Soilwork: Sworn to North America
So Josh welcomed me home last night by taking me to a Soilwork concert at the Bluebird Theater in Denver. The other bands there (Harvest the Murdered, Swallow the Sun, Warbringer, Darkane) sucked, but Soilwork made up for them by doing an hour set followed by a two song encore.
Harvest the Murdered was okay for a local band, but there was too much screaming and not enough good beats. They had good energy, though. I give them a 5/10.
Swallow the Sun is going to be a good band someday, but I was unwilling to purchase a CD of theirs because it didn't have any of the songs they were playing that were decent. They had keys in addition to their heavy beats and rhythms, and they were very melodic in their brand of metal. Again, they'll be good someday, but not yet. I'll give them a 6/10.
Don't get me started on Warbringer. Their speed/thrash metal had beats that were "ok" at best. Any good they did was eclipsed by their lead singer, who had good intensity but spent the entire set screaming and telling us the names of his songs that nobody could understand. He also kept looking at his hand like it was a separate entity. Whatever. The guy is whacko. Regardless, the guy's a little lost; he doesn't belong with Soilwork. They get a resounding 2/10.
The good music Darkane had to offer was overshadowed by their drummer's inability to carry anything but the typical thrash metal tune, which he constantly reverted back to in every song. They had some good stuff in there, but overall they kept going back to the same "let's pound on our instruments" sound. Not impressive at all. If they get a new drummer, this grade changes, but for now: 5/10.
Soilwork's impressive playlist included Exile and 20 More Miles from their new album, and they opened with Follow the Hollow, which is probably one of the best openers ever. They also played Soilwork's Song of the Damned, Black Star Deceiver, Rejection Role, Distortion Sleep, As We Speak, and a couple songs from their older albums. They hit Light the Torch, which Josh loved, and followed it with Stabbing the Drama, which is the song that got us into Soilwork in the first place. They finished their encore with Nerve, which is one of my favorite songs. The only two they didn't hit which Josh and I wish they would have were Natural Born Chaos and The Crestfallen. They really seemed to enjoy playing live and they thanked us for spending our hard-earned cash on Soilwork. It was tough, but they made up for the garbage on stage in front of them. Grade: 9.5/10.
Until next time...
Harvest the Murdered was okay for a local band, but there was too much screaming and not enough good beats. They had good energy, though. I give them a 5/10.
Swallow the Sun is going to be a good band someday, but I was unwilling to purchase a CD of theirs because it didn't have any of the songs they were playing that were decent. They had keys in addition to their heavy beats and rhythms, and they were very melodic in their brand of metal. Again, they'll be good someday, but not yet. I'll give them a 6/10.
Don't get me started on Warbringer. Their speed/thrash metal had beats that were "ok" at best. Any good they did was eclipsed by their lead singer, who had good intensity but spent the entire set screaming and telling us the names of his songs that nobody could understand. He also kept looking at his hand like it was a separate entity. Whatever. The guy is whacko. Regardless, the guy's a little lost; he doesn't belong with Soilwork. They get a resounding 2/10.
The good music Darkane had to offer was overshadowed by their drummer's inability to carry anything but the typical thrash metal tune, which he constantly reverted back to in every song. They had some good stuff in there, but overall they kept going back to the same "let's pound on our instruments" sound. Not impressive at all. If they get a new drummer, this grade changes, but for now: 5/10.
Soilwork's impressive playlist included Exile and 20 More Miles from their new album, and they opened with Follow the Hollow, which is probably one of the best openers ever. They also played Soilwork's Song of the Damned, Black Star Deceiver, Rejection Role, Distortion Sleep, As We Speak, and a couple songs from their older albums. They hit Light the Torch, which Josh loved, and followed it with Stabbing the Drama, which is the song that got us into Soilwork in the first place. They finished their encore with Nerve, which is one of my favorite songs. The only two they didn't hit which Josh and I wish they would have were Natural Born Chaos and The Crestfallen. They really seemed to enjoy playing live and they thanked us for spending our hard-earned cash on Soilwork. It was tough, but they made up for the garbage on stage in front of them. Grade: 9.5/10.
Until next time...