IN FLAMES, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, AS I LAY
DYING
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
The Commodore Ballroom
Vancouver, BC Canada
Review and live pictures by
Lord of the Wasteland
“In the blue corner, with a combined weight of 900 pounds and hailing
from Gothenburg, Sweden…the masters of melodic death mayhem…IN FLAMES!!!
And in the red corner, a fearsome fivesome from Massachusetts and
frontrunners of the new American metal movement…KILLSWITCH ENGAGE!!!
Llllllllllet’s get ready to rrrrrrrrrrummmmmmblllllllllllllllllle…………….”
This was how I imagined things would begin as In Flames, Killswitch
Engage and As I Lay Dying stopped by Vancouver on the tour billed as
“The Ultimate Battle.” Unfortunately, Michael Buffer, the golden voice
of ring announcers, was not in attendance and no one tapped out of a
submission hold. Still, this was a great bill that had The Commodore
Ballroom packed full on a warm Tuesday night. As co-headliners, In
Flames was supporting their brand-new CD, SOUNDTRACK TO YOUR ESCAPE,
while Killswitch Engage’s new disc, THE END OF HEARTACHE, dropped that
very day. Both bands have become familiar faces around these parts as,
including this show, In Flames has been here 3 times in less than 2
years and Killswitch Engage has graced us a whopping 3 times in 10
months. Despite these frequent stops, the crowd was hungry for a killer
show and all three bands delivered.
Touring in support of last year’s Metal Blade debut, FRAIL WORDS
COLLAPSE, As I Lay Dying played a 30-minute set of high energy, speedy
metalcore. The band came on stage with both guns blazing and didn’t stop
thrashing spastically around throughout their entire set. Vocalist Tim
Lambesis’ relentless screams and boundless energy makes him the perfect
frontman, while guitar riffing is traded off between Phil Sgrosso and
Nick Hipa. Some excellent clean vocals courtesy of bassist Clint Norris
offset Lambesis while maintaining some seriously heavy moments. I was
familiar with As I Lay Dying by name only before this show, so as far as
songs go, I can’t really offer a list of what they played, but the crowd
seemed very enthusiastic and even chanted the band’s name at several
points. They have a very good stage presence that livened up the crowd,
so I would say As I Lay Dying is a band to watch.
A
lengthy changeover between As I Lay Dying and Killswitch Engage (Thirty
minutes?? COME ON!!!) threatened to lose some of the momentum, but as
the lights dimmed and the sound of Body Count’s “Smoked Pork” came over
the P.A., the stage was set for the first of many metallic shenanigans
from Killswitch Engage. For lack of a better word, the “leader” of the
band is guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz. Besides sharing guitar licks with
Joel Stroetzel, Dutkiewicz was the drummer on the band’s breakthrough
CD, ALIVE OR JUST BREATHING, as well as handling production duties on
all three of the band’s efforts thus far. Dutkiewicz is also a frenetic
character, endlessly mugging and making wiseass remarks. Last time the
band played Vancouver, he promptly fell right on his ass as he ran on
stage. This time, Dutkiewicz, sporting a pair of the biggest pork chop
sideburns in metal history, dedicated “My Last Serenade” to all the
ladies in the audience. He also laid out a blanket offer to them to come
back to the bus for a tryst over rancid McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets.
(What woman couldn’t resist that?) New drummer Justin Foley seemed to be
having the time of his life behind the kit as he cracked up at
Dutkiewicz and was grooving right along to all the songs. Foley replaced
previous drummer Tom Gomes who left just prior to last year’s
Headbanger’s Ball tour. Despite a rather bookish appearance, Foley is
hard-hitting and, having seen both drummers in action, Foley is a much
better skinsman than Gomes. Hulking frontman Howard Jones finally got a
chance to get out from under the shadow of former KSE vocalist, Jesse
Leach, as he performed his own material from THE END OF HEARTACHE. Jones
has an excellent range and can deliver a roaring growl in one breath and
a clear clean vocal the next. I had only heard a couple tracks from the
new CD prior to the show and admittedly, it will be difficult to top the
brilliant ALIVE OR JUST BREATHING, but these new tracks sound no less
appealing. From the new CD, the band played “A Bid Farewell,” “When
Darkness Falls,” a very well-received “Rose of Sharyn” and “Hope Is…”
The better tracks from ALIVE OR JUST BREATHING remained a part of their
set, including “Life To Lifeless,” “Element of One,” “Fixation On The
Darkness,” “Vide Infra” and a stunning version of “My Last Serenade” to
close their all-too-brief fifty-minute set. Like many others, I was
hoping for an encore that never came. This band has gotten better each
time they have visited Vancouver and with good early buzz happening for
THE END OF HEARTACHE, the rollercoaster doesn’t show any signs of
slowing down, either.
