PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
For one night only, Dublin Metal Events (DME) turned The Pint into a den of debauchery for Dying Fetus’ Womb to Waste tour. DME have always been able to deliver the goods when it comes to getting some of the most sought after bands to play in Dublin; so it was little surprise when it was announced that Dying Fetus were going to be coming to brutalise our eardrums.
DME are like that one person who actually manages to get you what you want for Christmas – there are no metal equivalents of ‘majestic, tie-dye jumpers with pictures of horses’, presents from these guy. Although The Pint is a smaller venue in comparison to the various other ones in Dublin, there are many upsides to its size. One of the pros of a small venue is that it is almost impossible not to brush shoulders with the band members, which makes the whole experience that much more thrilling. If you were hell-bent on getting a whiff of or a lock of hair from your favourite guitarist for your shrine, The Pint is the place where that might actually happen for you. Given that the gig pretty much sold out, we were packed to the gills, sweating like Mel Gibson in a synagogue (too soon?) and waiting for our collective bottoms to be handed to us.
With the line-up consisting of: Cerebral Bore, Revocation, Job For A Cowboy and the almighty Dying Fetus, there was no way anyone was leaving disappointed.
First up was Cerebral Bore. It’s time for some blatant brown nosing – deal with it people. However patronising it may sound, it has to be said that it is great to see a girl in a band that can actually bring something to the scene and has real talent and isn’t an utter muppet (we all know there are plenty of them). Simone Pluijimers is flawless, her vocal range is unbelievable. She can take it from the most guttural growls to the most high pitched, glass-shattering pig squeals. In a fight to the death between Pluijimer and Corpsegrinder, I’m not sure who I would put my money on. I’m not going lie to you; it took me all my strength not to shout ‘You go Girl’ and ‘that’s right sister’ and ‘MMMM HMMMM’, during the gaps in their set. I blame having to suppress these outbursts on the Spice Girls, they really indoctrinated me into the whole ‘girl power’ train of thought.
Cerebral Bore were a fantastic way to start the night. They have that great balance of melodic and technical skill in their sound. Never short of creativity, seeing them live was a great experience. With the chainsaw tone of the guitars and the often almost funky bass sound, creative drum fills and the insane vocals, all these combinations translate beautifully on stage. Cerebral Bore had the task of opening the night and getting the crowd riled up and they did their job well. I love what this band is doing, cannot praise them enough.
Then it was the turn of Revocation. Their sound is a dichotomy of technical death metal and thrash metal. This was their first time to play in Dublin and judging by their set I’d say it’s safe to assume they’ve picked up a significant amount of new followers. They already have quite a fan base judging by the crowd chanting some of their songs like anthems especially their song Dismantled.
The vocals of David Davidson almost reminded me of carcass with that play on growling and grind-like screaming. Guitar solos were a definite feature and they had a melodic and in some stages almost power metal – like quality to them. And with the double bass, blasting and some lovely fills, I’d say that drummer Phil Dubois knows what he’s doing behind the kit.
Revocation also played some great instrumentals in their set, which again maintained the diversity between all the bands playing that night as none of the other bands did this. Having little knowledge of the band previous to this night, I was pretty impressed by them and I’ll be one of the new followers for certain.
Arizona’s Job for a Cowboy played in front of an Irish crowd for the first time on Saturday too. Let me just give a little bit of background to my feelings on this band. I listen to Job for a cowboy on public transport everyday and as someone who generally hates human beings; it doesn’t do much for my rage. It takes a lot not to try start a mosh on the train or climb on the seats and jump on some poor business man in an attempt to go crowd surfing so ultimately fighting this urge probably makes me appear to be slightly unhinged.
