04-02-2010Live reviews - The Black Dahlia Murder
2-2-2010 Bonecrusher Fest also ft. 3 Inches of Blood, Necrophobic, Obscura, The Faceless, Carnifex
The Bonecrusher Fest is fast working its way across Europe slaying every major city and laying carnage to waste. We catch up at the tours stop off in Yorkshire where the seven band bill of The Black Dahlia Murder, 3 Inches of Blood, Necrophobic, Obscura, The Faceless, Carnifex, and Ingested stopped off at Leeds Rio's for a night of ultimate metal in its numerous forms.
'16 Quid's a bit steep for a ticket' is a gripe heard on the way in but by the end of the night it proves its value tenfold. At just after five thirty I head into the venue with first band Ingested already playing to a surprisingly full room, it seemed to confirm what we assumed with the earlier traffic, everyone finishes work early in Leeds. Keeping seven bands, almost all with five members must take some serious organization and the precision with the band hitting their allotted stage time is a theme that runs through the night.
Carnifex (3.5/5) are up next and for just over twenty minutes shred their way through a few choice cuts from their album. They act as a good precursor for what is to come as the clock spins round. With each support band being given a small time to showcase their sounds and headliners TBDM only even being allowed a measly 45 minutes was one of the things that worked well at this gig. Often these big bills can become tedious and the roadies expend more energy moving a trailer full of gear in between each band than the people in the pit. The changes are swift and well managed and for each band I feel as I get to see more than enough to give my ears a pleasurable blasting.
The Faceless (3/5) take the stage and quickly begin to play a brand of technical metal which is hit almost note perfect each time. The main problem for the band is they are extremely constricted in where they can move as Shannon Lucas OF TBDM's kit is taking up half the floor space at the back. It means the show lacks energy and captivation and at the end was a very similar experience to listening to the CD. This feeling seemed to pass through the crowd as the movement all but subsided for their twenty minutes.
Obscura (4/5) are a new one on me and is the great things about this varied line up, you can almost guarantee every person leaves with another band to check out or a different opinion of one of tonight's seven showpieces. The German four piece play in a similar vein to Behemoth and even included the obligatory 'oi, oi, oi' over the driving thrash riff. Songs such as 'The Universe Gone Mental' and 'The Century' are made up of speedily delivered intricate fret work, punctuated by the frenetic drum and added to by the vocalists Germanic metal scream.
Necrophobic (4/5) appear to be the illegitimate love child consumed at a Wacken Open Air festival. They look evil, they act evil and they sing about everything evil. At first I find it slightly unusual but the conviction that is instilled into the performance primarily by vocalist Tobias means that it rises from a two out of five at the first song half a star each time before I'm left captivated by the undoubted mastery in the guitar work. Having been in existence for over thirty years and obviously excited by the prospect of performing to the English audience the Swedish death metallers win almost everyone over by the time they depart.
Three Inches Of Blood (4.5/5) have long been one of my favourite metal acts and I just can't get away from the feel good vibe I get every time I listen to their traditionally British influenced metal. This was also the first time I have seen the band after their forced line up changes and I was interested to see how the band would work having lost the dynamic of a sole screamer alongside the mighty lungs of Cam Pipes. Justin Hagberg deputies for Jamie Hooper dutifully all the while shredding like a demon. Opening with 'Battles and Brotherhood' they unite everyone in Rio's under one common love of that over-driven guitar. 'Demons Blade' is followed by personal favourite 'Wykydytron' which has half of the crowd united in verse. One of the most memorable moments of the set is when the band is joined on stage by Necrophagic's Tobias for the darkly themed 'Call Of The Hammer.' 'Swordmaster' and 'Night Marauders' are both perfectly executed and I'm left feeling like Icarus, only the sun has been replaced by 3IOB and they don't just provide face melters, closing on 'Goat Rider's Horde' if feel as if everything has been stripped away. The only negative was that on such a regimented set time so many classics were left untouched.
