On Saturday I was fortunate enough to see Atheist play live, for the first time in Chicago since 1991, and in what they claim to be their last show in the Midwest. I thought it might be worth summing up here as there are many fans of this legendary band. Scroll down a bit if you want to get straight to that.
The venue was The Pearl Room, a ridiculously remote concert hall located in the middle of a strip mall. The venue had no ambiance to speak of; it was very warehouse-like with bare black walls and no decor. The bar served $4 beers and $6 shots. Far from ideal, but had to suffice as there's no way to book a venue in the city for a Friday and Saturday. One plus was a vendor with lots traditional/power/thrash albums for sale. I was hoping to see some extreme metal, but others purchased 2-5 discs, so there must have been some good stuff.
I did not arrive in time to see Thurisaz, but I wasn't concerned about that. The first band I saw was Novembers Doom. They are local, and I wanted to like them, but their performance did little for me. The sound was pretty muddy, and the band was less dynamic than I expected. At times they came off like recent My Dying Bride material. Rather forgettable.
Next was Saturnus, whom I had yet to hear, but I was optimistic. I found their style of doomy music to be much more engaging than the previous band. The frontman was personable, and did a great job with the vocals. I would like to check out their albums in the future, so I guess they did their job well.
After a switch in drumsets to something huge and monsterly, Martyr came on to play some technical death metal that was almost entirely lost on me. I don't know whether that's partly or entirely due to my lack of familiarity with the band. The guitars had a very electronic sound to them, making them very loud, but not necessarily heavy. The drummer played fast and hit lots of drums and cymbals, but in a way that totally lacked style. The solos had the same quality of having a lot of notes, but not a lot of substance. Songs lacked clear melody lines and they changed rhythms so much that even those who felt inclined to headbang would have had a hard time. I was expecting something along the lines of Necrophagist or later Death, but instead the music was more like Gorguts, but not in a good way.
Finally on to Atheist. They did not disappoint. The roadies pulled up a large black and white banner, which had probably been in storage for nearly 20 years. I tried to get some pictures, but my crappy camera phone failed me. The lineup featured Steve Flynn, Tony Choy, Kelly Shaefer on vocals only, and Sonny Carson and Chris Baker (both from Gnostic) on guitars. The setlist included the following songs. I don't have the order straight, but I think this is close to it.
Unquestionable Presence
(song from Piece of Time)
Mineral
Retribution
Unholy War
Air
And the Psychic Saw
I Deny (dedicated to Roger Patterson)
An Incarnation's Dream
bass solo/Samba Briza/drum solo
Mother Man
Piece of Time
It was a good set, with no real disappointing omissions, and the drum and bass solos were great to see. It was nice that there were only two songs from Elements even though Shaefer claimed that he was proud of the album and no one got it at the time. The Elements songs came out well, but they are so obviously not as well composed, much more fragmented structurally.
The individual performances were all very sharp. Steve Flynn was meticulous on drums. He nailed all the parts just like on the albums so many years ago. He kept tinkering with his set in between the first three or so songs, which slowed things down a bit. The mix also seemed to take a bit away, as some of the fills lacked the pop they have on the albums. He did good work on the Elements songs that he never did on the album. Tony Choy was a beast. He had tremendous stage presence, and he looked thrilled to be there. His bass work was a joy to watch, and he got up right in front during the real bass intensive parts. I was really impressed with the enthusiasm of the whole band.
Replacement guitar players Carson and Baker were surprisingly tight. I don't recall which was on lead, but he really nailed Burkey's guitar parts. All the solos sounded spot on. The rhythm guitar was on the opposite side, so I didn't hear it as well, but what I could hear sounded fine. Shaefer really enjoyed himself, and the vocals were great. You would think he recorded UP within the year; it was that close to the recording.
One of the only gripes I had was that near the end, right before Mother Man, Shaefer went on a little speech about pot should be legalized, and embarrassingly, about how the band was running short and needed some people in the crowd to help them out after the show. Joke or not, it just seemed an immature moment. Most of the crowd cheered, and many smoked up at this point. The song was highlighted by smoke machines and green lighting. If you're like me, and you find pot culture to be totally inane, then you would have found this to a lowlight as well.
The crowd was very enthusiastic, but was not as large as I had anticipated. Shaefer commented on how young the crowd was (the average age in the front five or so rows was probably 18) and on how it was a better crowd than Los Angeles (which I don't doubt, but you have to take comments of that nature with a grain of salt.) Some decently violent pits, especially during the Piece of Time songs.
Shaefer announced the last song, and said there would be no encore, which was fine, because encores just tend to be a waste of time, and lot bands are humoring themselves by doing them. He also said that the show was filmed. It looked to me like it was just with a few camcorders, so don't expect anything too great out of it.
Overall, it was a grade A performance. Well worth the hour and a half drive there, and the $18 tickets were a bargain.
Interesting note on my experience: At the end, the first rows chanted for drumsticks out of Flynn. Me and one other kid each got two hands on one, but the fat fuck bit my hand before my grip finally slipped and I lost it. Getting one of Flynn's drumsticks would have been probably my greatest acheivement. Instead, I got a bitemark and a two inch cut on my arm.