Long story short, I’m a Job for a Cowboy fan (putting it lightly). The band has a great following in Ireland so they naturally had a great response from the crowd that night. However, it is worth remembering that at this stage in the night, the only thing standing between Dying Fetus and the crowd were job for a cowboy and people were beginning to get even crazier. Job for a Cowboy strike a great balance between brutality and technicality and its seeing them live that this feature becomes all the more evident. Their new album Demonocracy isn’t hugely different from their previous releases so if you’re looking for them to re-invent the wheel, take a hike. The album is a demonstration of their constancy as a band and illustrates their sustained musical abilities. Their natural progression is to get heavier which is ultimately the mark of a great band. They created a brilliant atmosphere and managed to keep the crowd anticipating what was to come next with their short interludes taking the head cases right down and they quickly restarting the madness with the manic performance.
Job for a Cowboy with their down tuned guitar riffs, shredding solos and heavy bass manage to create a dark, sinister feel to their songs. Pairing that ominous setting with the quick and speedy vocals of singer Johnny Davy along with his animated performance and the relentless blasting of the drums – you’ll find you have yourself a pretty captivating and intoxicating set. Their unique style makes them stand out from other death metal bands. The vocals are what really sets them apart because instead of going for guttural growls, Davy’s strength is in those high pitched, demonic screams, proving that guttural isn’t always gold. Job for a Cowboy’s mission was to prepare us and get us riled up for Dying Fetus, they accomplished this with ease.
So, when you go to gigs you find that there are always a couple of tell tale signs that everything is going well and everyone is having a great time. The signs are different for each kind of gig, especially death metal gigs. One of these signs is when you’re standing way at the back and almost get a foot in the mouth from a crowd surfer (I will find you and your Nikes soon).
Now if Job for a Cowboy might not be a good idea for me on trains, Dying Fetus is definitely not a good idea. It takes a lot not to rage dance down the aisles and snap papers out of people’s hands and light them on fire (maybe I should walk to work).
Opening with From Womb to Waste, anyone who owns their new album, Reign Supreme, knows the intro to that song and so you can safely assume the place erupted in to uncontrollable madness. Dying Fetus played for over an hour and in that time they threw out great variety of old and new material, maintaining the familiarity and affinity that the fans have. Even with the new album, they still played a lot of the tracks that made us fall in love with them in the first place, tracks like schematics, skull fucked and Tearing inside the Womb, so they appealed to every fan that was possibly at a different stage of Dying Fetus appreciation.
Dying Fetus have always maintained an impeccable brutality that others in their genre would find hard to rival. Essentially technical in their approach to music, they still manage to inject some melodic elements into their work with their hook laden approach to writing. It is the hook aspect that sets them apart as it manages to resonate with the listener, placing Dying Fetus at the top of the death metal food chain. The speed of drummer Trey Williams is something to marvel at. Insanely speedy double kicks and blast beats all go into creating the characteristic sound of Dying Fetus. Along with the skill of the drummer come the intricate and complex riffs as well as the all impressive guttural and at the same time articulate vocal style.
From beginning to end Dying Fetus played with unrelenting brutality and in turn the crowd repaid them by giving their all by stage diving, crowd surfing (shakes fists) and head banging non-stop. If you haven’t heard of Dying Fetus, firstly – shame on you and secondly, seeing them live will be a real shock to the system, in a good way. These guys have been around for a long time and it’s really obvious that they’ve never been happy to just regurgitate the same old material with a different name.
Dying Fetus have always been creative and although their themes’ only purpose seems to be to shock and appal, there are more relevant ideas and thoughts behind them than one would assume at first glance. Although they appear to be angry about something, the reality is that the reason we listen to them is that we as fans can relate to this anger and indignation, there is nothing irrelevant about Dying Fetus. As they’ve gone through the years, they’ve channelled their brutality into constructing a controlled musical demonstration of their ideas. Truly impressive live, they are almost more untouchable in my mind than ever before.
So long story short, if DME are going to continue to bring bands of this caliber to Dublin; I’m going to need a neck brace for the days after. It was a great gig with all the bands performing to the best of their abilities. It was great to see some of the best in the business up close and personal too. If ever your favorite band is playing in The Pint, I suggest you do everything possible to get there! The Womb to Waste tour is still continuing to tear chunks out of Europe!
