This past Saturday (May 24th) I headed down to Sound Academy in Toronto, formerly known as The Docks, formerly known as Polson Pier, formerly known as The Docks at Polson Pier, or just simply, that place on the beautiful Portlands next to the beautiful dead power plant.
First of all, to anyone interested in seeing a show, I highly recommend Sound Academy. There is ample parking on site, a rarity in Toronto, though you should expect to pay for it ($10-15 last time I checked). The view is absolutely beautiful, as the venue actually sits atop man-made lands built right on the edge of Lake Ontario. If you try to park too far west of the venue, you will drive into the lake. The place is very clean inside, and has well-maintained facilities.
The Bands
Defined by some as “progressive death metal”, Opeth incorporates elements of progressive rock including advanced technical instrumentation, unorthodox time signatures and rapid rhythmic changes into the Swedish tradition of mixing traditional melodic metal (think Iron Maiden) with a less extreme, slower form of death metal. Certain tracks, however, incorporate acoustic verses that almost sound like they were pulled out of a folk or blues album, and the songs themselves are structured not in strophic form but in a series of movements vaguely resembling a classical piece. As a result of this diversity and complexity, Opeth’s songs regularly exceed ten minutes in length, but are far too engaging to be boring. Since Opeth is one of my favourite bands, and I don’t go to Sweden often, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity (and nor could my friend who purchased the tickets as a birthday gift to me).
This show is actually a spin-off of a larger U.S. tour headlined by another progressive metal band, Dream Theater. Unfortunately, they didn’t make it to Canada, sending only support act 3 (yes, the band is called 3) and a group from Hamilton called Deathmarch. What? An honest, hands-down, real death metal band from Ontario? I thought that death metal was outlawed and all we got was a series of mediocre hardcore and screamo bands. This sounded too good to be true, so I had to do some research. I found their web site, and discovered an interesting fact about this band: they range in age from 16-18 and currently attend highschool. What’s more is that they even have profiles up about the band members. Here is one of the bassist, Kyle Wilcockson:
Likes: Music, Movies, Timmies at 5 A.M.
Dislikes: Rap, Emo
Favorite Music: Metal
Really? Your favourite music is metal? With a name like Deathmarch that’s the last thing I thought you would be playing. I somehow had the idea that these guys were composing pieces for Celine Dion to sing in Vegas. Sorry, my bad. But I’m happy about the likes and dislikes. I guess that means we won’t see a bill of Deathmarch, 50 Cent, and Dashboard Confessional anytime soon. Oh well.
Favorite Drink/Food: Peanut Butter, Orange Juice.
Now THAT is metal; I must raise my fist in the shape of the devil’s horns in salute to you, young man. Rock that OJ and don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.
As easy as it is to poke fun at this, I must say I whole-heartedly approve of the way they’ve presented themselves: as normal human beings. Not all of us metalheads are slacking stoners with poor hygiene. In fact, I’d say that the majority of the people I know who are into metal are just normal people. There are a few, of course, who make us look like disturbed fools for liking more extreme forms of music, and perhaps that acts as a road block to real metal music breaking through into the mainstream. Haha, like that will ever happen.
The Performances
Finally, on to the actual concert!
Deathmarch
The first to hit the stage were Deathmarch. As I said before, they’re young, and it showed: they seemed a little nervous, and the musicianship was not bad but lacked the cohesion and tightness indicative of an experienced group. The music itself ranged from okay to promising. They finished their set with a very solid track, Aurora Borealis, in which they showed a much more melodic sound reminiscent of Amon Amarth. As they develop and refine their sound, they will improve, and I do see a great deal of potential in this quartet.
3
“The band with a number for a name,” explained singer/guitarist Joey Eppard. A little odd, I thought, but after hearing the performance they put on, I could not care less what they were called. They were absolutely fantastic. So good, in fact, that I’m going to use an expletive just because I was so blown away by what I saw these guys do: Fuck. There. I’m done.
