| Live review: Neckbreakers Ball Tour - Klubben, Stockholm - 2009-11-19 |
| Review published: 2009/12/06 |
|
Headlining polish black/death metal outfit Behemoth has joined forces with american DevilDriver and Arsis and swedish Scar symmetry for a
metal-packed tour through Europe.
Arsis
Arsis, being a relatively unknown band gets the first opening slot and as i am completely unfamiliar with their material, i obviously have no clue
what to expect from these Americans. And to be honest, I can't say that I'm too bothered with not having listened to this band. They do possess a decent level
of musicianship and some parts are really good, but there are several flaws with their performance. Most noteably, their brand of rather melodic Death metal
becomes boring and repetitive very fast and the band doesn't really have any charisma or attitude to deliver, despite the occasional feeble attempts from the vocalist/lead guitarist to
liven things up a bit. Overall a very bland gig that leaves you unswayed and just makes you wish the next band would come on stage soon.
Rating: 4/10
Scar Symmetry
Next up is Scar Symmetry, the only Swedish band on the bill. This band plays some sort of progressive melodic death metal with lyrics dealing msotly with philosophy and sci-fi-related
topics. Before I go into their live performance this evening, I'll say that unlike with Arsis, i have listened to most of the music released by Scar symmetry and even though they're not exactly
a favourite of mine, I gotta give them a little credit for having a rather original sound and a few of their songs are in fact great.
Unfortunately, there are also a multitude of negative factors regarding this band which
brings them down significantly. One of them being that the harsh contrasts between the heavy parts and the calmer ones just doesn't really make sense in a live situation. In the middle of some
really crushingingly heavy riff accompanied by deep growling, the music suddenly softens up and the other vocalist enters with some pretty cheesey clean vocals. This might work decent on record, but
live, it's just really frustrating to have this formula be repeated in song after song. And yes, Scar Symmetry actually uses two different vocalists, having recently parted ways with Christian €lvenstam
who used to handle both growls and clean singing just as good, perhaps even better than these two new guys do. Again, a very bland and boring performance, but then again, i didn't expect too much
from the two opening bands, I was there to see DevilDriver and especially Behemoth.
Rating: 3/10
DevilDriver
After a short break, DevilDriver enters the stage and it's not hard to tell that the crowd is far more enthusiastic than it has been at any point earlier this evening. The first track played is
End Of The Line, from their arguably most popular album, The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand. This instantly gets the crowd going and sets the mood for the rest of their performance. Devildriver's
music is fast, agressive and of a very mosh-friendly nature, as is the case with many of the newer bands hailing from America. Some songs, more than others, are a testament to this, a few of
them being the excellent 'I Could Care Less', 'Clouds Over California' and 'Meet The Wretched'.
The band, in particular frontman Dez Fafara shines with confidence this evening and seem to be genuinely enjoying themselves on stage. Unlike the two previous bands, DevilDriver keeps the momentum
going throughout their entire setlist and delivers a really tight and intense show. There isn't much else to be said about this band, I'm really satisified.
Rating: 7/10
Behemoth
A whole hour passes before the main band enters the stage, which has now been decorated with some really fitting accessories that are literally made out of heavy metal. The major part of this hour
is comprised of some dark eerie soundtrack and a vague, twitching light to set the mood for the show. As the band takes the stage, the crowd instantly wakes up after the long wait and the band wastes
no time, opening with the massive 'Ov Fire And The Void' from their latest masterpiece, Evangelion. The song is really menacing and cloaked in darkness and also leaves room for Inferno to excercise his
impressive capabillities behind the massive drumset which covers a large part of the stage. After finishing the first song, the mighty intro to Demigod starts and the band lets everyone know that they
have come to conquer this place and I must say that I have never witnessed a band with such an impressive stage-presence as the one that this band possesses.
Throughout the rest of their show, the band mostly sticks to
their newer material, playing songs from Demigod, The Apostasy and Evangelion, but they also include a few older songs like Decade Ov Therion, As Above So Below and the always impressive Chant For Eschaton,
which is definitely one of the crowd's favourites. The crowd is overall pretty frantic and Nergal does manage to always enhance it further with his rock-solid, capturing presence on stage together with his
frequent interaction with his audience.
Picking one or a few highlights from this performance is not the easiest task, because there is such an incredible standard maintained through all of the songs. If i have to select a few though, i would
probably say 'Ov Fire And The Void', 'Chant For Eschaton', and 'Shemamforash'. I will have to say that the biggest positive susrpise for me was how well 'Lucifer' worked as a closing track since i hadn't
really been listening to that song a lot before this concert. Also, the setlist was really close to being exactly what i wished for, with the exception being the absence of songs from Thelema 6.
I was expecting Christians To The Lions or Antichristian Phenomenon to be played, which is also the one and only reason why i give it a rating of 9.5 instead of 10.
After playing their own and the crowd's asses off through 11 or 12 songs, they close the concert with the unbelievably massive "Lucifer", also from Evangelion. A live-performance doesn't really get
much darker than this while still playing a skillfully performed metal masterpiece. There is a ritualistic feeling about this track and it is the perfect closer for a Behemoth show.
To finish the review off, i have to say that without any sort of doubt, this band is currently one of the tightest and most unique bands of the entire metal-scene. Their musicianship has developed
and matured more over the years than any other band i can think of right now and their skill, combined with their non-stop touring makes them deserving of all praise they can get. This is one of
those rare bands that expands upon the vision of what extreme metal is "supposed" to sound like and develops it to something truly unique.
Rating: 9.5/10
Per Karlsson
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