It's been a while, since I have been to a concert worth reporting on. I saw DANZIG a few months back, but the sound was so terrible that I had to leave after the fourth song; then I went to the BLACK DAHLIA MURDER concert only to see 3 INCHES OF BLOOD, but of corpse 3 INCHES OF BLOOD canceled due to weather. Then ECHOES OF ETERNITY had to cancel their tour since Francine got bronchitis. I had to listen to HIGH ON FIRE and INTRONAUT the latter less than the former, and I was interested to see A LIFE ONCE LOST due to their recent 'Chicago Powerfest 2008' confirmation.
INTRONAUT were the first act up for the evening and they had to rock. Although I am semi-familiar to these guys I knew their style which is a MASTODON-esque kinda sound; but they have put their own spin on it unlike some bands. The bass work is what really impressed me the most. I hadn't seen a fret less bass in a Metal show for a while and it was certainly a nice change of pace. The samples used added greatly in terms of atmosphere. The mood was kind of aggressive, but also mellow. There were points in the set where I just closed my eyes and let the music transport my mind. Though I can't remember the tracks' titles in their setlist and it was an epic flood of Stoner_Doom_what the fuck you want to call it METAL.
I had to go backstage and for this reason I missed SAVIOURS. I listened to about half A LIFE ONCE LOST setlist from backstage chatting with Matt and Jeff from HIGH ON FIRE along with some of the merch guys, SAVIOURS, and half of INTRONAUT that I really liked. Eventually I decided to make my way back to the main room and watch them. They blended a DOWN-like sound with a tinge of Metalcore (mainly the vocals), sick drumming and sweet Traditional Metal guitar playing. Some of the solos that this guy was laying down were beyond sweet. Overall, nice stage presence from all members and they got the crowd going more than I was expecting.
Finally, HIGH ON FIRE got on stage that were the reason for the majority of the audience. I suck with songs' titles unless for bands that I am in love with, but I am pretty sure that they opened with Turk from Death Is This Communion. Other tracks were Waste Of Tiamat, Death Is This Communion, Rumors Of War and Fury Whip. I guess Fury Whip's guitar solo is ultra hard and when I was talking with Matt before the set he was saying how hard it is to play. From what I could hear he nailed that solo. Blessed Black Wings and Devilution from Blessed Black Wings were also played and as far as songs' titles go that is all I can remember. I do wish they would have played Face of Oblivion, but the set was fantastic regardless. The band had an excellent command over the crowd and I didn't hear any screw-ups in any of the songs. The band sounded really tight and cohesive as a whole. I wish these guys the best of luck on the 'Gigantour' and hope that next time they come with Face Of Oblivion in their setlist. Below you check out their latest video for Rumors of War.