Eppard is incredible to watch, thrashing around on his acoustic guitar to his own drum, literally: he plays a Spanish/Flamenco-sounding style while slapping on the strings and tapping beats on the body. This innovative technique is matched with the electric shred skills of another competent axe-wielder, Billy Riker. What an unfortunate name, really; I wonder if he went through life as a perfectly happy Will Riker until 1987 when his moniker was hijacked by this guy. Equally impressive, and perhaps the most interesting member of the band is keymaster and percussionist Joe Stote. Playing a keyboard and what appears to be some kind of old analog synth as well as a set of drums, Stote adds yet another dimension to 3’s experimental sound. If you’re willing to call their sound experimental, that is. I’d say the experiment is a success. This whole band rules. I’m now a huge fan.
Clips: Stote & Gartdrumm drum duo, Eppard playing ‘Bramfatura’, performance of The Word is Born of Flame / The End is Begun.
Opeth
After 3’s mind-bending performance, I was wondering if I should just leave the venue right then and there. I have never seen Opeth live before, and if they didn’t live up to my unrealistic expectations (i.e., bliss and perfection), I would have left on a sour note. This would be no fault of theirs, though. Having to follow an act like 3 should be illegal.
But I had come for Opeth and there was no way I was walking out. Fortunately, they didn’t disappoint me, despite not playing my favourite songs (Advent, To Bid You Farewell, April Ethereal, Bleak, Ghost of Perdition), they did do a nice mix of old and new. They completed the set with a cut from their new album which had yet to be released, Heir Apparent. I had heard about the song, but had never heard it live or recorded. Intense and heavy, it is the darker, brutal side of Opeth. I had also hoped that Mikael or Fredrik would bust out an acoustic for some of that heavy/light juxtaposition that I love so much, but I can see why it’s difficult to swap guitars between verses.
One aspect of their performance I really admired was their stage presence. I have never really cared about how bands act on stage, as long as they perform well and play their music with some degree of enthusiasm. But Mikael Akerfeldt, the antithesis of a lead singer, really knows how to work a crowd.
“We are from Sweden, one of the top three hockey nations in the world.”
[Audience applauds loudly]
“Along with Finland and Russia.”
I had moved right up to the front of the stage by now, and after this comment, I was partially worried that people were going to rush the stage and step all over me in order to kill the band members. Fortunately, all that ensued was a little bit of booing, which they were able to put a stop to quickly.
“Who gives a shit about sports anyway? When I was young, my mother bought me a tennis racket. I wasn’t good at it, so I traded it for a Les Paul copy, and started to play metal.”
Nice save, Mike. He continued to pursue several discussions during the course of the show, usually taunting the audience or other members of the band. He explained how they picked up their new guitarist, Fredrik Akkeson: they saw him performing on the street in Stockholm dressed in “really gay leather clothing” with a “really small top hat, like this” (you’ll have to picture the silly gesture). Finally he explained why he couldn’t stop yakking between songs: “This is really hard to play, and I need a rest.”
He isn’t kidding. Watching them play as fast as they do makes me wonder how long it takes to develop the finger dexterity to be able to pull that off. And how they manage to do it, night after night, for months on end, and still be in good spirits. It didn’t seem to be a problem though, and I thought that they connected with the audience extremely well and came across as just a bunch of really fun guys (or “super cool dudes”, as Eppard of 3 called them) playing what they like to play. They’re not rockstars or divas, just five normal people who love to play music.
This is the third metal show I have seen in the past month; the other being Megadeth’s Gigantour (with In Flames, Children of Bodom, Job for a Cowboy, and High on Fire) and Arch Enemy (with Dark Tranquillity, Divine Heresy, and Firewind). And I have to say I enjoyed this one the most. But the year isn’t over by any stretch of the imagination, and Coheed and Cambria is playing tomorrow night…