The venue was The Pearl Room, a ridiculously remote concert hall located in the middle of a strip mall. The venue had no ambiance to speak of; it was very warehouse-like with bare black walls and no decor. The bar served $4 beers and $6 shots. Far from ideal, but had to suffice as there's no way to book a venue in the city for a Friday and Saturday. One plus was a vendor with lots traditional/power/thrash albums for sale. I was hoping to see some extreme metal, but others purchased 2-5 discs, so there must have been some good stuff.
I did not arrive in time to see Thurisaz, but I wasn't concerned about that. The first band I saw was Novembers Doom. They are local, and I wanted to like them, but their performance did little for me. The sound was pretty muddy, and the band was less dynamic than I expected. At times they came off like recent My Dying Bride material. Rather forgettable.
Next was Saturnus, whom I had yet to hear, but I was optimistic. I found their style of doomy music to be much more engaging than the previous band. The frontman was personable, and did a great job with the vocals. I would like to check out their albums in the future, so I guess they did their job well.
After a switch in drumsets to something huge and monsterly, Martyr came on to play some technical death metal that was almost entirely lost on me. I don't know whether that's partly or entirely due to my lack of familiarity with the band. The guitars had a very electronic sound to them, making them very loud, but not necessarily heavy. The drummer played fast and hit lots of drums and cymbals, but in a way that totally lacked style. The solos had the same quality of having a lot of notes, but not a lot of substance. Songs lacked clear melody lines and they changed rhythms so much that even those who felt inclined to headbang would have had a hard time. I was expecting something along the lines of Necrophagist or later Death, but instead the music was more like Gorguts, but not in a good way.
Finally on to Atheist. They did not disappoint. The roadies pulled up a large black and white banner, which had probably been in storage for nearly 20 years. I tried to get some pictures, but my crappy camera phone failed me. The lineup featured Steve Flynn, Tony Choy, Kelly Shaefer on vocals only, and Sonny Carson and Chris Baker (both from Gnostic) on guitars. The setlist included the following songs. I don't have the order straight, but I think this is close to it.
Unquestionable Presence
(song from Piece of Time)
Mineral
Retribution
Unholy War
Air
And the Psychic Saw
I Deny (dedicated to Roger Patterson)
An Incarnation's Dream
bass solo/Samba Briza/drum solo
Mother Man
Piece of Time
It was a good set, with no real disappointing omissions, and the drum and bass solos were great to see. It was nice that there were only two songs from Elements even though Shaefer claimed that he was proud of the album and no one got it at the time. The Elements songs came out well, but they are so obviously not as well composed, much more fragmented structurally.
The individual performances were all very sharp. Steve Flynn was meticulous on drums. He nailed all the parts just like on the albums so many years ago. He kept tinkering with his set in between the first three or so songs, which slowed things down a bit. The mix also seemed to take a bit away, as some of the fills lacked the pop they have on the albums. He did good work on the Elements songs that he never did on the album. Tony Choy was a beast. He had tremendous stage presence, and he looked thrilled to be there. His bass work was a joy to watch, and he got up right in front during the real bass intensive parts. I was really impressed with the enthusiasm of the whole band.
Replacement guitar players Carson and Baker were surprisingly tight. I don't recall which was on lead, but he really nailed Burkey's guitar parts. All the solos sounded spot on. The rhythm guitar was on the opposite side, so I didn't hear it as well, but what I could hear sounded fine. Shaefer really enjoyed himself, and the vocals were great. You would think he recorded UP within the year; it was that close to the recording.
One of the only gripes I had was that near the end, right before Mother Man, Shaefer went on a little speech about pot should be legalized, and embarrassingly, about how the band was running short and needed some people in the crowd to help them out after the show. Joke or not, it just seemed an immature moment. Most of the crowd cheered, and many smoked up at this point. The song was highlighted by smoke machines and green lighting. If you're like me, and you find pot culture to be totally inane, then you would have found this to a lowlight as well.
The crowd was very enthusiastic, but was not as large as I had anticipated. Shaefer commented on how young the crowd was (the average age in the front five or so rows was probably 18) and on how it was a better crowd than Los Angeles (which I don't doubt, but you have to take comments of that nature with a grain of salt.) Some decently violent pits, especially during the Piece of Time songs.
Shaefer announced the last song, and said there would be no encore, which was fine, because encores just tend to be a waste of time, and lot bands are humoring themselves by doing them. He also said that the show was filmed. It looked to me like it was just with a few camcorders, so don't expect anything too great out of it.
Overall, it was a grade A performance. Well worth the hour and a half drive there, and the $18 tickets were a bargain.
Interesting note on my experience: At the end, the first rows chanted for drumsticks out of Flynn. Me and one other kid each got two hands on one, but the fat fuck bit my hand before my grip finally slipped and I lost it. Getting one of Flynn's drumsticks would have been probably my greatest acheivement. Instead, I got a bitemark and a two inch cut on my arm.
No, but I did give Tony a beastly man-hug when he walked out from whereever he was.
