Metaltown 2006: review
First of all, here's the website with the line-up http://metaltown.se/sida1.htm
As you can see, it's basically Tool headlining over Mötörhöd, Cradle of Filth and so on.
So of course: TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
Friday 7th of July was like a long wait until the Tool concert. They hadn't played anything live for 5 years. But until then we had a couple of stuff to amuse ourselves with.
First off: THE HAUNTED. Their only album I really listened was One Kill Wonder, but when they played (at 2pm) I didn't feel anything really catchy intheir stuff. Honestly I was pretty bored so we just stepped aside and waited for Soilwork.
Now SOILWORK!.... they're good, I am a big fan of them (it's not my fault if my brain remembers song lyrics so well) so whenever they're playing somewhere I try not to miss it. That day was a special day because Peter Whichers (original guitar player in Soilwork) had quit the band and he got replaced by Daniel Antonsson (PATHOS, DIMENSION ZERO) who I know is Jesper's best friend. I met the guy once at Rockbaren in Gothenburg, he was pretty cool and friendly. So he's playing in Soilwork now, I don't know if it's a full time job but he seemed to fit in ok. The problem problem is that he's filling in Whichers' job as a lead guitarist. Antonsson didn't seem all that comfortable playing technical solos in all the songs, but I guess it takes some getting used to... (like, no shit! lol) Good show nevertheless, they played mostly new stuff for something like 45 minutes, the crowd wasn't really into it (it was probably too early in the afternoon) which made it easy for me to get closer to the stage and take great quality pics
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Next gig was EVERGREY, which I don't really know. I had heard a bit of their last album Monday Morning Apocalypse, but that's it. Tom S. Englund looks like a great frontman/singer/guitarist and their sound was really good. Too bad I wasn't into it at all.
Coming up next was.... CRADLE OF FILTH I guess. I expected to get some giggles out of that one and yep, I did get some. Okay, a lot. At first I felt a bit guilty for laughing too much, thinking that some fans would try to beat me up or something. But like, people were just watching and enjoying the crappy music as if they were just at some party... Dani Filth fucking sucks as a vocalist. There is absolutely nothing to laugh about LORDI when you have a joke like CoF being at the top of the "black/gothic metal" bands.
OPETH now. I'll be 100% honest and say that the only album I really liked from them was Blackwater Park and Still Life. Deliverance was OK and I didn't check out the rest. The first album I heard just a couple of times, years ago. They started with a track that I didn't know, it lasted like 10 minutes... the second song, Åkerfeldt introduced it by saying they had so many "hit songs" that they would play one of their "obscure" tracks for a change.... I got bored. Fortunately, they played "The Leper Affinity" third, and right after that we left to check out...
ENGEL! Like I said in the Gothenburg Metal thread, they're one of the most promising demo bands out there. At the moment they're recording their full-length album with Anders Fridén producing. I can't waaaaaait. Anyway I loved their show, all dressed up in tagged work shirts much like In Flames, with the simple "snowflake" Engel logo. All of them gave out so much energy onstage it got everyone bouncing and headbanging like crazy in front of the small stage. This was indoors so I couldnt take really good pics. Anyway it's cool to see such a great young band performing like real professionals, they really came off as experienced and talented. They just need to hurry the fuck up releasing their first album!
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After that we roamed around trying to find something to drink/eat. The thing that sucks with the Metaltown is that you cant bring any drinks or food. Not even water. They make you buy it.
Anyway we over-heard DANKO JONES. He cracked us up: "You know the only thing that's wrong in this picture? The fucking sun! I was told that Metaltown always had rain!..... What the fuck! It should be pouring!... There's nothing more horrible than seeing a metalhead wearing shorts!..... This is bullshit!.... I was born with a natural tan...... What's more ridiculous than a metalhead getting a sun tan.... In your face, Gothenburg!!!"
Another cool local band was KHOMA. I didnt know them, but my brother told me they had already played a couple of times and werent bad at all... Unfortunately we got late to their show and the bit that I saw was intense and really catchy. They played some sort of heavy Deftones/Tool/Muse-type of rock/metal, that's the only way I can describe it.
After that we caught a bit of the SATYRICON show. Now THAT's what I call a "black metal" show, even if Satyricon is more like "evil satanic punk" they still have more consistence than Cradle of Filth (who - let's face it - base their success on looks and extremeness). It was funny hearin Satyr speaking some kind of english-norwegian to the crowd haha. Anyway I enjoyed their new "hit" song "Now, Diabolical", catchy as hell.
I may be "old" to some of you but that's no reason for me to have to enjoy bands like Motörhead. Or "mewtarhed" like it should be properly said!... I only heard some of it but I was more busy waiting....
for TOOL.
They started right after the Motörhead showed ended. There was a long intro of course, but then we saw the band (guitarist, bassist, drummer and singer, no more) taking their spots onstage, and they rarely moved from them during the whole show. Everything was in place and it worked fine that way... Maynard James Keenan was wearing tight blue jeans, with sunglasses and a mowhawk. I didn't expect anything less unusual
He just said in an even, calm tone "How are you? (crowd in frenzy) Ok then, let's fuck some shit up" and BAM! "Stinkfist". My favorite. The bass drum was loud as hell and each kick was like a punch in the chest. I tell you, all of you who dont like wearing earplugs: there was a tall guy in front of me who kept plugging his ears with his hands during the whole show. I took pics.... Lots. I wasnt always sure if I had my settings right so I fiddled around and eventually 30 shots turned out good (out of a hundred ones lol). No chance to get better sights of Keenan who stayed in the back, so you can only see his "shadow" on the visual effects backdrops. They were kind of randomly displaying artwork and video clips that matched the songs played live. The other great moments of the show were "Jambi", "The Pot", "Forty Six & 2", "The Grudge", "Sober" (EVERYONE sang along to that one), "Vicarious"... I remember Keenan saying "New album: new songs.... That's just the way it fucking works." And everyone cheered in agreement, haha. My brother told me they played an old song that was his favorite, but I dont remember the title. At some point, Maynard said something completely out of the blue: "All the black tshirts are out..... But take the tank tops, with a little logo right here (points to his left side).... Now that's the shit." Totally random, lol.
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