Concert Review #1

I think it’s pretty hard to make any description of me without mentioning music. I physically need music, and I need to go to live shows frequently. I get withdrawals if I don’t. The following is a review of the last show I attended.
October 3rd, 2008. Obituary and Unleashed with @ Guests The Pearl Room – Mokena, IL
I have a list of bands I have to see when they come to the United States. Obituary was one of these bands, because they were one of the founders of death metal, and have one of the most unique vocalists in the genre. Their music now isn’t as technical as current day bands, so they’re a bit outdated as they still play the same back-to-basics music they did on their 1989 debut. They still put out a lot of classic records, and it was great to see those songs played live.
The openers – all were deathcore bands, a horrible genre that mixes the aggressiveness of death metal with excessive amounts of hardcore breakdowns with no technical ability that any person who’s never played an instrument could play. I hate how many of these bands make it on good bills.
Unleashed – I’ve never been a huge Unleashed fan, because they are pretty cliché Viking death metal, but they do what they do very well. The choruses were extremely catchy and the pits got pretty violent. Songs like “This is Our World Now” and “Death Metal Victory” got everybody chanting the words. Their sound quality was excellent. By the end of their set, the Norse mythology they sing about overwhelmed me, and I was ready to charge into battle. It was a lot of fun.
Obituary – Their sound quality was perfect, and their vocalist John Tardy sounded exactly like he did on CD. They played mostly new stuff unfortunately, but a few classics were thrown in. My only complaint was that Ralph Santolla, formerly of Iced Earth and Deicide, replaced a lot of the solos on the old songs with more technical random noodling. He’s a terrific guitarist, so I don’t know why he didn’t take a few minutes to properly learn the old solos. It also seemed to me that I missed some memo for everyone to pour their beer in the middle of the pit. I about broke my neck slipping all over while I was getting thrown around, we might of well been on a slip n’ slide, it was ridiculous.
Over-all the show was great, and another great experience. A few more bands have been added to my list of bands I’ve seen, the only downside was how sore I was for the following week. There’s no rush like the one I get at shows though, so it was definitely worth it.

http://www.pearlroomconcerts.com/thepearlroom/concerts.aspx