So I'm expanding my focus a bit. I am going to experiment with concert reviews. It occurred to me that I live near a major metropolitan area and actually go see a few shows... and I have a big mouth so... here we go!
I like going to shows. Not for the social "we are brothers in metal" nonsense. No, I just enjoy live metal and I am happy to be near a place where seeing kinda/ sorta underground bands is a real possibility. So down my girlfriend and I traveled to metro Atlanta to see Bolzer, Trapaneringsritualen, Vimur and Cloak.
Cloak- Because of rain, we got there a little late, so we were only able to catch 3 songs. I have to say I really enjoyed what I heard. Basically an extreme metal stew of punk, traditional heavy metal, post- punk and black metal, Cloak has a great mix of sounds that doesn't usually work for me. I can only think of one other band that's similar that I like. So good sounds, but weak performance. I mean, they did try... they lit incense and put up a large 5 piece candle stick, but there was zero stage presence. They barely looked at the audience and mostly just stood there and played. If not for the (small) staging I might have thought I was better off just listening to the record... at least the music was solid but they need to connect with the audience more. However, they were the most interesting band of the evening...
Vimur- Before I say anything, I want to remind you, dear reader, that I am a huge black metal fan... Just sayin'... Like Cloak, Vimur are native to Atlanta. Unlike Cloak, they attempt to make more traditional sounding "norse" black metal. We watched as they set up. They put two random spears onstage, which, while fine, had me scratching my head a bit. After sound check, the lead singer asked them to play a "short" intro and the band walked off stage. "Ride of the Valkyries" began playing. I mean, whatever, they're at least trying to create an atmosphere for the show but I found it a little cringe worthy and maybe a little too "on the nose". They came out in corpse paint(of corpse!) and began to play. And here's the issue... I mean, they were fine but they were a poor carbon copy of Norse style black metal. Opposed note riffing, overly melodic in an attempt to sound "cold" but no atmosphere at all. But they tried... At one point they all raised tiny "collector items" weapons and bellowed something about "battle... " Blah, blah, blah... The idea of going to war with a knife procured from a knife show... at least pull out a sword. Like most modern bm, the music is way too melodic and is empty of any "atmosphere" or "brutality". This is what I call "boy next door" black metal. It is absent of everything that made black metal, and metal in general, interesting or dangerous from the start... They are a pale shadow. As far as stage presence, the band felt like 4 people in a couple of different bands. The bassist was on the other side of the stage, playing something that sounded like it didn't work with the rest of the music. Though, apparently he was having issues with his set up. During the last song he kept looking at his cabinet and finally just walked off the stage, literally changing nothing about the song or live performance. I was not a fan but, hey, at least they tried... Unlike the headliners...
Trapaneringsritualen- Another advance note... I am a huge noise/industrial fan. I have had multiple projects over the years in these styles and got into it around the same time I got into metal. I was... interested in this project. I have listened to a couple of their releases before and found them to be... too sanitized for my taste. It was absent of the darkness or danger that the style should have. Hmmm... that sounds familiar... its a problem in modern "extreme" music. A lack of any real extremity. But I thought that in a live environment the artist might be able to conjure some real atmosphere and push the extremity. Welp, he tried... He set up two banners with his symbol on it, lit some pungent incense and walked out in a fairly effective mask. He actually got the crowd's attention... and just as quickly lost it. All he did the whole time was play his music over the PA and bellow at the crowd. When he took the mask off A SONG IN, he lost the crowd who just start walking away or looking at the their cell phones. He continued to bellow and flail and its just... boring... He never engaged the crowd, he never introduced the songs and he never fully created an atmosphere that's half way interesting. He simply stood there bellowing, sometimes not even towards the audience... sometimes just into the air and not even into the microphone. Its just this kinda fat Swedish dude flailing and bellowing over some "meh..." industrial/ ritual music. We left about half way through the set and stood outside... like almost the entire crowd at the venue, and dear reader, it was raining pretty hard. As someone who works artistically in a similar style, I have questioned whether this style can even be played live. That point can be debated but standing there bellowing over your NON rip off is not the way to do it. Well, perhaps the headliner will bring something interesting to the table in a live setting...
Bolzer- (Yes, I know they have an umlaut in their name, I don't have that capability on my keyboard.)
Up comes the headliner... They set up before the last artist and apparently joined him on his last song. Bolzer themselves are fine death/black/extreme melodic metal. I've never been particularly blown away by them but I can see why people like them. Its two dudes, one guitarist/vocals and one drummer. I had heard various comments about how I shouldn't miss them because they are intense live. The only question I have is... Were they tired or something last night? They were probably the most boring performers. They went straight into their set and just played. The songs were technically perfect but they might as well have been played over the PA with how little stage presence there was. We went mostly because my girlfriend loves the recorded output of Bolzer and even she said that she could have stayed home and listened to the record and got the same effect. They wouldn't even look at or talk to the audience. They went through 7 (I think) songs and then mumbled goodnight and left the stage. If they played with intensity in other places they left it all behind somewhere else. What this crowd got was a way too shy and fairly boring stage performance of a recording perfect set of songs. No presence, no communication and no reason to go out to spend their hard earned money.
You want to know what's killing live music? its a performances like the one I witnessed last night. Why go out when the performance is just a note for note playing of your recorded output? And before you say that extreme metal is about the music, I would remind you that even Mayhem at their prime would use pig heads. I've seen bands light up a stage with candles. Hell, even Mortuary Drape would put a real coffin on stage and Mutiilation would do an animal sacrifice. Did these bands need to do that? Absolutely not but a little eye contact and a saying "good night and thank you" wouldn't have hurt either.
I've seen better underground performances many times. And these are big names. They need to do better to create a real atmosphere and put you in a mode with their stage show. Otherwise the "dark music" just seems silly while watching some punk dude desperately trying to hook up with the bar tender.
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