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Children Of Bodom Concert Review
It was Milwaukee Metalfest 2000. Looking back on the lineup that year I feel truly blessed as a metal fan to have been able to attend that year. In hindsight, it may have been one of the most important fests in shaping the current era of American heavy metal. That year's fest ended up acting as a "coming out" party for many acts that would go on to either shape the American heavy metal scene during the first half of our current decade, as well as the initial American proving ground for international acts that laid the seeds towards making their mark on a global level. That year alone saw American acts such as Shadows Fall, Lamb of God, God Forbid, and Darkest Hour make their first impressions to metal audiences outside of their home regions, alongside European notables such as Opeth and Children of Bodom, both of whom took their first steps towards American notoriety at that same festival.
Fast forward to the end of 2006. Lamb of God has just finished co-headlining Gigantour with Megadeth (yeah, Dave Mustaine's band was the top band listed, but judging by many live reports coming from that tour, LOG were the true stars night after night). Shadows Fall are busy wrapping up the production on their first record for their new home, Atlantic Records. Opeth has become one of the hottest live draws in heavy metal today and are "cool" enough for non-metalheads to be a fan of them. God Forbid and Darkest Hour have built reputations as two of the most dependable live acts around. And this past Saturday evening, I sat towards the top of the Wiltern, watching more than 2,000 screaming Hollywood rockers and metalheads go nuts for Children of Bodom.
The night started with the newest members of the Roadrunner family, Sanctity. Musically, they did not offer anything truly original, sounding like 80's Metallica filtered through Trivium's last two albums. Listening to the songs during their set, I felt a sense of "I've heard that riff" on multiple occasions; most notably, one song that featured an opening riff and rhythm guitar track shamelessly copped from Metallica's "Master of Puppets." However, Sanctity made up for their lack of originality sound-wise with a stage presence that displayed poise, confidence, and an ability to work the crowd far beyond many acts that are currently touring off of their third or fourth albums. This stage energy along with a more traditional American heavy metal sound won over the Bodom crowd quite well, quieting the "Bodom! Bodom! Bodom!" chants that greeted Sanctity as they took the stage to begin their set. Sanctity hitting the road to build a buzz with their live show may end up as an incredibly smart move by the time their album hits stores next year.
Next up on the stage were Gojira. With their blend of Fear Factory and Meshuggah-inspired riffs, Gojira put on a very technical set that impressed scattered portions of the crowd here and there. For the most part though, Gojira ended up going over the heads of many of the crowd that was there for Bodom on this particular evening. A live crowd in Los Angeles coming out to see Children of Bodom on a Saturday night demands a lot of flash in the musicianship, and in the end Gojira may have been too technical and not song-oriented enough to win over the crowd on this night, as the reaction to them at the end of their set was nowhere near as warm as the reaction Sanctity received at the end of theirs. Gojira should go over much better with the Lamb of God crowds when they hit the road with them in the New Year.
A band that brought both the heavy and the showmanship was next on the plate for the night, as the moment Amon Amarth took the stage, the entire crowd livened up again. While I am a fan of Amon Amarth, even I was astonished by the crowd reaction for the Viking metal warriors, as throughout their whole set the band continually received, song after song, reactions befitting that of a headlining act. If this has been the norm across the country, Amon Amarth are definitely ready to headline at this point, judged both on crowd reaction and their performance. For forty-five minutes, both Amon Amarth and the Wiltern crowd shook much like the long ships of Viking lore on rough waters, as the Swedes ripped and roared through a collection of tunes from that spanned their entire career, with Johan Hegg nailing his vocals perfectly and Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Soderberg hitting their guitar parts flawlessly on every song.
Finally, Children of Bodom came out and took the stage to one of the louder crowd reactions I've heard in a long time. Hollywood is nowhere near close to being tired of getting their fix of Children of Bodom just yet, if the pits full of burly men and boys killing each other and the screams and wails of the female portion of the crowd killing their voices going nonstop throughout COB's set are any indication. While some of the allure of COB's stage energy is slightly lost on a stage larger than that of a House of Blues-style club, it was more than made up for with a musically airtight 75-minute set focusing on popular favorites from the last three albums, and a stage production rivaling that of many major-label rock acts (anyone in the building that night who didn't go nuts for the giant "COB Scoreboard" is an uptight elitist bastard). By the end of the night, the "Bodom! Bodom! Bodom!" chants that peppered throughout the crowd before Sanctity took the stage at the beginning were almost as loud as Bodom's sound itself.
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