The Deth Tour makes a stop in Myrtle Beach, SC…

That’s right, folks! On Sunday, June 29, 2008, Dethklok’s Deth Tour with Chimaira and Soilent Green made it’s mark on the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, SC! This show definitely contained too much Metal for one night!

The first band to play was Soilent Green. As always, these guys tore up the stage with their chaotic Sludge metal straight from New Orleans! Really, SG was a good choice to open this once in a lifetime show. Their set consisted of a good mix of older songs and a few new songs from their most recent album Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction. Overall, they played a great set!

The second band to hit the stage was none other than Chimaira! Just like Soilent Green, Chimaira, once again, played an insane set consisting of older songs and songs from their most recent album Resurrection including “Resurrection”, “Power Trip”, “The Flame”, “Worthless”, “Nothing Remains”, “Salvation”, and more! As with the first time I witnessed Chimaira play live, their “808′s” (bass blasts) were absolutely insane! Overall, another great set that Chimaira was another great choice for this tour of destruction!

After quite a few anticipating minutes after Chimaira got finished and sound check was complete, the time finally came! The most brutal cartoon band in existence was brought to life as Brendon Small, Gene Hoglan, Mike Keneally, and Bryan Beller took the stage (Brendon Small and Gene Hoglan are the only current members of the band, but the other two tour with them to fill out the band). Honestly, this was one of the coolest concert experiences I’ve EVER had as I witnessed these four guys playing most of Dethklok’s songs as videos were playing in sync behind them. It was absolutely incredible how talented these guys are and how well they stayed in time with the videos! The set they played consisted of some of the most brutal tunes to hit the cartoon scene including “Briefcase Full of Guts”, “Murmaider”, “Go Forth and Die”, “Thunderhorse”, “Deththeme”, “Castratikron”, “Hatredcopter”, “Bloodtrocuted”, and a few others. As mentioned above, this is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen live and I will never forget this awesome showcase of talent and pure cartoon BRUTALITY!

All in all, this was an awesome show and most definitely worth the 3 hour drive to Myrtle Beach! If you are ever presented with the opportunity to see Dethklok live, TAKE IT! You won’t regret it!

Chimaira – Resurrection [Special Edition]
Ferret Music (U.S.)/Nuclear Blast Records (Outside U.S.A.)

(5/5)

To define the word aggressive in Webster’s Dictionary, there should simply be a picture of Chimaira! With one EP and three previous full length albums under their belts, Chimaira kept the pain train coming full force with their most recent full length release Resurrection. Throughout this 11-track masterpiece, vocalist Mark Hunter leads the band with his massively aggressive screams and yells combined with his singing to compliment the musical roller coaster created by guitarists Rob Arnold and Matt DeVries, bassist Jim LaMarca, and drummer Andols Herrick (who came back into the band for this album). To accent the whole sound of the band, keyboardist/sampler Chris Spicuzza throws in his thundering 808s (“bass blasts”) and deep growls to back up Mark. As for the overall sound of the album, Resurrection is definitely one of the top Metal albums of 2007! My favorite tracks off the album include “Resurrection” (title track), “Six”, “Needle”, “Empire”, and my top favorite happens to be Matt Devries’ favorite off the album as well, “The Flame”. “Resurrection” is a great track to listen to for the mere fact that it is such a great start to this album and gives you a preview of how aggressive this album will be. On top of the aggressiveness, there are some harmonic bends in this track that are absolutely out of this world! As far as “Six” goes, this another favorite of Matt’s. It’s a favorite between the both of us for the simple fact that it shows how diverse this band can really be. “The Flame” tops the list for me because of its overall quality as well. It starts out with the sound of a girl screaming, the breaking of glass, then pure aggression from there on out. In the aggressiveness of the track, there are also some great precision stops and some of Chimaira’s trademark 808s. Overall, if you’re looking for a shot of adrenaline and some pure aggression to fuel your day, grab a copy of Chimaira’s Resurrection!

All That Remains and Chimaira put on explosive show in Charlotte!

