Kreator -- Kansas City, MO -- Septembe 16th, 2012

This is the old-school heavy metal tour of the year for sure. Swallow The Sun is old-school heavy (despite not being old), Accept was old-school rocking, and Kreator was old-school brutality! Despite a few sound issues for some of the bands, it was a solid night overall.

Hellevate opened the night as people were still coming in. They only had time for about four songs, but they made the most of it. The whole band is really animated, especially the vocalist. He reminds me of a young Bobby Blitz. The riffing was solid and they had a nice thick bass sound, but it all kinda went to moot because not a ton of the crowd was feeling them. Tonight was their album release show, too, so it kinda sucks they didn't get at least a bit longer. Great warm-up, though.

It was my first time seeing Swallow The Sun since they played with Soilwork, Darkane and Warbringer back in 2008. This band seems to get on really odd tours. But they were still really heavy. They played six songs, but only two of them had any clean vocals - they catered their set to appeal to the fans of this tour, obviously. When all the instruments just started riffing together in one of their painfully heavy and slow breakdowns, it was so awesome. Swallow The Sun here and then Katatonia a few days ago? I'm in melancholic death/doom heaven. Awesome.

Up next was the legendary Accept. "Legendary" is a fair title, because they've absolutely earned it. A very high energy performance from all members of the band, spot-on sound and great crowd interaction. They were good and loud without being overbearing. The lead guitars came through perfectly, especially during the solos. The new vocalist also sounded fantastic. The band didn't spend that long chatting up the crowd in between songs, but it's okay because they spent most of their time rocking out! Lots of singing along with them. Old-school awesome!

Kreator was very punishing and very brutal, but unfortunately the sound problems that had been reported for previous shows were prevalent here. About half of their set, I could barely hear the guitars when they weren't soloing. Fortunately, this didn't deter from the overall performance that much. Their mix of likable new songs and classic ones went over very well with the crowd and there were several large mosh and circle pits during their set. They unfortunately cut out Betrayer, but the rest of the set was the same. Mille's vocals were great and the whole band sounded awesome for being able to play so fast. If you see Kreator, expect to mosh!

Kreator:

Mars Mantra
Phantom Antichrist
From Flood Into Fire
Enemy Of God
Phobia
Hordes Of Chaos (A Necrologue To The Elite)
Civilization Collapse
Voices Of The Dead
Extreme Aggressions
People Of The Lie
Death To The World
Coma Of Souls/Endless Pain
Pleasure To Kill
The Patriarch/Violent Revolution
Flag Of Hate/Tormentor

Accept:

Hung, Drawn, and Quartered
Hellfire
Restless And Wild
Losers And Winners
Stalingrad
Shadow Soldiers
Pandemic
Breaker
Bucket Full Of Hate
Princess Of The Dawn
Up To The Limit
Teutonic Terror
Metal Heart
Fast As A Shark
Balls To The Wall

Swallow The Sun (I think):

Emerald Forest and the Blackbird
Hate, Lead the Way!
Psychopath's Lair
Cathedral Walls
New Moon
Swallow (Horror Pt. 1)

Kreator: 8/10
Accept: 8/10
Swallow The Sun: 8/10
Hellevate: 8/10