Another Summer Slaughter tour descended on America and Ghost Cult was there! Sure, kids on the interwebs bitched and moaned about how “extreme” the so-called “most extreme tour of the summer” really was this go around, but who really cares. Either you went and rocked out, or didn’t go and complained. The metal scene these days is far too diverse for such elitist attitudes to keep thriving, and no one is denying that the early years of the tour had some of the most brutal bands assembled on one stage ever. On the the other hand, when you can bring the current crop of some of the most exciting progressive bands in heavy music out on the road for two months, and criss-cross a country like the USA, you are doing it right my friends.
The early day definitely leaned towards the straight up heavier bands and the crowd at The Palladium was pretty full from the start. Thy Art Is Murder is a brutal sounding deathcore band from Australia. Their set was really quite surprising. Impressively heavy, they got the crowd moving a lot. Vocalist CJ was really active, running all over the stage and several times jumping into the barricade. If their goal was to get noticed on this tour, it worked in spades. Aeon was up next and most of the early crowd was in the house expressly to see them. They certainly lived up to the hype of being super crushingly hard and talented. The floor was filled with moshers and everyone else not hurting people or themselves were compelled to head-bang like crazy. For a band that was playing on US soil for the first time, you could tell they were just amped up personally. The highlights of their set were ‘Aeons Black’ and ‘Forgiveness Denied’, which the crowd went nuts for. Following Aeon would be impossible for most bands, but Revocation is not most bands. Plus, being practically a hometown show for the boys from Allston, MA, coupled with the playing of their freshly minted new jams from Revocation (Relapse), made them feel like a headliner. As per usual, they were tight, heavy and a lot of fun. And yes, they closed with ‘No Funeral’.
Then the day started to get kind of weird. The Ocean were up next and quite a bit of the early crowd went for a smoke break or whatever, since there was re-entry into the venue until 7 PM. While the band definitely had their own progressive metal loving fans in the house, there was a definite separation in the vibe between the fans and it showed. The Ocean performed admirably, playing a fairly interesting and heavy set, opening with ‘The City In The Sea’. Still, there were people just not feeling it and front man Loic Rossetti took exception by jumping into the barricade, giving the business to a bunch of uninterested fans, including my buddy Jeff. Too bad they were kind of miscast for this tour, or perhaps improperly positioned to go over too well, since they played great. I look forward to the headline tour.
Cattle Decapitation followed and the death metal lovers filled up the floor again and smashed the shit out of each other with glee. I guess sometimes it takes the brutality and grind of the heaviest sounding bands to bring people together. Vocalist Travis Ryan stalked the stage like a maniac, and the band tore through a set of their best material such as ‘Lifestalker’, ‘Forced Gender Reassignment’ and ‘Your Disposal’. Their chaotic set made for a pretty cool scene, and marks another high water mark for a band that is rising to the top of the American death metal heap. Another band worthy of praise on this day was Unearth, also an almost hometown act. They put on a performance worthy of their best ever, for this was their sole appearance on the tour, since Norma Jean had a conflict and had to miss out. You wouldn’t think the progenitors of metalcore would have been able to hang with this fickle crowd, but Unearth brought the thunder. They will have a new album out soon on eOne Records after a long run on Metalblade, and I for one am greatly looking forward to what they do next.
It was interesting to have Periphery and Animals As Leaders play back to back leading up to the finale of the show. Whether you are on board with the djent movement or not, you can’t argue against both of these bands being supremely talented, a big concert draw for this tour, and quite a nice bridge to the end. Periphery, obviously due to their melodic vocals, are they more accessible and catchy of the two groups. I have seen them mature a lot over the years and it’s been a much more noticeable growth period for them than others of their ilk. They haven’t forgotten to have fun live either, which I think is what sets them apart. As for AAL, their shows are an exercise in the perfect modern temperament of progressive music and a humility that is sorely lacking from a lot of today’s bands, and music their fans. They played a brilliant set, changing up the tracks a little more than in recent memory. Waves of music nerds and djent-o-philes were losing their shit over Tosin Abasi‘s usual guitar-heroics. However, it was drummer Matt Garstka who really stood out on this night. He just crushed the drums, and not only had all of the intricacies the parts down cold, but he really seemed to hit harder than most of these modern drummers do nowadays in age of triggered everything. He was especially inspired on this night and the crowd responded in kind.
A small portion of the crowd had filed out before The Dillinger Escape Plan came out and laid waste to the minds of everyone in The Palladium. I can’t tell you why anyone would leave early, because even if they are not your cup of tea musically, they are one of the best bands in the world in terms of live performance. They stage looked down right barren to me, with only a massive DEP banner that hung behind them, their gear and some well placed video screens and strobe lights. As soon as the band started to play ‘Prancer’ it felt like a shockwave ran through the crowd. For the fans in the building, the kinetic energy released by the band members, especially Greg Puciato and Ben Weinman, seemed to be absorbed and released back into the floor itself. As usual the band was just ridiculously tight and over the top in every way as performers. It’s hard to believe they can do the things they do physically, and still manage to play the songs so well. They ran through a bunch of songs from their new album One Of Us Is The Killer as well as all their hits. Right away, Greg destroyed one of the video screens during ‘Milk Lizard’, and some of the visual effects were lost, but no matter. With Greg and Ben leaping off of amps, and into the crowd, their legendary showmanship came to the fore. Bent on not becoming a caricature of themselves, Greg in particular seems intent on making show every TDEP show different from the last. Late in the set he ran off stage, and reappeared in the balcony where the guys in white shirts keep a close watch on the moshers. Watching the terrified face of security staff while Greg implored the crowd to fill in below him, and watching him unmoved by their concern was fascinating. As he leaped in to the crowd, the entire venue seemed to take a collective deep breath, until he landed on the up-stretched hands of the crowd twenty-plus feet below. He then ran back to the stage as the band destroyed all of their gear and walked off without even a pause. Another astounding finish by the reigning ‘most dangerous band’ in heavy music brought the night to an end.
Summer Slaughter Live Report
The Palladium Worcester, MA
August 8, 2013
Keith ‘Keefy’ Chachkes
Photos: Meg Loyal Photography