Concert Review: Killswitch Engage, 02/04/2010
Killswitch Engage, those dyed-in-the-wool metalcore practitioners, began their first U.S. headlining trek behind their latest album on Thursday night in their hometown of Boston at the House of Blues.
And as any frequent concert-goer can tell you, the combination of starting off a tour and playing in one’s hometown generally combine to bring out the best in a band (if not some technical difficulties along the way).
KSE are a band particularly known for their live show due in large part to singer Howard Jones and guitarist/general goofball Adam Dutkiewicz. They understand that they are there to entertain and they usually seem genuinely stoked to be on stage performing. Of course, if you aren’t prepared to see a tall, gangly guitarist wearing a cape and headband running back and forth across the stage while jump-kicking and simultaneously shredding all while playing songs of a decidedly more serious nature, it can be a bit disconcerting. That’s just how KSE rolls; as far as live performances go, fun comes before all else. I know some people who strongly dislike that choice, but I don’t have a problem with it. After all, there’s always the album itself to go back to if you don’t like the band’s stage antics.
Anyways, the show started off with a bang as the band hurried on stage and dove immediately into one of their hits, “Rose of Sharyn”. Throughout the rest of the set they liberally incorporated cuts off their latest record, playing almost half of the songs from that disc. The new material is not drastically different from their back catalog so it fit in seamlessly.
Adam D. did run into some technical snafus with his guitar throughout the night, and that’s probably to be expected on the first night of a new tour. They eventually got straightened out and really were never glaring enough to derail the performance. And that’s a huge credit to guitarist Joel Stroetzel, bassist Mike D’Antonio, and most of all drummer Justin Foley. Foley was a dervish behind the kit all night, laying down a giant propulsive beat that kept the entire band locked in tight.
One other technical issue that I hope the band addresses as the tour progresses is the vocal mix. Vocals for metal bands in smaller venues are notoriously tricky to nail down. Howard Jones is a very strong singer, but even the strongest voices will have trouble separating themselves from the chugging riffs and double bass drum beats that are taking place beside them. I’ve seen Mastodon twice before at the House of Blues and the same thing happened. The vocals seem to slip in the overall mix and get muddied by all the surrounding noise.
In between songs, Adam D. got the crowd chanting Boston’s customary “Yankees suck!” chant (almost a given at any Beantown event), had them sing “Happy Birthday” to his guitar tech, and then regaled us with the story of how his guitar tech missed his flight because of a terrible case of diarrhea which literally caused him to “shit the bed.”
Stage banter aside, the set list was a good mix of hits and non-hits, old and new. And there was never a point in the show when the energy waned. They ended the show by ripping off three of their biggest songs – “My Last Serenade,” “The End of Heartache,” and “My Curse.” But of course, in recent years, no KSE show is really over until the band plays their fantastic cover of Dio’s “Holy Diver” as the encore. And, damn, is that a good song to end on.
I’d also like to mention the two bands who opened the show. Basically, the goal of any opening band is to generate enough interest in some percentage of the audience to make them want to hear more from that band when they go home. To that end, one of the openers succeeded and the other failed miserably.
The first opener was Dark Tranquillity, a melodic death metal band from the birthplace of melodic death metal – Sweden. I was only marginally aware of DT’s music, mainly from hearing one of their songs on the video game Brutal Legend. They do the kind of growling death metal vocals that you either love or can’t stand. Me? I can’t say I’m a fan. But this band absolutely slays in a live setting. In general, live metal shows do two things to a band’s sound: 1) Decrease the emphasis on the vocals, and 2) Increase the emphasis of the drumming and riffs to the point where you can physically feel the music hitting you. And DT sure has some tasty riffs. They only played for a half hour but I really enjoyed watching these guys. I’ve since listened to more of their music online, and honestly, it just doesn’t stand up to their live show.
The second opener was The Devil Wears Prada, which is a band that not only has a shitty name but also plays some of the shittiest trendy emo-core garbage imaginable. This is a band that wishes it could be KSE but somewhere along the line they just figured Attack Attack! was more their style. Think of the worst cliches of emo “scene” metal and I bet TDWP is incorporating them into their image – because really, the image seemed to be the only thing important to this band. If you aren’t familiar with TDWP’s music, here’s a simple summary. Take skinny jeans, whiny screams, lame synths, generic breakdowns, and crabcore-style dance moves like the famed “running in place” and “throwing the guitar over my head” that so many misguided youth have come to love, throw them all in a blender and – voila! They could have played the same song nine or ten times in a row and I wouldn’t be the wiser. Every breakdown was exactly the same, and the band relied on them as their crutch, throwing two or three in every song.
Thankfully, KSE wiped the stage clean of that drek and continued on their tradition as one of the most reliably entertaining metal bands going today. If you like metal and have the chance to see them on this tour definitely do so.
-Sam
I totally agree that KSE put on a kick ass show. They were my first true “metal” show but ironically I had no idea who they were when I went my friends and I went to go see lacuna coil bur by the time we left I had a new fave band.
Very nice! What other kind of metal bands do you like now?
KSE are amazing and i think i might listen to DT thanks for the tip….
but to down TDWP like that is really low. First of all they are no where near emo (as they are a christain band) and they have many lyrically powerful songs (Louder Than Thunder, Dez Moines (as an example)). And yeah maybe Mike Hranica’s screaming vocals are a little repetitve however its distintive and stands out. TDWP are one of the best bands I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. I would be seeing them at SOUNDWAVE however they pulled out cause of KSE wanted them to play on their tour. I’m not downing you but give TDWP a chance they aren’t like the stereotypical emo/screamo bands.
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