Amon Amarth / Behemoth / Revenge
L'amours, Brooklyn, NY
April 5, 2003
Review By Los Muertos
Pictures and Commentary by Ice Maiden
This may be sort of an unconventional review; but then
again this was a bit of an unconventional show. The performance itself was
comfortingly traditional, but how Ice Maiden and I came to be here
certainly was not--mainly because the performance occurred in a
neighborhood of New York City you may have heard of known as Brooklyn,
which is an entire continent away from our usual base of reporting! At the
risk of turning in a "stream of consciousness" review, I feel
constrained to report the events of the evening as they occurred, however
different this review might have turned out under other circumstances.
Long
story short: by hook or by crook we West Coasters, Ice Maiden and I, wound
up in the Big Apple, terrorist target number one, during the middle of
Gulf War II. Fortunately, despite the world turmoil going on around us the
most frightening event that occurred on our voyage was the inexplicable
deployment of the oxygen masks on our aircraft, for no apparent reason
whatsoever, which turned out to be nothing more than a photo
opportunity.
After
seeing such sights as Greenwich Village, SoHo, Times Square (and its
resident "naked cowboy"), and the Museum of Natural History, on
our final evening in New York we set our sights on L'amours Club in
Brooklyn, where we hoped to see some metal New York-style and imbibe the
crushing tunes of Amon Amarth and Deicide, the headliner for the evening.
The show also presented the opportunity to meet with two longtime denizens
of the Metal-Rules Disgruntled Metalheads message board, Ultra Boris and
Arhar.
(Ice Maiden's Commentary: Totally unrelated to
metal, but I have to say that it was pretty amazing to see the WTC site.
Through a seminar for work, we were able to go walk through Ground Zero
with the man from the New York Port Authority in charge of the rebuilding.
For those of us who live far from New York, I think it was hard to really
conceptualize the extent of the devastation from 9/11. In addition to the
actual WTC buildings and church that we all heard about, there are many
surrounding buildings that are now shrouded and mold-ridden as the owners
and insurance companies battle about whether to tear them down completely
or strip them to their steel cores. Truly, it was an emotional moment to
witness the devastation and site of such loss.)
Boris and Arhar, looking a bit out of their element, met
us at our hotel--the Helmsley, no less!--for the requisite bite-to-eat and
pre-show drink. While on the big-screen TV behind us CNN broadcast the
latest from the so-called "Battle of Baghdad," the four of us
slurped down Heinekens, Diet Cokes and a couple of burgers served up
Manhattan-style (whatever that is) at a bar called Harry's, named for the
semi-comatose gazillionaire husband of Leona
"Only-The-Little-People-Pay-Taxes" Helmsley, who despite her
much-ballyhooed personal touch never seemed to appear in person.
(Ice Maiden's Commentary: By this point, I was
missing the Waldorf Astoria, which is where we were originally put up for
our seminar that brought us to the City. The Waldorf has lost some of its
former glory from its days as one of JFK's haunts, but it was still kinda
fun hanging out and drinking in their dark, wood-paneled bar. It has an
amazing rare book store with loads of interesting first editions,
including a SIGNED first edition of Watson & Crick's book in which
they explained their findings about the double-helix structure of DNA.
Much to geek out about. I'm pretty sure we were the only folks at that
hotel who were planning to see Amon Amarth the next day!)
After an interesting cab ride across the Brooklyn Bridge
we found ourselves shivering outside L'amours in a long line of New
York-accented metalheads, many intoxicated and others desperately desiring
to be so. Ice Maiden, of course, got in right away without any trouble,
but Boris, Arhar and myself endured the interminable 45-minute wait whilst
being entertained by a ragtag band of 15-year-old kids in Metallica and
Slipknot T-shirts, accusing each other of infidelity and various
ninth-grade backstabbings. Thankfully the whole crowd wasn't quite so bad,
and once we got inside at least there was alcohol to warm us up.
(Ice Maiden's Commentary: I'm not sure how cold
it was, but I was FREEZING. I decided to make my way into the club to pick
up my photo pass and skip the line. Shockingly, I just walked right in-no
one bothered to stop me, apparently thinking I was supposed to be there.
