Dethklok and Chimaira Live at the Roseland By Bob Cooper     Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse stars, Dethklok, kicked off their US tour here in Portland, playing to a packed house of rabid metal fans. Ironically, the audience was not made up of kids as one would expect, but of grown, die-hard metal fans who have come to love and respect this animated virtual band from TV-land. They were certainly not disappointed even after they found out that there would be no cartoon characters prancing across the stage. The real Dethklok features Brendon Small (creator of the band/show) on vocals and guitar, along with guitarist Mike Keneally (Steve Vai, Satriani, Eric Johnson), bassist Bryan Beller (Vai, Dweezil Zappa), and the worlds best metal drummer Gene “The Atomic Clock” Hoglan, so naturally the band is a force to be reckoned with. It is no surprise that their CD debuted at #21 on the Billboard Top 200 list, making it the highest ranking death metal album ever! Also no surprise, this entire tour is now 95% sold out by their opening night.     The 90-minute set featured all of the major tunes from the show and was accompanied by animated visuals behind the stage, making it, for all practical purposes, an entire Metalocalypse episode. This was all-new animation made especially for this tour, and was done so well that I wouldn’t be surprised if it will later be released for DVD. Opening the show was Chimaira, who also did an amazing job of pumping up the crowd. I haven’t seen this band since their second tour and was quite impressed with how they have come of age and matured into the viable act they are today, rising above many of the other sound-alikes they used to tour with. My only misgiving was that their set was too short.

Copyright © by Crave Magazine All Right Reserved.

Published on: 2008-10-10 (2754 reads)