The Black Dahlia Murder (4/5) are last up but the energy levels are only just reaching boiling point. Smashing their way into 'When The Last Grave Has Emptied' sends the lower of Rio's three tiered floor in reckless abandon with the view from above just a melee of limbs flying in every conceivable direction. The sound is perfect with the guitars cutting through the PA with a crisp yet unearthly depth to their tone. The bass pummels at the clubs sub whilst the drumming lacerates every available piece of kit. Trevor Strand is arguably the best vocalist in this vein switching from the death growl, with a hint of hardcore to the higher yet equally as unnerving screams which appears to scratch through is vocal chords.'Necropolis,' 'A Vulgar Picture,' and 'Everything Went Black' are quickly unleashed but feverishly received and this fans nominated set list appear to be hitting every right spot. With a good mix from each album, 'Unhallowed' through to 'Deflorate' each song is pumped through the machine of murder. 'Black Valor' the first track from new album 'Deflorate' was one particular highlight amongst a set littered with so called 'Classics.'Two of those appear next as 'What a horrible night to have a curse' and 'Closed Casket Requiem' continue to raise up the heat on a snowy cold night up in the hills. Vocalist Trevor looks like an adult version of Chunk from the Goonies, topless and doing his own version of the truffle shuffle. The only difference is he waves his arms around as if a composer controlling the fans into some of the best pit action I've seen in a while. It even leaves the gormless looking seven foot security guard looking on front the front looking utterly perplexed. I also don't thing I've ever seen a musician display their enjoyment as visually as Strand does. 'Miasma' and 'I Will Return' provide a fitting close and it feels at though forty five minutes have just passed in five. Bonecrusher was a resounding success, from all the bands to everyone who had a hand in organizing what can only be a logistical nightmare everyone involved should feel extremely satisfied as this was one hell of a metal show.
10-02-2010Interview - The Black Dahlia Murder
Rocksnail talks to TBDMs Shannon Lucas - Id like this band if I wasnt in this band!
I was 16 and on my way back from a gig in Leeds the first time I heard The Black Dahlia Murder. I'd been into heavy music for the better part of my life but hearing the 'What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse' demo I saw something different in this band that seemed to make them instantly stand apart from everything else that was out there. Not quite professional production values aside Trevor Strands deeply visceral vocal style coupled with the unrelenting blasting of the drums and guitar riffs that ran a marathon in sprint lead to a new found infatuation with some of musics more subterranean pleasures.
One thing that always got me was that the media at the time seemed to want to picture the band as moody and it appeared to form a tug of war between the band and everyone with an opinion. On one side stood TBDM and their want to be seen as a straight up death metal outfit and the other which wanted to insert one of the many 'insert'core genres that had riddled the metal scene. Now nearly a decade on, four full albums and a DVD and about as many trips around the world as a GPS satellite things are very different. Drummer Shannon Lucas (once of 'All That Remains') says, "I think it took the band a long time to make their name as a death metal band. The format really hasn't changed all that much since the beginning, it's melodic Swedish influenced death metal. From the beginning and even still today new people who see us or just hear us, they don't expect much. We don't all have long hair, we don't all wear black clothes. We look like Hardcore kids and are associated with the hardcore scene and we all have roots that stem from that. But the music speaks for itself, it always has and I think more so now than ever we maybe earned the title of 'OK They're a Death Metal Band', I mean I like Hardcore don't get me wrong but we're not even close to Hardcore."
Now it appears the band have had the time to settle. Musically Lucas is right, it never was really in question and a listen to any track off any one of; 'Unhallowed,' 'Miasma,' 'Nocturnal' or latest effort 'Deflorate' will affirm that. Like anything a natural progression had to occur and now with hindsight an afforded commodity it appears the genre bashing they took only served to help them get to the levels they have hit, "Nobody wanted to be called a metalcore band especially if you don't think you were but at some point you have to take a step back and look at it and say 'that made us a crossover band for a while' and we were able to get people form different scenes and that has helped us over the years."
