Run With The Torch

Lately I’ve been listening to a cluster of metal genres who are all the offspring of industrial metal, these are Tech-, Math- and Cyber- metal. And mostly crossovers between these sub-genres with others and often progressive and experimental.

Here’s a list of bands I truly enjoy and suggest you to have a listen to.

• myGRAIN: Melodic Death with some Cyber metal
• Black Comedy: Melodic Death + Cyber + Industrial
• Sybreed: Cyber + Industrial
• Sikth: Progressive Math(core)
• Periphery: Progressive Math(core)  + tech
• Animals as Leaders: Progressive + instrumental + experimental + math metal
• Hacride: Progressive Death + Tech metal
• Eths: Female Fronted Metalcore + Industrial

And offcourse the usual suspects such as Fear Factory, Gojira, Dedicted, Textures etc…

These are just a selection, look em up on Last.fm to find more of the likes of these.

Also worth noting; not so long ago the new band Arkaea released their debut album Locust, who you might ask? Well these lot are Fear Factory’s Christian and Raymond teamed up with Threat Signal‘s Jon Howard.

Sunday, the last day of Graspop, the sun was blazing again and I took my time in the morning. I had no interest in the opening bands of this day and so I skip to the band that opened Sunday for me.

Lamb Of God, one of the most popular metal acts in the United States right now. I’ve been looking forward to seeing these, especially with the recent release of their excellent new album Wraith. I got close to the stage and really enjoyed headbanging along to each and every single tune the performed (and sometimes an attempt at singing along). Lamb Of God really set the pace for another excellent day of metal.

Next, another band I’ve been wanting to see for quite a while. Their Vocalist had quit the band short after the release of their latest album Holographic Universe. He’s been replaced by two singers, evidentaly one who’d do the clean melodic lines and one to serve us with growling. So I was quite unsure what to expect from Scar Symmetry. Truthfully, it took me several songs to be assured the new lineup wasn’t a disaster for the band. Sure the new singers obviously lack experience but they are very capable in what they do. You’d expect now Scar Symmetry can pull off what they do on album live, the guitarist and bassist would do less backing vocals? but nothing is less true, at times all four of them were singing (growling). Best of all, their voices are very compatible so I hope they won’t stop doing that once they perform new material of the upcoming album. Forgetting about the akwardness of the new members this was an excellent set.

I had planned to see Trivium, but I needed new tokens so I wouldn’t dehydrate. On my way back I passed the Metal Dome were Eths were playing, I decided to go check out what sounded interesting from afar. Hell’s Bells! I’m glad I did. The french female fronted techmetallers Eths really blew me away. Great female growling and very cool rythmic twists and turns. Together with Gojira and Dagoba, Eths made me appreciate a the French metalscene even more. I’ve allready obtained Eths last album. My french is a bit rusty tho so it will take me some time getting through all it lyrically.

For the next slot I had checked Candlemass on my shedule but somehow I decided to go see Suicidal Tendencies instead, It’s been 10 years since they last toured but they did quite good, I really enjoyed the nostalgia going through me. I hardly recongize these guys, new line-up (and several pounds gained). I hope they’ll stick around for a while and bring out a new album soon!

Next up were Chickenfoot on the mainstage, a newly formed ‘superband’ featuring ex-Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, RHCP’s Chad Smith and last but not least guitarvirtuoso Joe Satriani. It near impossible for anyone to know any of their songs but the recently released single Hell Yeah. Experience obviously drove these lads to do an excellent slot, somehow I expect more to come out of Chickenfoot than what other recent supergroups Velvet Revolver and Audioslave managed to do.

From the chantable, goodmooded classic metal to the straightforward wall of sound that is Devil Driver. It’s pretty simple what to expect from these guys. A high octane set with little room to breathe and huge circle pits. Devil Driver got my adrenaline pumping and introduced their new album splendidly. Cool fucking band, truly loved it and next time I’ll jump into the pit before it ends for once .

I used Disturbed‘s slot to nourish myself why I watched the footage from a distance, Altho they did seem to do a great set I don’t feel like I missed out not beeing up front. I hadn’t seen Disturbed before and I was a little dissapointed by the quality of the  ‘ACH ACH ACH’ ‘s.

During Disturbed I went back to the Marquee 2 to get a good spot for the mighty Anthrax. Apparantely I wasn’t the only one with that idea as the tent was allready half-full a good 20 minutes before Anthrax began. Yet again these kings of thrashmetal flooded me with nostalgia, tho they have a new singer who has much harsher vocals than his predecessors. But that turned to work out really well. I danced around and chanted along to their hits like Caught In A Mosh. Possibly the best set of that Sunday.

Second to last were the immensly popular Children Of Bodom I aren’t their biggest fan, but I can really enjoy several of their tunes. Unfortunately their set was plagued with ‘technical difficulties’ I hardly noticed it but they did and had to pause between every song to try and fix something related to the keyboards. Altho they did perform well it was a bit a dissapointing set. They stopped rather early and didn’t come back when everyone in the tent was shouting for an encore.

