Show Review: The Acacia Strain with opening acts Through The Eyes Of The Dead and See You Next Tuesday
Reviewed By: BloodGutterDate: Nov. 3, 2008
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Venue: The Reverb
Venue: The Reverb
The hardcore powerhouse known as The Acacia Strain returned to Toronto this past Monday, bringing (my long-awaited opportunity to see) death-metallers Through the Eyes of the Dead, as well as the spazzy (nu-)grind of See You Next Tuesday to open for them. I was originally going to see this show in Hamilton the night before, but The Acacia Strain vocalist Vincent Bennett had a sinus infection and the band could only play this show. Anyway, let's get reviewing.
See You Next Tuesday: Being a casual listener of these guys, I thought it would be interesting to see these guys live. As it turns out, you really have to love these guys to enjoy them live, because apart from a few parts of some songs, I was just amused by the music and nothing really more. One thing that I didn't like about their set was the vocals couldn't be heard at all whenever they played their songs, might have been due to the guitar and bass being turned up way too loud or something else. I'll give them credit for still going crazy (ever have a vocalist just grab your head and shove it into his body?) and being energetic to a relatively dead crowd, but that's about it. I hope the rest of their tour is better for their sake, considering they had to pay $3,400 just to get into Canada for whatever reason. I have no idea what their setlist was.
Through the Eyes of the Dead: A band with constant lineup changes has to continually prove that they can still be a band with new members, and I believe Through the Eyes of the Dead pulled this off. With the only original (or at least to my knowledge, longest running) members of this band being guitarist Justin Longshore and bassist Jake Ososkie (who I believe at one point quit the band but rejoined it a while later), I had my doubts that the band and it's new members could pull off their songs, especially the ones from their album 'Malice', live. However, once the band got on stage and kicked into their set, all my doubts were gone. Their new vocalist really impressed me in terms of pulling off the songs as well as energy, he was nailing the songs and giving 100% to the performance. The other new members, the rhythm guitarist and the drummer, were really good as well. I noticed only small timing issues here and there but overall they did a good job. They really got the crowd moving and headbanging like crazy. I was really impressed by their performance and I hope these new members will stick around for the next album. Their setlist was: Intro (might be a new one), Force Fed Trauma, To the Ruins, Failure in the Flesh, Beneath Dying Skies, Dead End Roads, Two Inches from a Main Artery.
The Acacia Strain: Having seen this band live twice before, I knew to expect a certain level of sheer chaos and intensity throughout their set, and what do you know, the band and the audience were going completely nuts. Vocalist Vincent Bennett likes to really get into this negative state of mind throughout their set and say some completely fucked up shit, which is kind of scary but ultimately entertaining to me. On top of that he really knows how to engage the audience and get them to go crazier and more energetic song after song, which really makes him stand out as a frontman. Apart from that, their energy was over the top, with most of the band constantly moving around the stage and headbanging. The band's songs sound more stripped down and basic live as opposed to the way they are on the album (which is because they only have one guitarist performing live when on the album they record songs with two guitar tracks), so some songs feel a bit incomplete without the small solos or riffs they have on the recorded versions, but nonetheless still match the same intensity and energy they have on record. By the end of their set, there was a pile of people on stage screaming the lyric 'I AM THE END OF THE WORLD' at the end of their song "JFC". So once again, The Acacia Strain delivers a performance nothing short of amazing, leaving myself and probably many others exhausted, sore, and ultimately satisfied. Their setlist was (may not be in order): Whoa! Shut it Down, See You Next Tuesday, Skynet, Dr. Doom, 4x4, Angry Mob Justice, 3750, Sun Poison and Skin Cancer, JFC.
Overall, an awesome show that I can't say anything really bad about. It was great to finally see Through the Eyes of the Dead post-'Malice' live, and to see The Acacia Strain once again, playing a few new songs, to top off the night. Good stuff, check these bands out live if you ever can. You won't be let down.
I'd like to thank BloodGutter for the review and for the heads up !
Looking forward to more reviews dude !
See You Next Tuesday: Being a casual listener of these guys, I thought it would be interesting to see these guys live. As it turns out, you really have to love these guys to enjoy them live, because apart from a few parts of some songs, I was just amused by the music and nothing really more. One thing that I didn't like about their set was the vocals couldn't be heard at all whenever they played their songs, might have been due to the guitar and bass being turned up way too loud or something else. I'll give them credit for still going crazy (ever have a vocalist just grab your head and shove it into his body?) and being energetic to a relatively dead crowd, but that's about it. I hope the rest of their tour is better for their sake, considering they had to pay $3,400 just to get into Canada for whatever reason. I have no idea what their setlist was.
Through the Eyes of the Dead: A band with constant lineup changes has to continually prove that they can still be a band with new members, and I believe Through the Eyes of the Dead pulled this off. With the only original (or at least to my knowledge, longest running) members of this band being guitarist Justin Longshore and bassist Jake Ososkie (who I believe at one point quit the band but rejoined it a while later), I had my doubts that the band and it's new members could pull off their songs, especially the ones from their album 'Malice', live. However, once the band got on stage and kicked into their set, all my doubts were gone. Their new vocalist really impressed me in terms of pulling off the songs as well as energy, he was nailing the songs and giving 100% to the performance. The other new members, the rhythm guitarist and the drummer, were really good as well. I noticed only small timing issues here and there but overall they did a good job. They really got the crowd moving and headbanging like crazy. I was really impressed by their performance and I hope these new members will stick around for the next album. Their setlist was: Intro (might be a new one), Force Fed Trauma, To the Ruins, Failure in the Flesh, Beneath Dying Skies, Dead End Roads, Two Inches from a Main Artery.
The Acacia Strain: Having seen this band live twice before, I knew to expect a certain level of sheer chaos and intensity throughout their set, and what do you know, the band and the audience were going completely nuts. Vocalist Vincent Bennett likes to really get into this negative state of mind throughout their set and say some completely fucked up shit, which is kind of scary but ultimately entertaining to me. On top of that he really knows how to engage the audience and get them to go crazier and more energetic song after song, which really makes him stand out as a frontman. Apart from that, their energy was over the top, with most of the band constantly moving around the stage and headbanging. The band's songs sound more stripped down and basic live as opposed to the way they are on the album (which is because they only have one guitarist performing live when on the album they record songs with two guitar tracks), so some songs feel a bit incomplete without the small solos or riffs they have on the recorded versions, but nonetheless still match the same intensity and energy they have on record. By the end of their set, there was a pile of people on stage screaming the lyric 'I AM THE END OF THE WORLD' at the end of their song "JFC". So once again, The Acacia Strain delivers a performance nothing short of amazing, leaving myself and probably many others exhausted, sore, and ultimately satisfied. Their setlist was (may not be in order): Whoa! Shut it Down, See You Next Tuesday, Skynet, Dr. Doom, 4x4, Angry Mob Justice, 3750, Sun Poison and Skin Cancer, JFC.
Overall, an awesome show that I can't say anything really bad about. It was great to finally see Through the Eyes of the Dead post-'Malice' live, and to see The Acacia Strain once again, playing a few new songs, to top off the night. Good stuff, check these bands out live if you ever can. You won't be let down.
I'd like to thank BloodGutter for the review and for the heads up !
Looking forward to more reviews dude !
2 comments:
Great review dude wish I could have gone I love the Acacia Strain and TTEOTD would have been cool to see.
Great review dude wish I could have gone I love the Acacia Strain and TTEOTD would have been cool to see.
Post a Comment