alot of people showed up for their set. it wasn't until "Paradogma" the crowed got a huge pit going. I really like Hour Of Penance and encourage you to check them out because you won't be disappointed. 8/10
1. Sedition Through Scorn
2. Paradogma
3. Slavery in a Deaf Decay
4. Ascension
5. Decimate the Ancestry of the Only God
6. Misconception
Skeletonwitch: Next up was Skeletonwitch and I was pretty fucking excited. The old-school thrashers made they're way up near us. This was the first time I have seen Skeletonwitch and was not disappointed. When they came out and kicked into they're first song the crowd went crazy. Everyone headbanging or moshing it was an awesome sight. The band itself played extremely tight and sounded fantastic. I would love to see them on they're own headlining tour. Nevertheless it was fucking straight in your face blackened thrash metal. At the end my brother got a pick which was his first pick so that was cool. 9/10
Nile: After a lengthy change over Nile was up. I had never seen Nile before but I knew they brought it live. And holy shit George Kollias's drum kit was fucking massive. So they opened with "Kafir!" all went well it was fucking heavy. Went through "Sacrifice Unto Sebek" all fine until towards the end and one of his bass pedals stopped working. It took atleast 15 minutes to fix the problem which sucked because they're set got cut because of it. But the guys were keeping us entertained while they were fixing the problem. They apologized and finished their set which was fucking heavy. Sound was crisp and those guys can shred. Also this is when the push really started and it started to get crazy up front. It really sucks that the set got cut short they only got 5 fucking songs because of it. I need to see them play a headlining set but it was still fun. 8/10
1.Kafir!
2.Sacrifice Unto Sebek
3.Sarcophagus
4.Lashed to the Slave Stick
5.Black Seeds of Vengeance
The Black Dahlia Murder: The main reason I came was for TBDM. The Black Dahlia Murder have to be my favorite band out there. They have one helluva fun show and their music is fucking awesome as well. When the intro to A Shrine To Madness came on my blood started pumping and the push was massive I knew it was gonna be sick. They came on and the place went berserk everyone was either moshing, crowd surfing, headbanging and anything else it was insane. Trevor knows how to have fun up on stage he dances around just having a good time. And by the third song his shirt came flying off to a huge applause which I thought was funny. Saw some scene kid trying to fight his way up front get his ass kicked into the pit so that was all of him. Also I don't know what's up but ever since I saw them in October every show after that Bart hasn't been on bass I don't know if he's gone or what. What else can I say TBDM played tight as always the crowd was brutal and just another reason I love TBDM.
1.A Shrine to Madness
2.Moonlight Equilibrium
3.A Vulgar Picture
4.What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse
5.On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood
6.Necropolis
7.Malenchantments of the Necrosphere
8.Den of the Piquerist \m/
9.Everything Went Black
10.Miasma
11.Carbonized in Cruciform
12.I Will Return
13.Blood In The Ink \m/
14.Funeral Thirst
After the show I picked up the new Hour Of Penance Cd and chatted with the guys and asked them about the Summer Slaughter Survivor's tour and they said they had no idea if they are on it. Also they were so appreciative for me buying their shirts I hope they come around again. Also bought a sweet TBDM tour shirt for $15. The I headed over to the merch table bought a shirt and talked to Karl Sanders for a few he is a cool dude to talk to. I was gonna get a picture with him but my phone camera is broke oh well. After that said high to Shannon on my way out and made out trek back to my hour. It was a great show and if it comes around your area you should go its worth it.
Oh and I will add in the Skeletonwitch set once I find out all the songs they played.
Oh well, I'll be there regardless.
WINTER JAM 2012!!!! - American Airlines Center, Dallas TX - 3/25/2012
Ok so maybe it's not what you've been waiting for at all, but I'll review it anyway for the lulz. For those who are unfamiliar with Winter Jam, it's basically a big touring Jesus Fest that features a lot of adult contemporary worship bands with like one good band snuck in. It also has a preacher and an illusionist! (who also preaches as well). Why did I go you ask? Well for one the ticket price is only 10 bucks so it's actually pretty damn affordable and quite an entertaining night just based off that. Seriously though, the reason I was there was for the headliner of the evening, Skillet, and there is no way in hell I'm turning down the chance to see such an awesome band for that cheap of an admission price.
So my 3 other friends and I got to the venue about an hour before the doors opened to get a good spot since all seating was first come first served. We got in right away and found an awesome spot at the bottom of the lower seating section in the arena, couldn't have been happier with our seats. We waited about half an hour before the first band of the night started playing.