Last was Marylin Manson as I can stand his music, I’m sure of it he is a great musician. But I just don’t like him as a person, he seems to much of an attentionwhore to me trying to hard to provoke. So I didn’t even plan on staying for the last days headliner. As a lot of others will agree with, Marylin Manson doesn’t belong headlining a metal festival like Graspop. He’s fame comes more of his provocative nature than his musicianship.

Ah well,  I wanted to leave early in the morning so I went to sleep (or at least an attempt to).

Highlights of the Sunday were Lamb Of God, the discovery of Eths and Anthrax.

All in all Graspop was a great festival, I got to see many bands I had not yet, and rarely found the time to bore myself. Next is Bloodstock in the UK mid August, if the weather is as good I don’t see how that fest couldn’t be ace.

It’s Saturday, I’m awake and heading towards the main stage to get a good spot close to the stage to see todays opening band Black Stone Cherry. Approaching I see the flag of In-Quest on the mainstage, I was quite early so wondered what’s this? extra set? Not much later I learned Killswitch Engage had to pull out due to one of the members father passing away, and In-Quest would replace them shoving some mainstagers a slot back.

As I was dissapointed about KsE cancelling it wasn’t a complete loss because I’d been meaning to see In-Quest, a Belgian deathmetal band anyway. The were announced as the belgian metal sensation In-Quest which well, I don’t really agree with. They are a good band, and I do really enjoy listening to them. But they’ve been around for quite a while and never managed to really pull me into their music. Their set at Graspop was certainly worthy of the mainstage, still from the belgian metalscene I can name many bands I’d prefer to have seen that day.

Next on my schedule was All Shall Perish I walked into their set at the start but they couldn’t catch my attention and I went to stroll around in the metal-market and got something to snack on.

I then went back to the mainstage and forced myself close to the stage again, Black Stone Cherry is a band I’ve discovered lil over a year again and catched the stream of their set on Graspop 2008, which seemed very fun and thus I had to see them that saturday. And yes Black Stone Cherry rocks!! They are proof that southern rock still isn’t to be ignored. Catchy Rock & Roll on a sunny afternoon what more could you wish for? And oh boy I enhjoyed those cockrock showoff solos!

I skipped another set and next was the almighty Mastodon, I was a little dissapointed… I like the tunes, they’re sound was excellent, the performance good. Still they seem to be missing something live, lack of interaction with the crowd? It’s hard to put my finger on but I felt there was barely any difference between standing there watching them or sitting at home listening to their albums at high volume.

Parkway Drive, same story as All Shall Perish… Can’t really complain about their set, but I left quite early.

Hatebreed was next on the mainstage, I’d been coming back from the campsite early into their slot and after small minute of listening to Destroy Everything beeing repeated over and over and over again I suddenly remembered the shift in sets and that since KsE cancelled I could go and see Dagoba in the metaldome.

Dagoba! wow, I’m quite into these French tech metal acts, but had no clue what to expect live, and they blew me away. I really don’t know any specific tune of theirs, still I loved Dagoba’s show. Excellent, highly recommended.

After seeing Dagoba I was really hyped up and hurried my way to Marquee 1 to see that other french techmetal band Gojira, but their stood Death Angel on stage, I was confused and dissapointed but I decided to stay anyway. Neigh bad, I’m hardly familiar with Death Angel but I did like it. Nothing special tho, nothing I feel I have to see again.

I watched Journey from afar as I went around looking what I could eat now, got some money and more booze. It sounded quite good, didn’t pay mutch attention to the stage, though next time I think I will since I feel like I missed out here.

During the Death Angel set I learned Gojira hadn’t cancelled, they only got delayed and the nice lads of Death Angel were willing to switch slots with them, thank fuck! I wouldn’t want to have missed Gojira. And I am so glad I didn’t! Simply ace performance, French metal at it’s best. I simply adore their latest album and I’m so glad I got to see them live. Due the slot switching I did miss Monster Magnet, but gutted about that, I’ll have to see them another time.

KoRn, I didn’t actually plan to see these guys, but I did. I haven’t been a fan of KoRn for a long time. But seeing them there on Graspop reminded me of how much I liked the Issues album and other of their earlier tunes. KoRn got the live (I know… horrible pun) even if I still don’t like the stuff they put out these last several years.

The moment of that saturday was upon me, Volbeat … Do I have to elaborate this? Volbeat is the band of the weekend in my opinion, simply amazing live performance. I WILL see Volbeat again and again. Death ‘n Roll I supose you could call their music. Heavy, straightforward songs that entices everyone to chant the lyrics out loud. Even if you don’t know any of their songs I bet you’ll be singing if you went to see them. I had lost my voice near the end, and my energy levels had dropped so much I wondered if I would be able to manage seeing the headliners of that day Slipknot.

