Monday, September 18th – Echo Beach, Toronto
On paper, a Dethklok/Babymetal tour seems like a no-brainer. Both acts are viewed as metal interacting with more mainstream culture, while simultaneously eliciting extremely positive and negative reactions from the metal community itself. It’s also been a relatively long time since they both debuted, with Dethklok’s animated show Metalocalypse first releasing in 2006, while Babymetal’s self-titled first album is nearly 10-years-old, with the band all now in their 20’s.
But before I talk about the Toronto stop of the tour, I need to address one item that affected the evening beyond either act’s control, and that’s the choice of Echo Beach as a venue for a show in late September. By the time Babymetal hit the stage, the wind blowing off the lake made for an extremely uncomfortable viewing experience. Younger children wearing coats and jackets were shivering in their parents’ arms. It also makes for a more detached feeling while watching the show, with the intense wind sometimes dulling the sound itself. I feel that this venue should not be booked after August, for the general health and safely of the patrons.
Moving on… The trio of Babymetal took to the stage in dazzling holographic outfits that reflected their stage lighting and video backdrop, at times causing them to be surrounded by rainbow-coloured shards of light. Original members Su-metal and Moametal, along with new-ish member Momometal, danced and sang through a roughly hour-long set made up of mostly newer material. The progressive and eclectic vibes of their latest work allowed for more diverse choreography than I’ve seen from them before, as well as an impeccable lead vocal performance from Su-metal. Their backing band was on point as usual, but they seemed to take a more physically subdued approach, letting their three front-women take the lead, which they certainly did, motivating clap-alongs and even convincing nearly 90% of the crowd to crouch down and jump up on command with more ease than Slipknot ever has. Although their more recent songs are a bit more musically advanced, the highlight was the late-set first-album pair of “Megitsune” and “Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!” which drew the biggest reactions. The amount of effort put forth each night by these three should not be under-sold.
Compared to the spectacle of Babymetal, Dethklok came across as rather tame. Right before they hit the stage I heard one fan remark, “Well, it is a show from 2007 so we’ll see if the humour still lands.” Unfortunately we really didn’t get to find out. Dethklok shows in the past had multiple animated interludes featuring the Metalocalypse characters. But this time around aside from a brief intro from the band’s lawyer and the now well-publicized PSA about bathing before you come to the show by the band’s mascot Facebones, fans were mostly treated to montages while the band was shrouded in darkness. Although they played flawlessly, with iconic metal drummer Gene Hoglan being a particular standout, after the bombardment of light and sound that was Babymetal, Dethklok seemed to have a far more difficult time connecting with the audience. Aside from the kids who came to see Babymetal, there were a number of people there in their early-mid-twenties. So without the extra animated interludes, getting the jokes in the Dethklok songs almost entirely depends on having watched Metalocalypse at some point in your life. For those who hadn’t, there was no way in. This sentiment was echoed by some of the people I spoke with after, who said that they enjoyed Dethklok in a general musical way, but felt they didn’t fully understand it because it was new to them. It occurred to me that perhaps the actors/writers strike was a reason for the lack of visual material, but Metalocalypse creator/Dethklok front-man Brendan Small has been discussing the band’s new album/film in interviews, so that’s unclear. In the past Small has made no secret that the show/band is both a love-letter and critique of the metal community. My thought is that if the band is going to be playing to younger crowds, they should lean on the former, or at least go on first.
The Babyklok North American Tour has one more Canadian stop, October 3rd in Vancouver, and wraps up October 11th in Los Angeles.
Thank you to Adrenaline PR.
