FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Scratch Acid may have been the hipper choice, but I headed to the Horseshoe last nite to catch quintessential stoner rockers Fu Manchu, touring in support of a new vinyl reissue of In Search Of… There seemed to be quite a few aging, balding pudgy rockers on hand–the place was pretty packed!
Usually reunion albums are half-assed affairs but nobody told Autopsy on how this usually works. This is pure slime infested, gore ridden, putrid death metal done the only way Autopsy can deliver.
Jay H. Gorania didn’t actually get into NAMM, one of the world’s largest music product trade shows in LA; however he did manage to soak up the event’s pretentious atmosphere, as well as some killer performances by The Devin Townsend Experience, Cynic, Scale The Summit, Suicide Silence and The Iron Maidens.
Music and atmosphere. A lot of the time, these go hand in hand, musically. But what about the listening environment? Listen to an album in one setting, and you may not think much of it. Listen to that same album in the right setting, and all of a sudden, things seem to make sense. Perhaps you were listening on an ipod in a busy subway station, and the subtleties of the album were drowned out over the hustle of the city – or maybe you were just preoccupied by surfing online, with music on as background noise, and not something to be fully taken in.
No fanfare. Zero theatrics. A barren stage except for the musicians, their instruments, amplification and a simple backdrop sporting their logo is all that Sweden’s Opeth (pictured) needed to entertain the nearly 900-strong crowd.