Thank the gods-heaters! I hung out and had a drink while watching the
bands set up. Classic-there were two guys at the front, apparently the
manager and perhaps the owner(?). We chit chatted, and I was highly amused
to see that as all the beefy security guys came in, they kissed the
manager-dude and owner-dude on both cheeks. Mafia? Friendly Italians? You
tell me….
Finally, they were almost ready to open the doors, so I
went to stand by the front. "Ice Maiden, is that you?" I turned
around to find some of the guys from another webzine that I had met at
ProgPower! I had no idea they lived on the East Coast, and it was fun to
catch up and realize that we had all booked rooms at the same hotel for
Wacken 2003! The small world of Metal…)
L'amour's is actually two clubs side-by-side, and each has
a bar. When we discovered that one bar did not have Jägermeister, we
quickly hot-footed it to the other, and Arhar and I guzzled the last of
the Nectar of the Gods to be had in the entire place while waiting what
seemed an interminably long time for the music to start. As the crowd
packed in I noticed several of the guys from Amon Amarth milling about,
manning the merchandise booth or just having a drink at the bar, including
the bassist, who if you're a regular reader of my reviews you'll know did
me a little injustice at Wacken by using me as a human paper towel to wipe
off his picnic table! Arhar, Boris and I seriously debated whether the
three of us could take the Amon Amarth bassist and give him a taste of his
own medicine, but we decided to let bygones be bygones, namely because we
didn't want to get thrown out of the club before the show even started.
There
were several bands on this bill, some of whom played on the stage next
door, but I do believe REVENGE was the first band we saw on the stage
where we were stationed. This band played fairly standard Americanized
black metal, mosh-worthy, but not particularly groundbreaking. The
beginning of their set, which was full of aggression and some reasonably
technical guitar-playing, was the highlight, for all of us found our
attention wandering as the songs wore on. While this was not a bad band by
any stretch of the imagination, they were a pretty standard opener and
nothing they did was particularly noteworthy. I wouldn't go out of my way
to see them again and probably would not buy a CD from them on the
strength of their performance here, but neither did anyone in the crowd
seem particularly disappointed in them. Overall they were all right but
not memorable.
The
next band to take the stage was BEHEMOTH. I've heard a little of this band
here and there and although I don't own any of their albums, I was
interested to hear them. By now the Jägermeister had definitely given out
and I was beginning to feel the effects of having spent the entire day up
until the show tooling around Manhattan on foot. Somehow I ended up right
at the front of the stage for Behemoth, a place I don't often go at metal
shows, but I got an exceptional view of this band. From the opening second
they were a freight train out of control. Blistering, eerily melodic black
metal, angry vocals and ass-kicking guitars violently thrashed the
audience and elicited a high-energy crowd response that I think the band
picked up on quite well. I confess I don't know this band well enough to
be able to list the songs they played or what albums they came from, so I
apologize immediately to any die-hard Behemoth fans out there who won't
get a blow-by-blow from this review. Nonetheless I greatly enjoyed this
set, and I have to say that except for the crowned heads of the black
metal scene (Immortal, Marduk, etc.) it's not that common for me to really
enjoy a black metal or heavily black metal-influenced band in a live
setting. But Behemoth was certainly great, and the energy they got (and
received) in this small setting suited them well.
(Ice Maiden's Commentary: Behemoth were a big
surprise for me. I had never listened to any of their albums, and I really
wasn't expecting much. I don't know if I'd call them black metal, corpse
paint aside-they seemed more like thrash to me, with some great
guitar-work and head-bang-worthy riffs. These guys were great! They really
hyped up the crowd, which was jam-PACKED for this event. The ProgPower
guys told me that they had never seen L'amours so full and, indeed, there
was little room anywhere.)