But I could, I wasn’t to excited about Slipknot but I managed to watch the whole set, and I truly enjoyed it. Slipknot have shown me that they are more than just an angry bunch of Nu-Metallers. Offcourse I know how much talent Corey Taylor really is, I love Stonesoure to bits. Still I didn’t expect Slipknot to perform this good. I’m glad I did stick around and didn’t leave early like the day before.

Yet another great day had passed, highlights Gojira, Dagoba and Volbeat. I’ve got an all around taste, I do like Southern rock as much as I do like death metal. Missing Monster Magnet I felt I missed a bit of variation, still an excellent day had passed and I was getting a bit worried Graspop would be over too soon.

It’s been over a week before I got around writing down this report, and details might have gone lost on me (I completely blame time). So I went to Graspop in Belgium, one of the biggest metal-festivals in Europe. Three days of non-stop metal (if you slept from 1 am to 11 am), over 60 bands to choose from. This was actually the first time I’ve done several days of a festival, staying on the campsite et cetera… But I’ll leave all the non-musical stuff out of this report, just in short: food great, layout great, sleep deprived.

Friday:
Opening the friday on the mainstage was Buckcherry, I arrived a few minutes late into the set I stayed back and didn’t make my way into the crowd, I was thirsty and hungry. I enjoyed Buckcherry and mimed along the lyrics I knew between chewing and drinking. I like the band but it didn’t quite do it for me, I’d love to see these again, just not at 2 am in the blistering heat but in a small more intimate venue late at night all boozed up.

Next I went to Firewind, I know little of this band except how they sound and they do a good cover of Michael Sembello’s classic “Maniac”. I did enjoy the set, but the lack of knowledge and a nothing special perfomance (they didn’t play Maniac…) made this one of the bands I remember little of.

I skipped a set (Dragonforce/Taake) to do some less exciting stuff since I didn’t care for Dragonfarce and don’t know Taake. So on to the next which was Jon Oliva’s Pain, I couldn’t recall at all who they were, or what they would sound like but the name sounded more familiar than Pestilence. That’s how I stumbled on my first suprise of th festival and very enjoyable show. Not only did they do great set, got the crowd going… but I knew several of their songs. Jon Oliva’s Pain, I recommend you to go see these if you have a chance even if you don’t know who they are, you’ll learn to like them from the first song they play.

Next on the bill was Papa Roach, a band I grew up on, and I really didn’t give a damn about anymore. And still don’t. I only absentely watched them and sure I enjoyed the nostalgia listening to their ‘classic’ tunes but all in all they came over pretty lame. Especially when their frontman whatshisname demanded circlepits very early in the show.

So before Papa Roach’s set was over I was waiting for Exodus‘ to start. Nothing to remark on Exodus, yet nothing to remember either just like Firewind.

On to Soulfly, great set, a lot of well know tunes, Max seemed exhausted. But was this Soulfly? or Max Cavalera and band? No I don’t mean the other bandmembers weren’t orignal Soulfly, I have no clue. But if I recall correctly Soulfly (Max and band) did do at least one Sepultura and one Cavalera Conspiracy tune?? I did leave near the end of the set so I’d have a good spot close to the stage for Static-X.

Yes, finally I got to see Static-X live. There are so many bands I love but Static-X was high up the list of must see’s, they have a good live reputation, and they always striked me as a type of band that sounds best on stage rather than on a plastic disc. And let me tell you, They lived up to my expectations and beyond. Static-X sounded really, really good! I mean the sound was spot on. The crowd, or at least what I could see of it so close to the stage was very responsive and energetic and Tera Wray scarcely dressed on stage was a very nice bonus. In short Static-X was in my opinion the band of the day.

After Static-X, the heavy metal legends under the name of Heaven & Hell played main stage, Dio, Iommi and co put on a great show. I was tired and watched most of it on my ass from the side of the stage, but it was pretty clear why these lads are such legends. I hope these guys keep it up another decade, living proof no real metal head will ever ‘outgrow’ metal, that you don’t have to ‘go along with time’. What was great metal 40 years ago is still great music today.

Down was the last band on friday for me. I don’t know what to think of Down, good band, enjoyable set. But they didn’t do it so much for me, maybe I had to high hopes, after all they’re not Pantera and will never be. I’ve heard so much good of the live performance of Down but they couldn’t live up to my expectations. I’m sure the great sets of Static-X and Heaven & Hell made Down seem less exciting than it really was, maybe next time?

I was too tired to watch Motley Crüe, so I went to my tent. Later I heard little good of their show so I’m glad I didn’t miss anything.

PS: Channel Zero… at Graspop I learnt new shows had been announced, sadly by the time I was back home even those were sold out. But the good news are the rumours that Channel Zero might do more than just Reunion gigs…