Featuring The Black Dahlia
Murder,
with Kataklysm, Vader, Cryptopsy,
The Faceless, Despised Icon, Aborted, Born of Osiris, Psycroptic, and
Whitechapel.
Review by S J Holetz
Summer has finally reached Seattle, and with it beautiful 80 degree
days, crisp breezes off
Puget Sound, and another installment of the Summer Slaughter
tour. Having attended last year, I
have come to regard the event as
something akin to "the CNN of Metal." Whether you like death metal
or
metalcore, techmetal or grind, Summer
Slaughter is an amazing
one stop opportunity to immerse
oneself in metal and humanity while
checking out the cutting edge of extreme music. So immerse myself
I
did, joining the somewhat- greater-than-capacity crowd at Studio Seven
for another evening of aural
assault.
With no fewer than 10 bands in tow for this year’s stop, the venue had
expanded barricades
outside of the club to include an outdoor merch
area, a cool touch which lent the show more of a festival
feel than
last year.
First up, Knoxville's Whitechapel , whose trio of 7
strings put out a solid wall of bass heavy noise
that got the crowd
jumping early. A little too metalcore for my taste, but a respectable
opening.
More impressive was the highly technical offering of Australia’s Psycroptic, as lone guitarist Joe Haley
managed to produce more sonic shrapnel than the 3 guitarists in Whitechapel
combined. Haley’s guitar
work, combined with the paint peeling roar of
vocalist Tony Reust of Unmerciful
(standing in ably for
regular vocalist Jason Peppiatt, back in Tasmania for the birth of his
first child), wasted little time in
establishing the band as
an early show favorite. Definitely an act I’d like to hear more from.
This was followed by Born of Osiris out of Chicago, who
melded progressive keyboard touches
with metallic crunch, resulting in
a vibe that reminded me immediately of their Sumerian Records
labelmates The Faceless,
although with songwriting not quite as catchy or technically
impressive.
Nevertheless, their short breakdown heavy set was
entertaining if not memorable.
Belgium’s Aborted had no problem on the memorability
front, immediately searing the brain
with a brutal set of blood-soaked
death metal, their sound equal parts state-of-the-art Scandinavian
death
and Floridian goregrind. Svenchi and Co. kicked seven different kinds
of ass in
their short set, excellent.
After Aborted’s electrically charged offering, I found Despised Icon’s
set a little lackluster. The
music was definitely well executed, but it
just didn’t grab me, and I was disappointed to hear that co-
vocalist
Steve Marais' insane patented pig whistle proved difficult to recreate
in the live setting.
Next up was Los Angeles’ The
Faceless, one of last year's
highlights, and once again they did
not disappoint. This time with
bassist in tow and sans keyboardist, their sound was tougher and more
brutal, without losing a bit of their signature technicality. The Faceless
absolutely tore it up with crushing
versions of "An Autopsy" and
"Pestilence", along with a couple of new tracks. An amazing band, I
can't
wait to hear their new album come October.
Following The Faceless, I was really fired up for the next act Cryptopsy.
I have been looking
orward to finally catching this brutally technical
Canadian act live, despite the criticism they have been
receiving over
their latest release, The
Unspoken King, and new singer
Matt Magachy. The criticism
had definitely followed the band into the
club on this occasion, prompting one of fans next to me to say:
“I
can't believe it man, that new cd is a total disgrace”. While I have my
own opinion on Unspoken King
(not as good as I’d hoped,
but not nearly as bad as I'd heard), I was more than willing to give
them their
day in court. Yet before Cryptopsy could storm the stage, the show stopped.
Literally.
At this point the venues management announced that the building was
over capacity, and unless
150-175 patrons willingly relinquished their
tickets (to be refunded or exchanged for admittance to a
future show),
the Fire Marshall would be forced to cancel the rest of the evenings
entertainment. So
while Cryptopsy played freeform jazz odyssey,
incorporating a little Primus, the show sat in limbo
as the crowd waited for the room to bleed out. And waited. And waited.