On March 5, 2008, Ferret Music band Chimaira supported Prosthetic Records band All That Remains in a KILLER show at Amos’ Southend in Charlotte, NC. Joining Chimaira in supporting ATR were Metal band Light This City and Black Tide. Honestly, this show was one of the most aggressive events I have ever witnessed!

The first band to warm up the stage was West Coast Metal machine, Light This City. This was my first experience seeing this band and I was impressed. They were HEAVY! Guitarists Ryan Hansen and Brian Forbes were on top of their games killin’ the six strings and throwin’ in some hair spins and much needed headbanging. Bringin’ up the incredible back bone for LTC were drummer Ben Murray and bassist Jon Frost! The last piece to this puzzle was the brutal screaming of vocalist Laura Nichol. With all the forces of this band are combined, LTC put on a great show and kicked this show off the right way!

The second band to play was definitely the odd band of the tour, but still definitely deserved to be there! This band…is Black Tide. To compare this band to anyone else, they’re like a young Dragonforce without all the sweep picking! As mentioned before, BT was the odd band of the tour because of their style, but they definitely had talent. Guitarists Alex Nunez and Gabriel Garcia helped lead the second wave of attack on Amos’ Southend with bassist Zachary Sandler and drummer/keyboardist Steven Spence. Vocals were shared pretty equally between Zach and Gabriel, but Alex had an input in it every now and again. Overall BT played a great set mostly constructed of original songs, but they also played Metallica’s first written song “Hit The Lights” that appeared on Kill ‘Em All and will be appearing on BT’s new album, Light From Above. These first two band were only setting up for what was to come next!

And what came next was none other than Cleveland’s own Metal task force, Chimaira! Honestly, Chimaira is one of the most aggressive and powerful bands I have EVER heard! If you listen to any of Chimaira’s albums, you’ll get a slight glimpse of their power, but none of the albums compare to their live show! With the combined efforts of guitarists Rob Arnold and Matt Devries with bassist Jon LaMarca, keyboardist/sampler Chris Spicuzza, and returning drummer Andols Herrick, Chimaira proceeded to nearly blow my eardrums with an incredible set consisting of new and old songs. To complete the formula, insanely aggressive vocalist Mark Hunter was leading this set through songs including but not limited to (probably my favorite Chimaira song) “The Flame”, “Resurrection”, and “Salvation”. Pre-show, I was able to get an interview with Matt Devries who had some pretty interesting things to say. When asked about his favorite song off of their latest record Resurrection, he replied with my same favorite song, “The Flame”. He mentioned it was his favorite because of its aggressiveness and that it was so fun to play, although “Six” was another top from the album because it shows the diversity of the band. Matt had also appeared on the Roadrunner United: The All Stars album and said he was honored to be able to have that opportunity to play/record with guys he’s looked up to before and to have time working with Joey Jordison on that album as well. Overall, with the interview and witnessing of their live set, Chimaira helped give me one of the most memorable concert experiences I have had with Rock In Review!

At last it was time for the final wave of attack, All That Remains! Hailing from Springfield, Massachusetts, this five-piece Metalcore band definitely put the perfect finishing touches on an incredible night! This being the third time I’ve seen ATR I kind of knew what to expect, but I was still surprised with the performance of a few of their older songs including the first song vocalist Philip Labonte ever wrote for ATR; I believe it was “Clarity”. At the time that song was released on their first album Behind Silence and Solitude, the only other original member in the band that remains in the band today was guitarist Oli Herbert! Now, joining Oli and Philip in the journey towards making the world a more Metal place are rhythm guitarist Mike Martin, bassist Jeanne Sagan, and their most recent drummer Jason Costa. Together, these five make up an incredible band who have impressed me 3 out of 3 times! As mentioned, on March 5th, ATR played new and old songs including “Not Alone”, This Calling”, “This Darkened Heart”, and for Guitar Hero fans…”Six”! As their encore song, Laura Nichol from Light This City joined Philip in performing the vocals for the closest song ATR has to a Death Metal song, “The Weak Willed”. This was the perfect end to a great show!

All in all, this concert was one for the books and I had a blast getting to experience it! Make sure to catch these bands on tour near you if possible!