Taste Of Chaos Tour

Due to traffic issues on the way to the venue, my friends and I missed Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, which was a bit of a shame, but the buzz around the venue was pretty good for them nevertheless.

So to Buffalo’s Every Time I Die who have a reputation for rocking live shows with a sense of humour. Rocking it certainly was, with the front few rows going ape for the majority of their half hour set. ETID’s songs seem to be lacking a certain something to help them make the step up to metal’s premier league, possibly a break in the furious assault with a touch of melody, but their performance was fun, and helped warm the crowd for the onslaught that was to follow.

In Flames hail from Sweden, and are one of the bands credited with helping create the Melodic Swedish Death Metal sound that a lot of American bands, tonight’s headliners included, hold as an influence. The label is a little unfair however, melodic they certainly are, but prior to their performance my friends were a little wary of the death metal tag. Their fears were quickly put to one side when In Flames, led by the charismatic Anders Friden, blew Hammersmith away with a display that was technical, heavy, melodic and just downright awesome. The crowd were eating out the band’s collective hands, and the band seemed genuinely enthused to be playing for them. Perhaps the most comical event of the evening (even funnier than KSE guitarist Adam D coming out in a tutu) came halfway through their set when Friden invited a member of the audience up on stage to film the show, amused that after the track they were playing said audience member was too afraid to dive back in and so pranced around the stage like a lemon for the rest of In Flames crushing performance.

Finally, the time had come for Killswitch Engage to show why they are one of the most exciting prospects to come out of the American Metal Scene for quite some time. True, they are the godfathers of the now much derided (by some members of the press) metalcore scene, and they may have stolen a few tricks from their Swedish co-headliners, but the fact is that there is only one band around who can play such crushing riffs and then switch to a melodious chorus with such ease. It also helps that the band seem to be genuinely enjoying themselves and having a laugh while they play. With their new eponymous album to promote, their back catalogue has grown stronger, as evidenced by rousing performances of This Is Absolution, My Curse, My Last Serenade and new classics such as The Forgotten, Reckoning and Take Me Away. Coming back for one song encore Holy Diver, a cover of the Dio classic, they bring an air of reflection to the night as the crowd is implored to raise their horns in the sky and hope for a quick recovery from stomach cancer for the miniscule metal maestro.

All in all, an extremely triumphant night. A night where bands made new fans, fans made new friends and everyone had an awesome time. A classic night of new, and not so new metal that will go down as a near classic for the ages.