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The Black Crusade: Machine Head / Trivium / Arch Enemy

Tuesday, 06 November 2007

Photo: Aaron Sammut

Brisbane Riverstage - Sat Nov 3

Swedish melodic death metallers Arch Enemy are the first to face the rapidly swelling crowd tonight at the Riverstage, combating a truly appalling sound mix (that miraculously disappeared the moment their American touring partners took the stage, infuriatingly) with a lean and rousing set comprised of choice cuts from their best album in years, Rise Of The Tyrant, along with a ‘greatest hits’ selection of Angela Gossow-era tracks. Gossow herself whirls around the stage like a pint sized, growling, flaxen haired gesticulating machine, howling in the midst of the Iron Maiden-esque riffs, pounding double bass drums and the streams of blinding fast notes, falling in kaleidoscopic cascades from the guitars of the brother Amott. The quality and sheer ferocity of the Rise Of The Tyrant material is striking – in contrast to the more simplistic and a-little-too-catchy material these guys have mainly been dealing in for their last two albums, this stuff digs a little deeper musically, mingling Queensryche-esque emotive, minor key guitar harmonies with the out and out melodo-dissonance of Heartwork-era Carcass. The semi-sentient, fight dancing, ‘hardcore punk’ morons randomly and insouciantly punching girls in the chest while doing their little chicken dance (well away from the mosh pit, too – it seems you can’t escape these guys anymore no matter where you go) were irritating, but them’s the breaks at any kind of mainstream metal gig these days, unfortunately.

Photo: Aaron Sammut

There is an old heavy metal saying that ‘if Hammerfall were beer, they’d be Manowar lite’. As I stand here, next, watching Metallica Lite, oops, I mean, Trivium, I’m struck by how, at times, parts of their music – mainly the tight, hyperkinetic and aggressive Metallica-aping parts, with shouty, snarling vocals laid agreeably over the top – can be so damn good, while other parts – mainly the inevitable and omnipresent half pace breakdown mosh parts and the overbearingly saccharine sweet cardboard cut out choruses – sound so damn bad. If these lads dropped the breakdowns and knocked the melodic vocals up several octaves in a nasally, Halfordian fashion that said ‘metal’ more than ‘emo in denial’, then we’d really be talking.

Photo: Aaron Sammut

Finally, Machine Head – who, with the demise of their aesthetic cousins, Pantera, are surely the once and future kings of ‘tough guy metal’ (being metal played by tough guys, for tough guys, about being tough) – grace the Riverstage with their presence and, unfortunately, I think to myself as I’m knocked out of the way by the second or third shirtless, shaven headed, drunken refugee from 1995 with several degrees of magnitude more brawn than brains, also their fans. Niggling (and singer Rob Flynn’s overwhelming overuse of the word ‘motherfucker’) aside, the band deliver an epic set, with a number of titanic tunes from their fabulous, proggy newie The Blackening sitting alongside some Through The Ashes Of Empire tunes and a few favourites from their first two releases. Mercifully, the band’s nu metal era appears consigned to memory. Wall-of-guitar-solos barnstormer Halo and long time standard Davidian are the highlights, and a hell of a lot of bogans leave with smiles on their faces, to go smoke pot until their faces are numb so they can repeatedly headbutt each other for kicks, or whatever the hell it is they do out there in the Redlands. Great stuff.

SHAUN NANCARROW

^{FOR MORE MACHINE HEAD / TRIVIUM / ARCH ENEMY PHOTOS CLICK HERE}

Comments (4)

1. Written by Jimmy, on 08-11-2007 08:10 , IP: 220.237.82.208
Very funny :grin

Now I know why I never get out to the Redlands!

2. Written by Steve, on 12-11-2007 12:16 , IP: 58.167.215.52
Great review. You are right on the money. The only thing you missed was the constant request from the bands to "circle pit". Fortunately that craze hasn't caught on here like the fight dancing.

3. Written by Spider, on 20-03-2008 11:21 , IP: 203.10.121.80
wicked reveiw....so sad i missed that concert :cry

,
but it was them or manson

sorta worth it,

still, that would have been rad, hah! circle pit? nah i like fight dancing better

4. Written by silentdeath2524, on 16-06-2008 01:18 , IP: 72.65.234.121
ARCH ENEMY KICKS ASS I HOPE U PLAY IN PITTSBURGH

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