As we sit where it appears the members and crew of the Boncrusher Fest have devoured through a full service station in under 30 seconds Shannon is warm and friendly and extremely open in conversation. He also maintains a notable professionalism, maybe this is why he is now the longest standing drummer for the band which appeared to once have a revolving stool. I'm keen to know if there's any added pressure playing in a band who are known for not accepting second best and who aren't afraid to chop and change members to achieve this. "I think before it was a matter of them guys were young and it's hard to tour this kind of music. Especially extreme drumming, you've got to really want to do it, it's physically demanding. They just didn't want to put in the work, they enjoyed being in a band but you know when you have a weak link in the band you're not going to let that destroy what you're trying to do so sometimes you just have to make a choice. As soon as you get a guy in the band who thinks he cant be replaced you've got a problem, everybody can be replaced there's always someone out there whose faster or better."
Sometimes it is just a question of growing up and amid what was quite a turbulent first few years in terms of disruptions for the band it never wavered their want to top each and every album. When I'm watching the band on stage later that evening it's evident of what Shannon says next, "I think all the member changing and stuff is done. Everybody who is in this band knows what they have and appreciate where they are. We all enjoy being here." It's none more noticeable than in vocalist Trevor Strand who leaves you asking one question by the end of the performance; have you ever seen a musician openly display his enjoyment during his time on stage?
Currently supporting newest album 'Deflorate' it appears the band are pretty happy with what they have achieved with the record."If a band can still sell a bunch of records in this age of MP3's you're doing pretty good." Plus the amount of kids you spot all wearing their TBDM tee's with one of their numerous and now legendary art prints you could assume the band aren't scraping change for burgers anymore. This however was something that at one stage forced Lucas to question the record before it was even started. "After Nocturnal they way kids talked about it, it seemed to me in my mind, 'What if we can't top that. What if we can't write songs that kids like better than that.' Obviously we can progress and play better but what if they don't like the songs as much. Once we started working on 'Deflorate' I was like 'No, this records cool!' The album has a less polished approach than you may first expect but this is one of the goals the band set out to achieve with the recording of 'Deflorate' "We wanted the record to just be more natural. Industry standard these days is very much pro-tools, drums are sampled and sound replaced and stuff. You know, what we wanted was for it to sound like a real band, it's natural so the record has that natural feel to it. It's a little more raw, the old death metal records we listened to growing up had that raw feel to it. It was the age before everything was digital it just sounds rough and grimy and we really appreciate that and we wanted to capture that."
The final piece in the puzzle is the relationships that this band has formed to enable its growth. This totally dispels any remaining questions of the band's attitude, just look at who endorses the band and they certainly aren't people who suffer fools lightly. Metal Blade picked up the band after hearing that same 'What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse' Demo and obviously it had impacted on that guy in a similar way to myself. As Lucas laments on the label you feel the sense of the bond he has, "I feel like they trust us as a band,were not going to do anything stupid. I feel like we have the best people in our corner, they backed us and we try to make them proud. It's our home and we wouldn't want to go anywhere else. When people are like 'don't you want to check out a bigger label' we're straight a way 'No, Metal Blade is the pace for us.'" All the music covered the band still wouldn't have been able to tour so relentlessly and with so many band's if they were renowned for being anything other than good time guys. The band's ambiguity has enabled many tours but I'm interested in knowing just who are the best road buddies that TBDM could have. "I really love touring with Cannibal Corpse, they're childhood favorites so I love touring with them and with Suffocation the same thing." It must be quite nerve racking playing with bands you grow up idolising I interjected, "It seemed like with them I felt like they were impressed right from the get go, obviously for me I wanted to play really well, they've seen a lot of really good bands. I still never get tired of seeing them live and it's like a dream come true touring with them and not just touring with the but being their friends too"
The band are currently finishing up on the Bonecrusher tour before heading back home for further tours stateside. If you are a fan of death metal but let the kids in tight jeans and swept fringes stop you from giving The Black Dahlia Murder a chance then may I suggest a listen to 'Deflorate' and you may just have another favourite band.
http://www.myspace.com/blackdahliamurder
