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Superjoint Ritual,
Zeke, Incaidia, and Killbilly
The Agora Ballroom
04-29-04
Reviewed by Bob Ignizio
Supposedly, ticket sales for this show were limited to
exactly 666. Ooh, scary kids! But hey, the Satan schtick never gets old in
heavy metal. The night was supposed to be even more devilish, but Deicide
apparently dropped off the tour for one reason or another. To make up for
their absence a second local band was added to fill out the bill.
Locals Killbilly had the honor of getting things
underway. I was actually expecting something a little more garage rock from
the band’s name (hey, Zeke was on the bill so I figured it was possible),
but Killbilly were 100% metal. Their first song was my favorite. It
reminded me a bit of early Necrophagia with its sinister sounding riffs and
screams from the pits of hell vocals. The band followed this up with a tune
that brought to mind ‘Roots’ and ‘Chaos AD’ era Sepultura before settling
down into a more consistent sound. The rest of the material sounded like a
mix of death and black metal with just a touch of nu metal influence in some
of the guitar parts. The band played well, but at times seemed a bit
awkward on stage. Overall, though, I enjoyed Killbilly and hope to see them
again.
Next up was another local band, Incaidia. I was
worried these guys might sound like Limp Bizkit when I saw the guitar player
had his pants damn near down around his knees, but luckily it was a false
alarm. Their sound was much more straight ahead metal, not quite death but
pretty hard and heavy nonetheless. In contrast to Killbilly, the guys in
Incaidia looked like they had a few shows under their belts already and
performed with confidence and presence. A lot of times I get antsy when
forced to sit through local openers that I’m not familiar with, but both
Killbilly and Incaidia did a good job of getting me (and the crowd) warmed
up for the touring acts.
Zeke seemed an odd choice to hit the road with
Superjoint Ritual. They’re as much punk as they are metal, having helped
carve out the same niche inhabited by such bands as Nashville Pussy and
Speeddealer. Frankly, I was a bit worried the Superjoint crowd wouldn’t
take to ‘em, but it turned out I was wrong. The band’s energy and rapid
fire delivery managed to win over most of the crowd, and if anyone was less
than thrilled they at least didn’t act like an asshole about it. I can’t
even tell you how many songs Zeke played, because as soon as they were done
with one they were into another, often before I was even aware of it.
Although this band has some good tunes, live they’re all about the energy.
The blazing parade of songs only let up briefly for a couple of the slower
songs off the band’s most recent album. Anyway, it was a good set.
For anyone who wonders if vocalist Phil Anselmo was
crazy for leaving Pantera, just compare his current band to the ho-hum
Damage Plant project featuring his former band mates Dimebag Darrell and
Vinnie Paul. The man made the right choice. Superjoint combines death
metal, old school thrash, and hardcore punk (with just a touch of that New
Orleans vibe) for a truly unique sound. More importantly, this band knows
how to serve the songs up live. The only gripe I have about Superjoint’s
show is that Phil tends to ramble on a bit. I lost count of how many times
Phil stopped to praise the audience, and he went off on speeches about
Metallica, the rebel flag, and a few other topics. Maybe because of his
chronic back pain he needs to take a breather now and then. I wish the band
had used some of that time to play a few more songs (quite possible, since
each of Phil’s speeches were at least as long as the average Superjoint
tune). But hey, that's just me. It's not really a major
complaint, but the excess talking did break the band's momentum at times.
However, when Superjoint was playing, they were excellent. I don't
think anyone (other than a few Deicide fans) went home dissapointed. (Bob
Ignizio)
For pictures, click
here.
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