Between The Buried And Me -- Lawrence, KS -- April 26th, 2011

It took getting past their new EP being played, but I've decided that tonight was the best time I've seen BTBAM live. They absolutely killed it opening for Mastodon last year, but the song selection and the talent that oozed from the stage tonight easily trumped any former performance of theirs.

The EP, "The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues" (played in its entirety tonight) definitely wasn't bad live. In fact, Lunar Wilderness had some jaw-dropping parts in it. It's just that the songs hadn't matured to be fully appreciated in a live setting. Still great, but what came afterwards just blew the EP out of the water. Focusing mostly on their last two records, the snippet (by snippet I mean about 10 minutes) of Swim To The Moon and the whole Ants Of The Sky performance were definitely the highlights from BTBAM. The soundscapes they create and the pure emotion they put forward in those two songs are unmatched. Sun Of Nothing was epic with lots of crowd sing-alongs, and I was definitely happy they pulled out Fossil Genera - I had forgotten they were playing it on this tour! The band themselves were spot on, the guitar and drum solo's were really awesome, and it was just a fantastic performance. A killer rendition of Selkies ended the set, and I hope they come back soon.

But I hope they come back with a better band directly opening for them. After a few minutes of backtracking, this is the third time I've seen Job For A Cowboy (i've paid to see them five times - blech) and they have honestly gotten worse over time. They pounded out the first three or four songs with no downtime in between them and it came out as just a cacophonous jumbling of dissonant down-tuned notes with no apparent direction in mind. I would blame it on the venue for their sound, but I know better. Job For A Cowboy just prefers their music to sound like this, and it just doesn't sound good.

Opening the show was The Ocean. People were wary about what to expect, but I think they won over the crowd around the third time the vocalist dove into the crowd! I didn't know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised. I'm eager to check them out on record.

My only comment on the crowd is that I am a firm supporter of the "don't mosh during BTBAM" movement. That's all.

Specular Reflection
Augment Of Rebirth
Lunar Wilderness
Sun Of Nothing
Ants Of The Sky
Guitar Solo
Swim To The Moon (partial)
Drum Solo
Fossil Genera - A Feed From Cloud Mountain
---
Selkies: The Endless Obsession

Between The Buried And Me: 9/10
Job For A Cowboy: 3/10
The Ocean: 7.5/10

Are you ready for the SLAMZ?

Ready to get GUTTURAL?

TXDM legend Shawn Whittaker will be bringing Insidious Decrepancy to the Boobie Trap in Topeka on June 21st. Support will come from Abolishment of Flesh (TX), Torn The Fuck Apart and Whoracle. Come get br00t4l!

Amon Amarth -- Lawrence, KS -- April 16th, 2011

Set 1

War of the Gods
Töck's Taunt - Loke's Treachery Part II
Destroyer of the Universe
Slaves of Fear
Live Without Regrets
The Last Stand of Frej
For Victory or Death
Wrath of the Norsemen
A Beast I Am
Doom Over Dead Man

Set 2

Twilight of the Thunder God
Masters of War
Live for the Kill
With Oden on Our Side
Guardians of Asgaard
Asator
Varyags of Miklagaard
Thousand Years of Oppression
Without Fear > Victorious March > Gods of War Arise > Death in Fire

Encore:
Cry of the Blackbirds
Runes To My Memory
The Pursuit of Vikings

Just absolutely awesome. In terms of performance, this might've been the best metal show I've ever seen. Amon Amarth was spot on, and the crowd was insane. The opening of War Of The Gods (which I also got on tape) was just epic in every sense of the word. The Surtur Rising set was really solid, and that really surprised me. It's definitely a better album than most think. Destroyer Of The Universe and A Beast I Am were real thrashers, but I think my favorite was the closer, Doom Over Dead Men. It's just got that great, mid-tempo melodic death metal beat that just makes for great headbanging.

In between sets, I hooked up with Nick (aka Nick_To_The_Face) and it was awesome that he made it! Lemme know if you can make it to BTBAM

The second set started off great. People went absolute nuts for Twilight Of The Thunder God and so many people were singing along that Johan didn't even sing the chorus. Live For The Kill got a great reaction, Asator was great to hear too. I dug the medley, although I wish they would've made Death In Fire its own song. The only song of the night I didn't like too much was Thousand Years Of Oppression. It was cool near the end, but that song made me feel the fatigue. Encore was just great, and we had a great sing-a-long to Pursuit Of Vikings. It's been a while since Amon Amarth had been in Lawrence, but the sold out crowd at the Granada will hopefully bring them back time and time again.

Oh, and we also sang Happy Birthday to their bassist, Ted.

Amon Amarth: 9/10

Kansas City Mayhem Off-Date #2

Mayhem Fest may not be in Kansas City, but some of the bands will be on off-dates! Here's the second one:

In Flames
Trivium
Kingdom of Sorrow
Straight Line Stitch

They'll be at the VooDoo Lounge inside Harrah's Casino (this venue is 21+) in Kansas City on August 8th.

Kansas City Mayhem Off-Date #1

The Mayhem Festival isn't coming to Kansas City again this year, but we're getting another round of off-dates!

#1 is:

Unearth
Suicide Silence
All Shall Perish
Red Fang

At the Granada in Lawrence on July 18th.

Thrash All Summer Long!

You've got DRI, Nocturnal, Witchaven, Holy Grail all in May. Want to continue the thrash into the summer? YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED:

June 27th...

Kansas City...

The Beaumont Club...

Thrash metal legends...

FORBIDDEN

will make their mark to be felt by the midwest for years to come!

Support comes from Revocation, White Wizzard, and Havok!

This will easily be one of the best shows ever to grace our city in quite some time. BE THERE!