Shop our Big Takeover store for back issues, t-shirts & CDs
Follow The Big Takeover
What happens when you sound the alarm, shine the bat signal, tap out a message in secret code, or otherwise re-assemble a bunch of guys who have been a team for a long time, to rouse them from a period of occasional inactivity? In the case of old school German thrash metal legends KREATOR, twenty five years has laid down the template of loud, aggressive, high-tempo guitar thrash (forgetting the ill-received sidestep of Renewal), with 1987’s Terrible Certainty a milestone rightly regarded as an important album of the genre. Tonight’s lineup featured half of the founding members (singer/guitarist MILLE PETROZZA and drummer JÜRGEN REIL) and played a blitzkreig of ultra-tight crunch, similar to the style of older METALLICA before they started shopping at Armani. It thundered like a well-muscled thoroughbred, with high points being the big riffed “Terrible Certainty,” the title track of newest record Hordes of Chaos and the evil “Enemy of God.” It did become a bit of an endurance test though, as unless you are a hardcore fan (and I admittedly am not), the songs blended into each other.
VOIVOD had the stage prior to the headliners, and really played a great, energetic and fun show to a heavy throng of enthusiastic head-bangers. Lead singer SNAKE came out with some mugging and goofy faces, with relative newcomer DAN MONGRAIN taking the late PIGGY‘s place on guitar, a wave of flashing pick, whirling hair, and bulging eyes. Original rhythm section AWAY and BLACKY (ex-*METALLICA* bass player JASON NEWSTED keeps his Voivod contributions to the studio, not the road) keep the beat continually on point, from the hardcore charge of lead track “Voivod” (a great opener, showing that this stomper from 1984’s debut War And Pain is still vital), to the time signature changes of “Brain Scan.” They would play three songs from what’s considered to be their greatest record Dimension Hatröss (gotta have an umlaüt to make it even more mëtal), and the crowd roared their appreciation as flying bodies, thrown goat horns and fist pumps continually rose from the audience. For a guy named Snake, the singer wasn’t a grizzle, eye-patched miscreant; he was truly have a good time and was most appreciative of the raucous welcome that the sold-out room uniformly voiced. Closing with an inspired cover of PINK FLOYD‘s “Astronomy Domine,” from their major label debut Nothingface, the band blazed through selections covering their wide range of styles. If the term ‘prog metal’ generally turns your stomach as visions of DREAM THEATER appear, these guys make good on the premise.
It was a full night of metal, as both NACHTMYSTIUM and EVILE both played as well, the former bringing their particular form of black metal (or ‘black meddle’ as leader BLAKE JUDD calls it) that has strains of psych and tinges of other bits tucked away in the torrent of howled anguish. They’ve discarded the visual cues of black metal (corpse paint, spiked bracelets) and sonically, they’ve done the same: the shouted punk strains of “Hellish Overdose” and the subtle guitar textures poking through the black mist of “Life of Fire” shows why hipster label Mexican Summer chose them to release the Worldfall 12” recently. They’ve also recently gone through a bit of a lineup shuffle, with original bass player ANDREW MARKUSZEWSKI back in the fold, and a new drummer (who I think is still searching for his style a bit).
Evile hail from the UK, and the fresh-faced MATT DRAKE was visibly chuffed by the strong reaction from the fans who jammed along the stage front, shouting lyrics of “Infected Nation” along with the band. This is their first US tour (third ever show on American soil), and their particular brand of thrash is being well-received enough to warrant a headlining tour down the road.
Note – the reason there are no photos of Kreator is because I was not approved to shoot them. Photos of the other bands can be seen at my site
