As I walked into a packed Fillmore and took one look at the condition of the crowd, I could see that this was indeed was going to be "The Most Extreme Tour of the Year." The kids looked like they had already been through hell and back. They were hot, smelly, sweaty and drunk, and it was only 6pm. And although three bands had already played, there were still six bands to hit the stage, and it was painfully obvious that some of these young metalheads weren't gonna make it until the end. I however was just getting started….
The first band that I witnessed this evening was Despised Icon. Hailing from Montreal, this deathcore outfit got me to notice them from their first song. With their crunching guitars and dual vocals of Alexandre Erian and Steve Marois, Despised Icon put on a pretty brief but frantic set. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not really into deathcore, but I did enjoy their set.
After a quick twenty-minute stage breakdown/setup, So. Cal's The Faceless hit the stage and picked up right were Despised Icon left off. More of a traditional death metal band, The Faceless impressed me with their technical riffs and brutal vocals. Judging from the number of bodies flying over the barricade and into the photo pit, the crowd seemed to be pretty impressed with them too.
Before the crowd could catch their collective breath, the second band from Montreal, this time Cryptopsy, hit the stage next and proceeded to give one of the best performances of the night. With a perfect combination of brutality and technicality, Cryptopsy delivered the death metal goods. I liked the vocals of new singer Matt McGachy, and he along with the rest of the band put on a pretty damn energetic set of pure deathcore. And major kudos given to bassist Eric Langlois who, due to some back issues, had to finish the set sitting down. He looked like he was in some serious pain, but did what he had to do in the name of metal!
After yet another quick setup, Vader, the band who I had been waiting to see this evening, came out and just completely blew the entire crowd away. As the crowd erupted and one of the biggest "pits" of the night broke out, it was obvious that this was the band the kids had been waiting for as well. Singer/guitarist Piotr Wiwczarek sounded incredibly heavy, and as I was watching him play guitar and spew out his vocals, I was in total awe. Vader proceeded to put on a pure death-metal clinic, and showed some of these other bands what real old school death metal should sound like.
It's gotta be pretty tough to follow a band like Vader, but Kataklysm did just that, with pretty damn good results. These guys put on probably my second favorite performance of the evening. As I listened to them, I couldn't help but notice the trash-like tone of the guitars, which set Kataklysm apart from the other bands on the bill this evening. Singer Maurizio Iacono had the entire crowd worked up, which was no easy task considering most people had been at the show for close to six hours by the time Kataklysm finished their set. I was really getting into them as well, but unfortunately their time on stage was too short. I'm looking forward to seeing this band as a headliner at some point though.
By the time headliners The Black Dahlia Murder hit the stage, the number of bodies that had been crammed into The Fillmore had finally started to dissipate. After watching this band for a few minutes I decided that they weren't my cup of tea, so I too decided to call it a night. Looking back on this show, I have to say I was impressed with the number of talented bands on the bill, and I'm looking forward to seeing who's on the Summer Slaughter tour next year!
More on 2008 The Summer Slaughter here:
www.myspace.com/summerslaughtertour
sumerianrecords.com/summerslaughter
Artists:
www.kataklysmrocks.com
www.vader.pl
www.cryptopsy.net
www.myspace.com/thefaceless
www.despisedicon.com
www.myspace.com/blackdahliamurder
