Killswitch Engage/Chimaira/Shadows Fall/God Forbid - 16/06/04 - Ambassador, Dublin

[Bleakest Harvest]

Killswitch Engage - 16/06/04 - Ambassador, Dublin
Support From Chimaira, Shadows Fall, God Forbid
By Paddy Walsh

This tour is dubbed 'the New Wave of American Heavy Metal Tour'. Long winded? Yes. Pretentious even? Perhaps, but if NWOAHM is going to be 'the next big thing', at least the bands have some kind of substance. Call it a thrash revival even, or some kind of fusion of hardcore and thrash. Who cares. What does matter is that this is a bloody good lineup, and for the most part they delivered what was promised.

God Forbid kick things off, playing mainly cuts from their critically acclaimed Gone Forever album. They occasionally threaten to pummel the audience into the ground, but sadly are let down by a poor guitar sound, which often renders many of their riffs indiscernible. At times they shine through with some brilliance, however, such as on the soaring 'Precious Lie'. A good stage presence makes their performance decent, but a better guitar sound would have made them contenders for band of the night.

Next up are Shadows Fall, sporting a vocalist with dreads down to his ass, and some nifty tunes to boot. They play with great vigour and conviction, plenty of great soloing and moments of head-banging fervour. Unfortunately it appears their material is unable to sustain a full set, and I find myself glancing at my watch more than a couple of times during the latter half of their set. They seem to win over the crowd easily enough though, whether by their sheer enthusiasm or the music.

Chimaira have been garnering a lot of praise lately, both on stage and for last year's The Impossibility Of Reason CD. I've found myself warming to this band recently, and they don't disappoint, absolutely tearing up the stage, and spewing forth excellent renditions of cuts such as the title track from the aforementioned LP, and the pummelling 'Power Trip'. They also manage to create the biggest moshpit of the night too, thanks to the vocalist's insistence on a 'wall of death' type affair, to liven things up. Best band of the night to these ears, and by the crowd's reaction I don't think I am the only one who feels this way.

After being left deafened and bruised by Chimaira's infallible set, Killswitch Engage sure have a hard act to follow, and I'm not quite convinced they pull it off. All the ingredients are there for greatness; some brilliant metallic hardcore type songs, catchy choruses and an enthusiastic, energetic stage presence from all members. I'm put off, however, by the guitarist's seemingly endless drunken stage banter. It was funny the first few times but do we really need to hear an 'amusing' anecdote before every single song? It detracts from the flow of their set a notch, but thankfully they are still very enjoyable. They often remind me of some kind of Americanised In Flames or something, particularly on cuts such as 'The Rose of Sharyn', which is of course no bad thing. A great night for metal, and here's hoping for more tours of this calibre to grace these shores in the near future.