Live Review: Taste of Chaos Tour
The tastiest Taste of Chaos yet.
Killswitch Engage + In Flames + Every Time I Die + Maylene and the Sons of Disaster @ Academy, Birmingham, 01-12-09
This tour had such a good lineup that I was very, very close to making it our gig of the month for December. I resisted in the end, but my goodness what a tasty line up the 2009 vintage of the Taste of Chaos tour had thrown up.
Opening the bill the brilliant but criminally underrated Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. Their brand of southern heavy rock is easy to get into and perfect for kicking off a night of great music, and with a triple guitarred assault they ‘re certainly one of the most rifftastic bands you could ever hope to see. Even without their regular frontman Dallas Taylor, they are still hot property, and songs as pounding as ‘Darkest of Kin’ and ‘Memories of the Grove’ warm things up perfectly.
Second up, a band guaranteed to get the party started – the incredible Every Time I Die. The fivepiece from New York waste no time in demonstrating their chops – they are crushingly heavy, wonderfully tight and a fine example of hour to annihilate a half-hour support slot. Songs like ‘Ebolorama’, ‘No Son of Mine’ and ‘We’re Wolf’ all ensure a room full of raised devil horns. Essentially, ETID owned it, thanks in no small part to their vocalist and ringleader Keith Buckley, and their slot was nothing short of triumphant.
Next was Swedish heavyweights In Flames, who came as something of a disappointment given what had already gone on before them. Their set lacked gusto, they looked as if they were just going through the motions, and their songs all seemed to plod along at one pace. Closing number ‘Take This Life’ did admittedly sound fantastic, but the rest of the set fell short. They were easily the low point of the night.
Finally, it was down to headliners Killswitch Engage to round things off and wake everyone up. Launching into ‘My Curse’, it’s clear they have become a stellar headline act, and they are able to deliver their songs with great power, punch and emotion. Guitarist Adam D happily plays the clown running around in his KsE cape and pulling faces, but the other three musicians are all supremely talented in their own rights – something that shines through on stage and makes them just as interesting to watch. Then, of course, there’s vocalist Howard Jones whose bulging bicems and booming voice has the crowd hooked instantly. He has turned himself into the ideal metal frontman – a mean growl mixed with a true talent for melody and the ability to have 3000 sing your lyrics just by holding out your hand. The great songs fly by with ‘Rose of Sharyn’, ‘Fixation on the Darkness’ and ‘This is Absolution’ all getting an airing, before the show-stopping finale; their supreme cover version of Dio’s metal classic ‘Holy Diver’, which tops the night off perfectly. Long live metal, and long live Killswitch Engage.
Photography: Dave Musson Photography
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WHAT??????
everytime i die were shockingly awful,
for 3 reasons.
1) they sounded dreadful, and their sound levels were all over the place.
2) they were unbelievably out of place
3) they didnt engage the crowds at all
INFLAMES WERE EPIC!…
1) they got so much energy and feel across in their music,
2) they actually engaged with the crowd,
3) their music is actually good? but then again, thats a matter of personal opinion
and kse were amazing:D
how you can say inflames were the low point of the night when they were so obvously the best sounding band on the night? they blew killswitch out of the water for sheer musicianship and sound quality.
Noit slating KSE at all but to be honest, inflames were so much more amazing than you put across in this article, and so so much better than Everytime I Die.
Maylene were awesome too
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