Fear Factory with Suffocation, Hypocrisy and Decapitated Entertainment Art Metro Chicago, Ill. November 25, 2006

The first band up was Earache Records death machine, Decapitated. I am still a little pissed that in true all-ages show fashion, the show started about 20 minutes early at 5:40 P.M. God, you got to love that. So I missed most of their whole set, thank you! I was lucky to make it just in time to see them do two of my favorites from the 2002 release “Nihility”, although they also turned out to be the last two of the set. They did “Mother War” which is the definition of Decapitated’s style of death metal - full of blast beats and technical breakdowns. The last song in the set was “Spheres of Madness” which again shows that these four guys from Krosno, Poland are far ahead of their time, and if they keep up this type of creativity they could change death metal for the future.

After a quick change lasting about twenty minutes, Hypocrisy, the band I was looking most forward to seeing live took to the stage. I have heard nothing but good things about the Swedish quintet and their proficiency at live performance. Allow me a minute to give props to the venue. The sound was outstanding! I was worried that at the Metro, which caters more to alternative music, there would be some trouble with the switch to heavy aggressive fast music, but it was handled flawlessly. That being said, Hypocrisy was excellent - great drums, fast clean guitars - all I had hoped. They did one of my favorite songs from 1997’s The Final Chapter album “Adjusting the Sun.” It has one of the coolest guitar riffs ever. They had the first real crowd response of the night but “No Moshing”, you crazy kids. Metro says “No fun for you!” I wish I could catch these guys in Europe at a fest, because I think the limited stage space allowed at the Metro hindered what I have heard is a great stage performance. They ended their night with two songs off the new album Virus; first was “Warpath” which is balls-to-the-wall from open to close, although I couldn’t hear the symphonic kind of sound present on the album. Hypocrisy then closed in grand fashion with “Let the Knife Do the Talking,” a fitting end to any set.

Next up was the great New York metal gods Suffocation. I never have enough good things to say about these guys. They just get it - speed, technical perfection, and so tight you couldn’t pass a needle through it! Every time I see them I am more impressed, and with good reason. I won’t get into it, even though they played the part of show stealer yet again. They played all the great ones people come to see - “Abomination Reborn” and “Blind Torture Kill” from the new album Suffocation, “Breeding the Spawn” and “Pierced from Within” from Pierced from Within, and two of my all time favorites from the great Human Waste album “Catatonia” - and then closed the show with the crushing “Jesus Wept.” There is no band playing today who could have followed these guys on this night. Sorry, Fear Factory. Suffocation just blew the roof off. Could we reschedule?

Last, but certainly not least, was Fear Factory - the progressive metal pioneers from East L.A. These dudes have been putting out some of the most interesting combinations of heavy death type metal mixed with crisp industrial backbeats and samples. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of mechanized music as it’s done by some others, but I will give Fear Factory their due. When it’s mixed with Burton Bells vocals and Christian Olde Wolbers guitars, it hits more than it misses. The stage set up was pretty cool, lots of camouflage and a lot of strobe and floodlights, but nothing out of the ordinary. To the best of my recollection, they opened up with “Crash Test” from the 2004 Roadrunner Records release Soul of a New Machine, and then went on a fifteen-song tirade. The songs were going by so fast it was hard to keep track of them, but here is my best recollection. The fourth song in the set was an excellent stripped down version of “Scapegoat,” and not long after that, they tore into one I like - “H-K (Hunter-Killer)” from the Demanufacture CD released in 1995. About midway through, they whipped up the crowd with a pretty tight version of “Edge Crusher,” followed closely by “Slave Labor,” and from what I understand was a last minute add-in, “Archetype” from the the album of the same name. They finished up the set with a fair attempt at “Replica,” which is cool - but I was hoping for “Desecrate” or something heavier.

All-in-all, the Machines At War tour was the closest thing Chicago will get to a pure hard death metal line up this year, and I can accept that because I have no choice. I would gladly go check out this lineup again, but for me - tack on the Black Dahlia Murder or Lamb of God and you can draw as many kids and keep the whole show heavy as hell. That’s all I ask.

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Written by Guest on 2007-02-27 18:37:56 i was at that show it rock

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