After 20 minutes or so, the crowd had been satisfactorily culled and
the show continued. Once
unleashed, Cryptopsy
brought the battle to the audience, taking the stage to
intro-slash-internet-rebuttal
"Dinnertime" before slamming into the
latest single "Worship Your Demons", the new discs most technical
track. McGachy, sporting a black "I don't give a fuck if you hate me"
t-shirt, tore into the material with a
vengeance, vocal style adequate
to the task if lacking in the sort of character that made Lord Worm so
unique. The bands set avoided controversy
by sidestepping clean vocals altogether, sticking instead to
old
favorites like "We Bleed" and "Slit Your Guts". The band performed as
one perfectly calibrated
instrument of musical devastation, as
guitarists Alex Auburn and Christian Donaldson lashed the
audience with
barbed-wire licks anchored through their twisting time changes by Flo
Mournier's brutally
precise drum work. Unfortunately, due to Fire
Marshall-gate, the set was truncated to a mere 4 scorching
numbers, but
with the last notes of "Phobophile" still hanging in the air, I could
heard "total disgrace" guy
comment, opinion still in mid-flip: "That
was fucking amazing". I concur completely.
Next on tap: a serving of old school, evil death metal courtesy of Vader,
Poland's veterans of a
thousand satanic tours. For this outing Peter
and the gang were joined by Decapitated bassist Martin
Rygiel, marking
his Summer Slaughter return to Seattle. As always, Vader were tight and
heavy, laying
down wave after wave of fantastically crunching riffs and
dive-bombing solos, as they inflicted "Carnal",
"Sothis", and "Wings"
on the willing masses. It was awesome to finally catch Vader
live, and I hope
that their crushing set turned a few new listeners on to this great
band.
Taking up Vader’s challenge, Canada's Kataklysm answered in fine fashion, taking the
crowd
by storm with a set heavy with cuts from latest rounder Prevail.
Vocalist Maurizio Iacono did a fantastic
job connecting with the
audience, interspersing affable banter between slabs of the bands
catchy
Northern Hyperblast. Memorable tunes included “Chains of Power”,
“Taking the World by Storm”, and
“Crippled and Broken”, all supremely
entertaining.
I have to admit, I was a little surprised when I saw that Black Dahlia Murder
was headlining this
tour. My experience with the band has been limited
to a unremarkable second stage performance at
Ozzfest 2005, and a
couple of viewings of their very cool Creepshow-themed latest video.
The band established their credibility in short order however, their
brand of crowd-pleasing metalcore
immediately sending a torrent of
younger stage divers flying off the stage like it was a waterslide. Set
highlights included rousing takes on "Nocturnal", "What a Horrible
Night to Have a Curse", "Statutory
Ape" (complete with Gorilla suited
minion) and "The Blackest Incarnation". By mid-set the pit was the
hairiest I’d seen since...well, those belonging to front man Trevor
Strnad.
BDM even took a moment to revisit the Fire
Marshall Issue,
saying: "This next song is for all your
friends who had to leave the
show. Tell them sorry when you see them. It wasn't our fault, WE didn't
oversell the venue."
As Black Dahlia Murder brought the show to close with a
raging version of “Deathmask Divine”,
I had developed a grudging
respect for their game. I can definitely appreciate the Maiden-influenced
guitar harmonies that inform their tunes and their dedication to
showmanship. In all, an emphatic
exclamation point to a fine evening of
metal.
So once again, I had a great time at Summer Slaughter. I was able to check off a few great
bands I had missed previously (Cryptopsy and Vader) revisit a favorite (the Faceless) and discover a
few cool unfamiliar acts for additional listening (Aborted and Psycroptic), definitely a productive and
enjoyable show. I must reiterate, Summer
Slaughter is a great opportunity
to survey the modern
metal landscape. Do not miss it. 9/10