Concert Reviews

Broken Hope - Vader - Monstrosity
Mar 26th 1997
Les Foufounes Electriques, Montreal, PQ, Canada

What more could one ask for in a night? Three heavyweight death metal bands in one night at Foufounes Electrique.

Monstrosity opened the show on a good note. Although I've never liked Monstrosity from their CD's, they actually put on a really good set. Really fast, crystal clear sound, lots of energy. They didn't have a bass player, I'm not sure if that's normal (since I don't follow the band), but the two guitar players were tight, and the drummer hands and feet were flying all over the place.

Next in line was Vader. To see a band of their caliber is a real treat, especially since they're from Poland and so they don't get to tour North America as much as they should. Sadly, their mix was a bit muddy, but that didn't stop the band from kicking some serious ass. The guitars were great, and had a lot more bottom end than they do on their CD's. And the drummer, well, I don't know if he has an agreement with some sort of demon, or maybe he's just been cybernetically enhanced, either way, his speed and accuracy were scary.

They started the show with "Sothis", and proceeded to play all of my favorites, including "Silent Empire", "Blood of Kingu" and "Vicious Circle". Then they played their tribute to Black Sabbath, which they probably did just to give the drummer a quick breather before they finished off the show with a rendition of Slayer's "Raining Blood", played at about twice the speed of Slayer's version. A great way to finish things, I wish they had played longer, but they were, after all, still an opening band. I can't wait to see them headline.

And talking of headlining, that's where Broken Hope came into the picture. Sadly, they were also plagued with technical difficulties. Their sound had this horrible warbling (Wa-o-wa-o-wa-o). They tried to fix the problem, but it didn't go away, which was a real shame. Anyway, despite this, they played a great show. The vocalist is nuts, his voice is truly lower than any voice on the planet, and it was powerful, his growl was strong enough to cause my body to vibrate (not to mention the entire room). The rest of the band was also great, the bass player was leaping all over the place, and there was some serious banging going on both on the stage and in the pit. They started the show with "Borivoj's Demise", and then played some stuff from their new album (Loathing) like "He Was Raped" and "The Cloning", as well as some old favorites like "Gorehog", "Grind Box", and everyone's favorite song, "Swamped in Gore." I think they cut the show a bit short because of the technical difficulties, but for $10, I still got more than my money's worth.

All in all, it was a great show, even a non-death metal friend who came with me to the show enjoyed himself. If these guys are passing through your neighborhood, it's your duty to go see them. You won't be disappointed.

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