Surma is a collaboration between Czech vocalist Viktorie Surmová (Bohemian Metal Rhapsody) and Faroese vocalist/guitarist Heri Joensen (Týr). Their debut album, The Light Within, was released on Metal Blade Records in late 2020. The band’s sound will instantly appeal to fans of symphonic metal, particularly the Dutch sound of the early 2000s. There are also moments that evoke the Scandinavian symphonic acts, but overall, Surma leans more towards the gothic and progressive side of the style, as opposed to a more folk-tinged sound. So much so that tracks like “Downfall” and “Until It Rains Again” are more comparable to bands like Amorphis or Tristania, as opposed to bombastically symphonic bands like Epica or After Forever. Also, in a gothic power-move that would make Lydia Deetz blush, all their lyrics are inspired by sculptures from around the world.
But mostly the album is characterized by songs like “Fire and Wind” and “ Lost to Time,” short-but-sturdy compositions filled with lush, layered vocals, and tightly-packed melodic riffs and solos. Combine the rock n’ roll sensibilities of Within Temptation with the earthiness of Midnattsol, and you wouldn’t be too far off from where Surma has landed on their strong debut.
Surmová is the main vocalist through most of the album, but it’s the intensely contrasting moments with Joensen that stand out the most vocally. “The City of Winds” rocks with an orchestral swing, with Joensen delivering a strong mid-track soliloquy, while the unsurprisingly-heavy “Cages of Rage” finds the 2 trading lines in an epic pre-chorus. The peak of The Light Within arrives with the penultimate track, the afore-mentioned “Lost to Time,” where Surmová and Joensen combine all their best moves into the album’s most memorable song.
If you’re fan of symphonic metal, The Light Within is very easy to get into, but it got repeated listens from me because it takes chances where they’re needed. Most symphonic bands choose their lane within the style and stay there. Surma’s extra touches go a long way to making the album a more varied experience. It’s an extremely welcome addition to a subgenre that had become slightly paint-by-numbers.
Surma: Heri Joensen (left) and Viktorie Surmová (right)
Photo Courtesy of Metal Blade Records
Surma will be featured in an upcoming Zombitrol At Home article. You can streamThe Light Within in full below.
Photo Courtesy of Listen Harder
Hard rock supergroup A Perfect Circle are currently on tour in North America. It’s a tour that’s serving more as a reminder of their existence than anything else. Last week at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, the band made their moody re-introduction ahead of their first new album of original material in fourteen years, promised for release in 2018.
The evening featured a few new songs, including their current single “The Doomed.” Although their debut Mer de Noms was touched on, the set was weighed heavily in favour of 2003’s Thirteenth Step. Intentional or not, it’s perhaps a statement about picking up where they left off, as the new material seems to be a natural follow-up to that album.
After a deep voice twice reiterated the band’s widely-reported intense phone policy (take your phone out and get the boot), they began the show shadowed behind a vast white curtain, which dropped once they slammed into the first heavy chord in Step opener “The Package.” 90s rock radio staple “The Hollow” then drew a huge response, and that carried over into “The Noose,” and “Weak and Powerless.”
The band’s trademark dry sense of humour was also on display, with vocalist Maynard James Keenan making a few quips about his personal tour routine during their ode to self-pleasure “Thinking of You.” James Iha (bass/keyboards) also drew a surprisingly enthusiastic response by calmly asking “Is everyone having a reasonable time?” before launching into an amusing stage ramble, that ultimately led into “The Outsider.”
Although the focus is often on Keenan because of his other job in Tool (also, he stands backlit on an elevated platform), it was guitarist and composer Billy Howerdel who turned in a flawless performance, with older riffs elevated above their recordings, and new songs sounding current but not wholly detached from his signature style.
Visually the band mostly remained in shadow throughout the set, although Keenan’s occasional politically-tinged remarks did remind the crowd that those were indeed people surrounded by performance-art projections and gothic lighting. But with an arena tour it was perhaps a bit too detached as many of the scattered attendees in the lower bowl didn’t seem fully connected to the experience. Between that and ticket prices that were more in line with a larger production, it’s possible that they overestimated the strength of their return. After all Mer de Noms is still their most successful album, and it received very little attention during the performance. As one fan pointed out on Facebook, the only fan favourite they didn’t play was Noms’ first single and arguably their heaviest song “Judith.”