I have openly criticized The Commodore’s choice of house music in my
reviews before and this occasion was no better. This being a metal show,
one would expect to hear metal, or at the very least, hard rock. Not so,
in the venues’ eye, as someone saw fit to play some god-awful
ambient/trip-hop. This isn’t the “Ultimate Battle” between Bjork and
Portishead! It’s a metal show!! Usually, they dust off their copy of the
NATIVITY IN BLACK tribute or the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 soundtrack hoping
to appease the metal masses and while those discs have grown tiresome,
at least they contain metal. Unforgivable.
Another
ice cold Granville Island Honey Lager helped me get over my bitterness
just in time for In Flames. Ten years into their career, the band is
finding unparalleled chart success around the world with their brand new
CD, SOUNDTRACK TO YOUR ESCAPE. While their glimmer may have dulled in
the eyes of older fans with their more melodic sound of late, there is
no denying that In Flames is a powerful live act. Their 80-minute set
was heavy with post-COLONY material (where many “fans” say they “sold
out”) but only two songs (“Behind Space” and “Episode 666”) were played
from earlier albums. The band wore matching black Dickie’s gas station
attendant shirts with their names emblazoned on a patch. Guitarist Bjorn
Gelotte now resembles Cousin It from the Addams Family, as he has more
hair on his face and head than visible skin. Gelotte and Jesper
Stromblad traded off impressive guitar riffs and solos, while Peter
Iwers, who I’ve never paid much attention to in terms of his playing,
ripped away at his six-string bass all night, most notably on “Trigger”
and “Clay Man.” Anders Friden whipped around his dreadlocks while
emitting some impressive screams alongside his death growl and clean
vocals. The songs played from the last two In Flames albums, REROUTE TO
REMAIN and SOUNDTRACK TO YOUR ESCAPE, take on a much heavier sound when
played live, especially “Touch Of Red” and “My Sweet Shadow.” On record,
the dominance of samples and keyboards sometimes dampens the heaviness
of these tracks, but in a live setting, Gelotte and Stromblad’s guitars
play the keyboard parts and only the occasional pre-recorded sample
slips in. Before “Only For The Weak,” the band’s merch guy appeared with
a video camera and it was announced that every show on this tour is
being filmed for a live DVD. Naturally this whipped the crowd up to a
feverish pace and the entire floor went crazy, eager to be captured on
film. Like their last visit, In Flames did not come back for an encore
despite rowdy cheers of “IN FLAMES! IN FLAMES!” The fans wanted more
(don’t they always) but I suppose the band follows the old show biz
theory of “always leave them wanting more.”
While
the “ultimate battle” seemed to be a bit one-sided (Killswitch Engage
was granted 50 minutes, while In Flames got 80 minutes), the fans in
attendance were treated to a stellar show and welcomed all the bands
with equal enthusiasm. Even the guy in the audience with the Mr. T
haircut and beard seemed happy! So who won? I would give the edge to
Killswitch Engage, though In Flames went a full 15 rounds and got their
licks in. Short of seeing Adam Dutkiewicz holding Bjorn Gelotte in a
“camel clutch,” while Anders Friden gives Howard Jones a piledriver
backstage, I guess we’ll never know.
IN FLAMES’ SETLIST
Pinball Map
System
Episode 666
Embody The Invisible
Cloud Connected
Touch Of Red
Like You Better Dead
In Search For I
Clay Man
Only For The Weak
Behind Space
Trigger
The Quiet Place
Colony
My Sweet Shadow
In Flames’ Official site —
www.inflames.com
Killswitch Engage’s Official site —
www.killswitchengage.com
As I Lay Dying’s Official site —
www.asilaydying.com
Thanks to Hannah at Nuclear Blast for the ticket and
photo pass.