I probably shouldn't have gotten so far up in the thick of
things for Behemoth, because when their set was over I found myself
suddenly careening into an almost surreal exhaustion. I'm a three-time
Wacken veteran and I've been on my feet for long hours during many a metal
show, but I confess as soon as Behemoth left the stage I was really
starting to lose the energy to go on. I abandoned the front of the stage
and my friends--which now included Deathracer999, another Disgruntled
Metalheads message board fixture--and went back to the bar area in search
of a place to sit down. I found none, but I was at least able to prop
myself up against the bar and thus avoid collapsing which I almost
certainly would have done otherwise. It's damnable I was in that kind of
shape because I was really looking forward to AMON AMARTH. Their set was
one of the crown jewels of Wacken in 2002 and I couldn't wait to see them
in a small club setting.
They
certainly didn't disappoint! Vocalist Johan Hegg was a brash Viking madman
from the opening bars, and Amon Amarth rained geysers of ruin down on the
ever-thickening crowd with no breathers at all between the songs. The
Swedish destroyers brought out a number of crowd-pleasing songs including
"Bleed for Ancient Gods" (a definite highlight), "Versus
the World" (title track from their newest album),
"Bloodshed" and "Last With Pagan Blood." All of it was
angry, assaulting, and completely ass-kicking. The sound quality at
L'amour's isn't great, and Amon Amarth's usually crunchy-sounding guitars
sounded a little too crunchy to me through this soundboard mix, but with
the raw power and relentless energy the band put forth I can't say it
detracted from the experience. The band had the crowd going quite early
on. Brooklyn metalheads definitely know how to welcome a foreign band!
Amon Amarth's final song, "Victorious March," had almost all the
heads in the stage area thrashing furiously. I really wish I could have
taken a more active role in the proceedings and to a certain extent I feel
like I missed this fantastic band--but I was literally holding myself up
to keep from crumpling into a heap on the floor. I can't even recall being
so tired at the end of Wacken, and although I was sorry to hear Amon
Amarth's final number die off into cheers and applause, I was also
relieved that the show was effectively over. None in our party were that
interested in staying for Deicide, the ostensible headliner, but there's
certainly no way I could have made it.
(Ice
Maiden's Commentary: Amon Amarth SLAY live. I like their albums, but I
love to see them live. Consummate performers, these guys are FUN! They
love to interact with the crowd, and anyone who wanted to had a chance to
chit chat with Johan and the gang both before and after the set as they
milled about and drank with their fans. The set list (courtesy of Boris):
-
Death in Fire
-
Bleed for Ancient Gods
-
Versus the World
-
Annihilation
-
Friends of the Sun
-
Bloodshed
-
Last with Pagan Blood
-
Stabwounds In Our Backs
-
Victorious March
I
think a highlight for me was Bloodshed, which had everyone singing along
at the tops of their lungs. Excellent set, even with the slightly poor
sound.
Even after walking around the city for about 12 hours,
I was so pumped by this show that I was ready to stay up all night, but I
felt compelled to care for Los Muertos, whose look fit his pseudonym just
a little too well at that moment.)
Unlike Manhattan, cabs don't run quite so swiftly in
Brooklyn, and we had gotten painfully used to walking out the door and
effortlessly hailing a canary-colored chariot. Ultra Boris and Arhar told
us that we either had to take the subway or find a car service. Luckily
there was a car service right across the street from the club, and there I
collapsed and nearly fell asleep while waiting for our transportation back
to Manhattan. On a street that looked like nothing so much as the set for
the movie The French Connection, we bade Ultra Boris and Arhar goodbye. I
was probably asleep two minutes after falling into bed back at our hotel.
Another show was successfully concluded.
I'm not particularly chagrined that we didn't stay for
Deicide, for I heard they were mediocre at best--which is largely what
they were when we saw them at the Pine
Street Theater in Portland in 2001. On the whole, though, this show
was terrific. Amon Amarth gave a fantastic performance, Behemoth was also
very good, and Revenge was solid. The crowd was lively and good-spirited,
and composed mainly of true metalheads, although we did see the occasional
trendy teeny-bopper or overweight goth chick. About the only thing I can
take the club to task for is not having enough Jägermeister on hand! All
things considered our show was a rousing and enjoyable ending to a
terrific first trip to New York. Hopefully we'll be back someday, and I've
got to believe that in a city of ten million people, there'll be some good
old-fashioned metal to greet us when we return.
(Ice Maiden's Commentary: Many hails to the
awesome folks in New York-we'll be back!)