This past weekend was a smorgasbord of metal music awesomeness.
Friday my friend Sam obliged me and went with me to the Mayhem Festival in Virginia Beach. We made it in time to avoid a lot of junk and catch the good bands (and no, I don't mean Slipknot). We caught the last song from Walls of Jericho (cool gal lead singer) and some rather bland but okay Christian metal (UnderOath) and some typical tripe (Machine Head, Suicide Silence). We caught the entirety of Mastodon. They were good, I want to get their albums. The cruddy sound of the outdoor amphitheatre does justice to no band, unfortunately. Mastodon is a tight band, but I think they need a different venue to be fully appreciated. Their set backdrop and album artwork is super killer, by the way.
And then the men we came for ...
Oh, I love DragonForce so very, very much. I think they might very well be the raddest, most awesome band that's ever been. Okay, maybe Led Zeppelin, but DragonForce is darn close.
Not familiar with the force that is Dragon? Shame on you. Briefly, DragonForce sounds like 80's power metal (i.e. Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger", Scorpion's "Rock You Like a Hurricane") except sped up to 180rpm. It's insane. Their dueling guitarists, Sam Totman and Herman Li, are virtuoso guitarists of the highest caliber. They are most impressive, more so than I can describe. All of the group members are extremely talented. Best of all, they have a keytar! Sadly, the set was only 40 minutes long, but it was the most high-energy 40 minutes I could have asked for. They bounced around, goofed off, joked and acted silly while assuming rock god poses and playing at lightning speed. They even had a fan below the center stage platform so that their long metal god hair could blow back while they posed. It was the most fun I've ever witnessed a band having while playing, and it was contagious.
So Sam and I left the amphitheatre on our DragonForce high and escaped the tortures of Disturbed and Slipknot. Hurray!
Now I'm even more excited for my next Mayhem Fest in Washington, D.C. on August 17th! I can't get enough DragonForce!
Then Saturday arrived and we visited Virginia Beach for some more heavy metal. Matt's cousin's stepson (did you follow that?) has a band called Beneath the Surface. We listened to their MySpace music and were so impressed that we decided to go support them. Turns out it was their very first live show! It was at a craphole called Steppin' Out and there were numerous metal, punk and emo bands playing this all day show. We made it in time to catch the end of one crummy band and catch all of Beneath the Surface. For a first performance, it was really impressive. The band's got a lot of talent. They are all very young (one guitarist looks about 12 years old but plays better than any local artist I've seen in a long time). I was told that they all have drivers licenses. Remarkably, these guys show a lot of potential despite their inexperience and the cruddy sound at Steppin' Out. They're Richmond, VA boys and they're planning some shows around there, so be on the lookout if you like some screamin' math metal.
3 comments:
Um, you're going to be in DC this weekend??
Well, not really. Sadly, it's not really in D.C. It's in Bristow, sort of west of where IKEA is. We won't really be in D.C. per se. Wanna meet us at the metal Mayhem show? :)
That would be most wonderful!
Hi, okay I needed to leave a comment. I just discovered Dragon Force on my brother-in-laws my space page, and they were pretty sweet. Loved the 80's guitar. But I must protest the fact that Underoath is okay, but not great. I LOVE Underoath! They are one of my favorite bands! Anyway, it was kinda cool coming across a blog with someone that likes kind of the same music. I love altered art and gardening and antiques and all that stuff, but one thing I do not have incommon with these other lovely ladies is that I love heavy music. So, I enjoyed looking at your blog. Have a great day!
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