Nile / Kreator / Vader / Amon Amarth / Goatwhore
The Bottleneck, Lawrence, KS
October 15, 2003
Holy Shitballs of Fire...did that show ever kick ass! Instead of the Art of Noise Tour this should be called the International House of Metal tour. Bands from Poland, Germany, Sweden, and America. You don't see that everyday in the burgeoning metropolis of Lawrence, Kansas.
Goatwhore - Not hearing these guys before, I wasn't knowing what to expect. I told my friend that if anyone in the band is sodomized by a goat, I'm leaving. Their set was a nice mix of old school death/black metal. After hearing songs like "Nocturnal Holocaust", "Baptized in a Storm of Swords", and "Graveyards and Dead Angels" they were good enough to make me want to buy their CD after the show. By the way, nobody was sodomized by a goat. Whew!
Amon Amarth - Viking metal ala Unleashed. Lots of cool riffs, headbanging, and lots of beer. I've never seen so many beer bottles and pitchers of beer in the crowd toasting vocalists before every song. I swear every time the band paused for a drink, the crowd started cheering and raising up on high bottles, cups, and pitchers of beer. They were playing on borrowed equipment, but they still sounded good. Bought Versus The World CD after the show.
Vader - Novy has the coolest bass guitar in metal and Peter has to be the happiest front man I think I've ever seen. The guy was smiling all the time. Come to think of it, if I was from Poland and got to tour all over the place including packed clubs in the middle of Kansas, I'd be smiling to. Great set full of their thrash/death metal sound. Great crowd response, and the pit went nuts when they closed with a cover of "Raining Blood".
Kreator - A frenzy of old school thrash. "Violent Revolution", "Extreme Aggression", "Betrayer", "Flag of Hate", "Pleasure to Kill", and "Terrible Certainty". I was hoping for a set full of old material, and they didn't let me down. They've been one of my favorite thrash bands since the 1980's, and I even have a tattoo inspired by "Coma of Souls". Shouting along to these faves gave me a sore throat the next day, but it was worth it. Bought a tour shirt. I'm still not sure why they weren't the headliner, over a relately newer band.
Nile - DAMN! I've heard of the band, but that was only a couple songs on some compilation CD a few years ago. I should have paid more attention because this stuff destroyed. Epic death metal that flows from hyper-blasting death to nice grinding doom. It was fun trying to play "Find the Vocalist", since both guitarists and bassist did vocals. The drummer was a monster behind the kit with all the blastbeats and double-bass work. Must buy their stuff. That was was one ferocious set, and given the gaze in the bass player's eyes, he was out to fucking kill us if we didn't think so.