We As Human: Honestly a pretty good hard rock band that would have set the tone really well if all the worship garbage wasn't playing between them and Skillet. I really found myself enjoying these guys as they made the best of the 10 min (WTF?!) they were given. Good sound and stage presence that had me wanting to see more. If you're a Skillet fan you should definitely check them out! 8/10
For King And Country: And here's where the shit fest begins. This Australian duo totally turned things around with their brand of.......gay contemporary pop music. Once again the set was only 10 min long so thankfully I didn't have to put up with them for very long. Be sure to never check these guys out. 3.5/10
Dara Mclean - Dear lord just when I though it couldn't get any worse Winter Jam throws another cringe inducing curve ball with this artist. While her name would lead one to think that she's a pop-country singer, she actually served up a big heaping plate of mushy pop music that makes Kelly Clarkson sound like Mozart. 10 minutes later it was all over, and I could breathe easy again for a short moment. 2/10
Group 1 Crew - The lights went out for this Christian lovechild of the Black Eyed Peas meets LMFAO (complete with rip-off light up suits). I was actually kind of excited to see something different but I was soon disappointed as the image they portrayed was just a charade. Right after the opening bouncy party song, they went right into some slow kind-of-catchy-but-not-really contemporary songs before finishing with a semi-poppy song. Their drummer was pretty sweet though so they get some points for that. 5/10
Building 429 - I honestly can't tell you what sets this band apart from anything else in their genre, my god they were boring. More bland ass Christian pop-rock from these guys. The guitar player looked like he was straight out of a metal band too, and just looked silly as hell dancing around the stage to this trash they were producing. D- would not see again. 4/10
Newsong - Full on straight up worship band here, complete with like 3 god damned vocalists and lyrics cheesier than a middle school love poem. I will say though they really had the crowd riled up for Jesus. This dude behind kept talking to himself, saying things like "ohhhhhh yes jesus", "thank you jesus, thank you jesus, THANK YOU JESUS!" which cracked me up pretty good. There were plenty of people were waving their worship arms up to the sky, a few teary eyed people were even spotted. The music was definitely powerful, but the lyrics just killed it. 6/10
Kari Jobe - Ok, I really don't wanna hate on this chick, she was fucking beautiful and had the voice of a damn angel. Like the previous band, the lyrics were stupid as hell, but I kinda didn't really care because the music just sounded so nice. One thing that annoyed me was she did that whole crying on stage thing that won over like.....the entire crowd but I just don't find it cute, it's sappy. Anyways I was at least able to appreciate another artist on this tour and while I can't personally connect with any of her songs lyrically, hey, at least it sounds pleasurable...........still doesn't hurt that she's cute. 7/10
Peter Furler - Apparently this guy was the former lead singer of this famous Christian band called "Newsboys", a band that I've actually seen before and didn't hate. Furler wasn't horrible either thankfully, granted it was still generic contemporary/rock music, it was at least better than some of the previous acts. The memorable low-light of the set though comes from when he started going on this rant about his faith in Jesus and said "this is more powerful than science! this is more powerful than education!"...............*facepalm*. 5.5/10
Sanctus Real - Shoot me. At this point I just don't give a damn about anything other than waiting for Skillet to come on, and there couldn't have been a more boring band to come on before them. Luckily they didn't get but like 25 minutes to play so while the pain was quite excruciating at times, it didn't last too long. Oh the sacrifices I make for bands I love.......4/10
Skillet - Holy shit I was not expecting how amazing this set was going to be. Before they came on there were 3 big black drapes lowed that surrounded the stage with the big "Skillet" logo displayed on the front. The boredom that has lingered from the previous band suddenly escaped as the lights were darkened and a violin and chello player made their way to the stage. They started playing the intro to "Whispers In The Dark" as the crowd was almost deafening at this point, about 30 seconds in to the intro flames shot up from behind the curtains as heavy guitar riffs played along with the chello and violin, the curtains then fell and the band erupted into the full song which got the crowd jumping and screaming like crazy. Just because they were on some worship festival didn't mean that they weren't bringing a full set of pyro along with them too. Flames engulfed the stage and all kinds of different explosives were going off throughout their set. And while the setlist was a little shorter than I'd like (9 songs), they played just about everything I could have hoped for out of a limited set. Tracks like "Hero", "Comatose", and "Awake And Alive" came off beautifully, and I didn't even mind a sighting of one of my favorite ballads as the song "Lucy" softened things up a bit while still keeping the emotional energy at a maximum. Overall a great set by one of the best live bands I've seen, and at $10 a hell of a steal even with all the other stuff before them. So yeah, if you're much of a hard rock fan, going to see Skillet live is a must!! 9.5/10