But that seems to be A Perfect Circle’s M.O. They are in charge of the presentation, and very little seems “for the fans.” That’s their choice, and it’s one that their devotees eat up like crazy. It’s not a matter of “I hope they do this,” it’s more of a “What are they going to do next?” That being said, regardless of their abstract approach to rock music and releasing albums, it was evident that a good chunk of the audience that night were there for the big songs, and stood/sat quietly through the album tracks and new material.
A Perfect Circle’s current tour shows that their core fanbase is still strong and don’t necessarily need to be reminded that the band exists, but now as they prepare to release a new album into a music culture that’s changed drastically since they were last active, it’s uncertain if their more casual fans will continue to follow them for more than nostalgia. But perhaps at a time that finds Keenan apologizing to a bunch of Canadians for the state of his country (albeit without mentioning anyone in particular), maybe the point is to shed a little deadweight.
A Perfect Circle have four dates left on their North American tour, including tonight in Vancouver, before they head to Europe. Watch the video for “The Doomed” below.
It’s taken me a bit of time to process Combichrist’s new album This Is Where Death Begins. Without much warning the formerly beat-driven industrial aggro-tech ensemble has reinvented themselves as an electro-metal punk band. Over the past decade the Norwegian/American act claimed their spot as the next in line to lead the industrial underground in the grand KMFDM-tradition. Some fans had already predicted a shift in direction after the band created a metal-based soundtrack for the game Devil May Cry in 2013. However their following release, We Love You (2014), despite having a few guitar-driven tracks, was a largely electronic affair laden with heavy techno beats. I spoke with band founder Andy LaPlegua about that album, and he said that the mix of styles came from a decision to funnel tracks into Combichrist that would have normally gone into his side projects. It remains unclear as to whether the change in tone on the new album is a result of this.
Generally speaking, is it a good album? Yes. But is it a good Combichrist album? I’m not quite sure (more on that later). To be fair, this album isn’t entirely bereft of electronic music. It’s pretty much the inverse of We Love You, as that album had a few guitar tracks mixed in, and in this case it’s industrial music that makes a guest appearance.
Immediate standouts include “My Life My Rules,” which follows a similar structure as a number of the band’s more upbeat songs except with riffs instead of beats. “Blackened Heart” is a hard-driving mid-tempo rocker that wouldn’t have been out of place on a nineties Ministry album. The ultra-catchy “Skullcrusher” gets by largely on humour, but it’s also pretty damn infectious, despite not really fitting in with the rest of the album.
“Don’t Care How You Feel About It,” with its heavy base and pitch-shifted vocals, is the closest the band comes to their previous style, and the pseudo-title track “Homeward” continues their tradition of dropping a dark and memorable acoustic track on each release. But the best moments come from when the band combines both sides of their sound together. “Glitchteeth” is an understated and surprisingly funky track with a memorable chorus and minimalistic beats, while the brutally heavy and danceable “Exit Eternity” is likely to become a fan favourite.
So yes it’s a good album. But is it a good Combichrist album? I’m going to say yes, for now. How people will remember this album is largely riding on where the band goes from here. As a companion record to We Love You, This Is Where Death Begins actually makes sense. But I’m not sure that it completely makes the case for Combichrist as a metal-punk band. I would be personally happier if they continue to blend styles, rather than one be more dominant than the other. If they do in fact want to carry on in this form, then the pressure’s on, because the next one will have to be a true monster for their current fans to accept the change long-term. Regardless of what shape they take, it’s the albums to come that will most likely determine how this one is regarded.
Photo by Oliver Rath
Combichrist are currently on the “Make Europe Great Again” tour with Filter. This Is Where Death Begins is available now, and you can watch the blood-soaked NSFW video for “My Life My Rules” below.