This was another of those "too much of a good thing" type concerts.
If it weren't for the fact that I was doing a review of this show, I would
probably have timed my arrival to catch Amon Amarth and then split
immediately after Kreator. But being the trooper that I am, I was at
the Agora early. My "reward" was a set of pretty generic grind/death
metal by Mayfield Heights' own Severed Remains. The band was tight and
talented, but I just don't get the appeal. It's sort of the rock
equivalent of really avant garde electronic music. In other words,
barely organized noise. To be fair, they went over well with the a
decent portion of the crowd, but at the same time I don't think I was the
only one bored and annoyed.
Goatwhore were a little more along the lines of what I like. They
played a mix of doom and death metal with vocals that alternated between
screams and growls and a more melodic style. I wouldn't say I thought
the band was anything special, but they weren't bad.
Amon Amarth began the interesting portion of the show, for me. The
band played a solid half hour set of Viking metal. The vocals are a
bit on the gruff side, but overall Amon Amarth aren't into the "brutal"
death metal sound. They're much more traditional and focus
on writing good catchy riffs. I enjoyed the band's performance, as did
most of the crowd.
Poland's Vader were up next. These guys are easily one of the best
death metal bands around. Their sound is brutal but still has just
enough catchiness and melody to make their material a little more memorable
than the majority of death metal bands. They played a blazing set of
originals and ended with a cover of Slayer's "Raining Blood".
Kreator have been a personal favorite of mine since the mid eighties when
I first heard the band's 'Terrible Certainty' album. These German
thrashers can still more than hold their own against their more "extreme"
contemporaries. With no new studio album to push, the band just tore
through a set of their greatest non-hits including "Pleasure to Kill",
"Extreme Aggression", "Betrayer", "Violent Revolution", and "Flag of Hate".
This was the definite highlight of the evening for me.
Nile, an American death metal band with a fetish for Egyptian mythology,
closed out the evening. I feel like I should like this band.
Their take on death metal is fairly unique, and the band is excellent, but
the end results just don't do anything for me. I'm was obviously in
the minority at the Agora this evening, though, as the crowd was very much
into the band. (Bob Ignizio)
