It's been far too long since my last metal show, so I was certainly ready when the time to see Dethklok and Mastadon came around. I wasn't aware that there was going to be opening bands for this show. Had I known, I probably wouldn't have gotten to the show on time. The show opened with the less than original, High on Fire. Their music was generic at best and the lead singer had a bit of an Iggy Pop complex from the way he looked from my seat in the bleachers. Sadly, I actually found time for a nap during their set, so I may be a bit biased on this one. Next up was Converge. I'd actually heard of this band, but as their set unfolded I wished I hadn't heard them at all. As a friend of mine at the show mentioned, as the set went on, the similarities between the lead singer and that of a pterodactyl were uncanny. Again, nothing new here kids. As the stage was being set for Mastadon, the crowd was treated to a suprise cartoon of Dethklok with guest star Edie Riggs from the game Brutal Legend, which was set up to play at the show. After that, Mastadon came out to much deserved applause. I was suprised to see the similarities between a Mastadon show and that of Tool. The videos playing during their set mimicked that of the story telling present in a majority of the bands music. Frankly, Mastadon music is rather complex to play, so the band doesn't have the most active live show, so the videos were an interesting alternative to the band having to jump around on stage. Finally, Dethklok came out to much fanfare from the crowd. Probably the most interesting thing about Dethklok is the stark contrast between the actual muscians for the live tour and that of the cartoon characters that portray them on the Adult Swim cartoon show, Metalocalypse. Where the cartoons display a stereotypical "metal-ness" with long hair, combat boots, dark clothing and stage make-up, the actual muscians were rather stoic and uncharacteristically "metal". Luckily, this didn't detract for the music, which was bone-crunchingly brutal at every moment. Songs in their set with accompanied by music videos of the cartoon characters creating a sort of second concert going on in the background. This was good and bad in certain ways. It was bad in the fact that it distracted you from paying attention to the actual musicians, but good at the same time as, again, the band didn't have the most lively set due to their musics comlexity.
When all was said and done, it was certainly one of the best metal shows I've ever been to. That's saying a lot, too. I've seen metal bands of the like of Slipknot, Slayer and Marilyn Manson, which all had amazingly brutal sets of their own. But, Dethklok isn't just and metal band, they're fake. This was a band created just as much as an homage to metal bands as they were a means of poking fun at the most paramount cliches of the genre. So, to see something that was spawned most likely as just a joke amongst friends turn into something so unapolegetically metal and genre defining is certainly worth the ticket price alone.
4/5 Stars: The only thing that takes away from this show are the less than stellar opening acts. Unless you know of these bands and/or like generic metal or hardcore, come to the show a couple hours late.
Venue: The Armorey wasn't a bad venue. It's basically a basketball court for the local Albany Patroons, but it served the purpose well. I was warned by a friend that the acoustics in the Armorey were horrible, but as I was wearing earplugs nearly the entire time, this didn't annoy me. They also served alcohol, which never hurts at a metal show.