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Photo Credit: Richard Giraldi
Who knew animated characters could be this loud? The fictional metal group Dethklok from Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse obliterated a sold out crowd at the Aragon Ballroom with insanely heavy, lightening fast riffs and tounge-in-cheek lyrics last Saturday night. But it was their tour mates and prog-metal gods Mastodon who gave a performance filled with more heavy hits and explosions than a Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoon.
The double headliner thing can always get a bit awkward. Two huge bands but only one headlining spot. But it gets even more weird when the headliner is a fictional band from a cartoon. But Dethklok played the part well, and their video screen showing scenes from the show really helped push the idea that these guys were real. Still, Mastodon was the night’s highlight by a long shot playing a mesmerizing set that included their newest bombastic effort Crack The Skye in its entirety.
What makes Mastodon so impressive is that they’ve reached nearly classic metal band status while being a relatively young group. Crack The Skye is metal, but metal rooted in the heaviness of classic rock acts such as Zeppelin, Floyd or Deep Purple. And the band even performs with the exact precision as those same former greats.
Photo Credit: Richard Giraldi
This was the second time Mastodon have performed Crack The Skye in it’s entirety in Chicago, the first being last May at the Metro, and this performance was even tighter. The band really hit their stride during the mid-section of the 11-minute “The Czar” when big power riffs give way to a almost-funky bass-heavy bridge. Bassist Troy Sanders leaned back with his bass hung low and belted out a deep grunt before delivering his vocal section.
The intricacies of guitarists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher’s collaborative riffage can’t be understated, and drummer Brann Dailor’s punk meets sludge meets jazz rhythms lift the songs to epic heights. The band’s encore consisted of a range of older material including the twisted “Circle Of Cysquatch” off 2006′s Blood Mountain and the heavy-as-all-fuck “Mother Puncher” from 2002′s Remission. After closing with an almost-as-good-as-the-original cover of The Melvins’ tune “The Bit,” the tinnitus began to set in, but there was no rest for the weary on this night.
Shortly before Dethklok hit the stage, the crowd began chanting “Dethklok!” and threw fists in the air as if the animated characters from part-American/part-Scandinavian death metal were literally about to walk on the stage. I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of Metalocalypse. Infact, I’m more of a Home Movies type of fellow, but Dethklok’s seemingly cult following really peaked my interest.
After a short opening video featuring a gag about Dethklok fans being languid mutants, the band hit the stage. Unfortunately, the only cartoon characters anywhere to be seen were on the video backdrop. The actual Dethklok consists of drummer Gene Hoglan, guitarist Mike Keneally, bassist Bryan Beller and lead guitarist, vocalist and Metalocalypse creator Brendon Small, who plays the part of Dethklok’s monstrous front man Nathan Explosion quite well.
The concept is that the live band plays to a bunch of quickly edited music videos featuring characters and scenes from the animated show that are projected on the screen behind them. It really seems to take the pressure off the musicians because most of the crowd were fixated on the violent images before them, leaving the band cool, collected and smiling as they deliver nearly grinding metal songs one after another.
Unfortunately, the fun of a Dethklok show only lasts for a few minutes and ultimately becomes gimmicky. The songs are metal, sure, but some of the takes are obviously jabs at the genre. Take the selection, “Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle,” which features a jackhammer-like double bass drum, sludgey riff and Iron Maiden-esque solo, but the lyrics, sung in a deep growl, are about coffee and why it’s so awesome. It’s cute and quite a few Chicagoland tweens enjoy it, but the question remained: Why are these guys headlining over Mastodon?
But at the end of the night, it was apparent that the show was simply a celebration of heavy metal. Old, young, older, younger all came out to hear big distorted riffs and insanely fast drums. Lets just hope that the younger breed of metal fans realize that great metal doesn’t have to be animated.
Dethklok -- “Hatredcopter” -- Live at The Aragon Ballroom -- Oct. 17, 2009
- Posted by Richard Giraldi in: Live Reviews
7 Responses to “Dethklok & Mastodon – Aragon Ballroom – October 17, 2009”
let me say as a strident defender of metal and hater of false metal i am consistently surprised how good dethklok is, considering the source. the key is that brendan small is a true fan of metal and not some hipster trying to ape it for its irony. i think they headlined because mastodon gets it. no one has used metal and understood its humor better than brendan small and mastodon are totally in on it. more importantly, how was high on fire? they might not have the cache of mastodon but they are every bit as good
Honestly, I didn’t catch High On Fire. I saw Converge, who were pretty forgettable. I will admit that Dethklok was insanely heavy, but their performance seemed like a novelty act the longer it went it on.
High on Fire put on a great performance and hopefully being on this kind of tour gets them the credit they deserve. Converge was excellent with the new stuff from Axe to Fall being musically the highlight of the whole night. Converge is still best seen in a small venue where they can truly interact with the fans. Mastodon really needs to stop playing Crack the Skye front to back. Don’t get me wrong its a great album, but it doesn’t translate well to a live show. Watching the second half of the set makes you wonder why they insist on playing it. I’ve seen them several times this year and its when they break out the true Mastodon (Remission, Leviathon, etc.) that the crowd goes nuts. Luckily they had the video in the background to curb the boredom. You’re not Baroness, just keep hitting us with March of the Fire Ants and Mother Puncher please. Dethklok is just a good time. Its sad to think that they aren’t a “real” band and really they are better than 90% of the crap out there right now. The reason it works so well is that its metal that both makes fun of and celebrates metal. The lyrics are fantastic because they take the ridiculousness of most metal songs from bands such as Cannibal Corpse or Megadeth (honestly?…Headcrusher?) and puts them on top of over-the-top double-bass and solos. Its disappointing that they are using basically the same video as the last tour with Chimaira, but its still entertaining. Overall Converge was my favorite, then a tie between High on Fire and Dethklok, and bringing up the rear was Mastodon.
Everyone around me hated Converge. I guess their stuff really doesn’t translate well to anything bigger than a 200-person capacity place because they sounded pretty tiny up there on the big Aragon stage. Of course, this is partly to blame on the Aragon’s horrible sound system. Still, the singer sounded like he was screaming “BLAH BLAH BLAH!” into the mic on every song, and that’s all any could make out.
katie with the subversive views. i don’t necessarily agree but thanks for the well thought out reply. i would not call crack the skye fake mastodon as i think they maybe replaced a bit of the heaviness with some pretty brutally emotional songs but i can see wanted to hear a variety. converge are the type of metal i really dislike. it’s got too much of that hardcore machismo. i saw them open for mastodon a few times back and just wished them away. but let’s agree on high on fire. they deserve to be up there with the bigger metal bands but they aren’t as intricate as mastodon or accessible as, say, the sword. we’ll see what their new album brings
Ross, I didn’t choose my words wisely when I said “real Mastodon”. My intent was not to imply that new Mastodon is “fake”. Let’s substitute the word “real” with something to the effect of “core”. Anyway I understand that Converge is not for everyone, but you can’t deny that Kurt can play like a madman. Honestly I would have rather seen Converge on the Black Dahlia Murder/Skeletonwitch tour and then a band such as Baroness or (dare I say?) Dream Theater to fit in with High on Fire and Mastodon (its too easy to say Neurosis, how many Neurosis/Mastodon shows do we need?). I’m just glad that they didn’t stick something gawdawful such as Shadows Fall or Killswitch Engage in the mix.
dream theater? i’ll let that slide since you dared to say. well, if you dig high on fire perhaps you should delve into my black cobra review and check them out. they are poised to make their way into the conversation
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