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

Upcoming AWESOME show: Kreator and Accept!

There are metal shows, then there are great metal shows, then there's THIS. Kreator returns to the area for the first time since (I think) 2005. The German thrash pioneers are co-headlining with legendary speed metal band Accept! At first it seems like an odd line-up, but it kinda makes sense! Opening is the VERY good doom/death/gothic band Swallow the Sun and amazing locals Hellevate! This will be the fastest show of the year.

Skipping Kansas: Katatonia

What an awesome tour that's coming nowhere near here.

Katatonia
Swallow The Sun
Orphaned Land

Dadgum.


Sep. 08 - Baltimore, MD - Sonar
Sep. 09 - Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
Sep. 10 - New York, NY - Gramercy Theatre
Sep. 11 - Worcester, Mass - Palladium
Sep. 12 - Montreal, QC - Petit Campus
Sep. 13 - Toronto, ON - Opera House
Sep. 14 - Cleveland, OH - Peabody's
Sep. 15 - Detroit, MI - Blondies
Sep. 16 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave
Sep. 17 - Chicago, IL - Reggie’s Rock Club
Sep. 18 - St Paul, MN - Station 4
Sep. 21 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon
Sep. 22 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theatre
Sep. 23 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
Sep. 24 - San Francisco, CA - Thee Parkside
Sep. 25 - Santa Ana, CA - Galaxy Theater
Sep. 26 - West Hollywood, CA - Whisky A Go Go
Sep. 27 - Mesa, AZ - U.B.'s
Sep. 28 - Tucson, AZ - The Rock
Sep. 30 - Dallas, TX - Trees
Oct. 01 - Austin, TX - Emo's
Oct. 02 - Houston, TX - Warsaw
Oct. 04 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
Oct. 05 - Louisville, KY - Uncle Pleasants
Oct. 06 - Raleigh, NC - Volume 11
Oct. 07 - Springfield, VA - Jaxx

Soilwork -- Kansas City, MO -- March 12th, 2009

More of a review than setlists.

Got to the venue at about 6, but didn't get out of my car until about 6:30. It was a coooold, cold day. And I STILL had to wait outside for half an hour. But it was worth it.

The first act was local band Serated. It was appropriate that their singer wore a Slipknot shirt, as the last half of their set could be mistaken for them. At times they kind of went into a halfway decent melodeath/thrash groove, but at least 2 of the songs had the kind of spoken vocals/rapping thing.
5/10

The first band I came to see, Swallow the Sun, were next. Very heavy and very awesome, although the sound mix was kind of crappy. Couldn't really hear the guitars too well until near the end of their set. These guys were awesome. They really need to tour the states some more.

Partial/Out Of Order setlist:

Don't Fall Asleep (Horror Pt. 1)
Plague Of Butterflies
Swallow

8.5/10

Oh man. Anyone who says Warbringer isn't a real thrash band or are posers has obviously never seen Warbringer live. They are just thrash as hell and absolutely outstanding live. They played a lot off their new album but it sounds sick. Can't wait for it.

9/10

Total War
Whirlwind
Severed Reality
At The Crack Of Doom
??? (New song)
Combat Shock

Darkane played as a 4-piece tonight, but their guitarist is a monster. Crazy awesome solos, and they surprised me. They were a lot better than I thought they were gonna be. Aside from a couple of songs with stupid breakdowns in them, they were extremely enjoyable.

8.5/10

Leaving Existence
Convicted
Fading Dimensions
Chaos Vs. Order
Distress
Execution 44
Secondary Effects
Innocence Gone

Oh boy. Soilwork. I wasn't even going to stay for them, but I heard that they were playing good songs on this tour, so I gave them a shot. I didn't stay for the whole thing. Actually, I think Soilwork would be a lot better suited for a mainstream tour, like Ozzfest or Mayhem Tour. But here, i just didn't get them. Clean vocals + metalcore parts just overshadows the parts I heard that could've been decent. I left about halfway through their set.

6/10

Overall, a very good concert for under 20 bucks. Looking forward to seeing Warbringer again in a week or so with EXODUS!

Skipping Kansas: Enslaved

I'll start the "Skipping Kansas" posts from now on. As many know, Kansas gets gipped on a lot of good tours: Iron Maiden, Watain, Summer Slaughter, etc. It sucks, but it happens.

Here's the latest tour to skip Kansas:

Enslaved
Keep Of Kalessin
Swallow The Sun

Closest Date: May 2 - St. Paul, MN @ Station 4

Full dates: here

Soilwork does a real concert tour.

It's not common these days to see a band play in almost every state possible while on a tour. Most tours consist of twenty or so dates with 3 dates in Texas and 3 in California and, for the most part, skip entirely over the Midwest. THANKS IRON MAIDEN!

But not the new Soilwork tour next year!

The lineup is:
Soilwork
Darkane
Warbringer
Swallow The Sun

The support bands are all fantastic and I've heard good stuff about Soilwork live. Mark this one down as a "Yes"!

They'll be at the Beaumont Club on March 12 and full dates can be found here.