The Domination Tour 2006

Cryptopsy, Grave, Dew Scented, Aborted, Vesania, Hurtlocker @ Proxima, Warsaw 31.01.2006

Hi guys, Mol on board! It's been quite a long time since I last wrote. Well, nothing really special has happened in the last few months. There was couple of shows I missed due to some reasons, especially the Bolt Thrower/Malevolent Creation/Necrophagist gig in Warsaw.

Damn, I was really pissed off when my friend called me to say we weren't going. Shit happens! Right now it's Saturday midnight and I'm sitting in my room trying to write something for you. I feel it's time I did something, let's say, useful cause last two months I've been hangin' around doing almost nothing. I'm a lazy sod, that's true. Guess what I'm listening to now? He he, the mighty Suffocation of course! I fuckin' dig everything they've put out. Let's hope their new CD, which is supposed to be out mid '06, will be nothing but killer! Shit, I'm wrong! It WILL be killer!

By the way, there's something that makes me worry recently. The point is there's almost nobody to go to shows with. I mean I have lots of friends who listen to the same kind of music but none of them wants to move their asses. There are some reasons that I can and try to understand. You know, small children left at home, work, lack of money and so on. Not to mention the musical differences: “They play too fast" or “They're too br00tal". I call them Sunday metal-heads if you know what I mean. In case you don't drop me an e-mail and I'll explain it to you. There's a Cryptopsy/Aborted/Grave show on Tuesday. I must say I'm pretty stoked on it. That being said, I'm going to Warsaw in three days! Hey anyone, did you get it? Finally, after so many years I'll be able to see the Canadian gods on stage! I'll definitely write a report when I'm back so stay tuned!

Yep, that's it, I'm back! Still having noise in my ears. Well, the show was great! One of the best ones I've seen, that's for sure. It eventually turned out nobody wanted to go so we went to Warsaw with Reszela. Only two of us, that's what I meant in the above paragraph! Now you know what I mean. We go to shows for music though so the only disadvantage of going together was that we had to pay more for gas. I can't say I don't care cause I'm a poor student he he. Never mind, let's not go off topic.

The journey was really ok, the traffic wasn't heavy at all, which enabled us to drive pretty fast. It's not that we had to do it so, you know, when you're blasting something fast, you just have to step on the accelerator, you have no way out. We had one stop due to the fact we got hungry. The burgers were pretty fucked up, how can they serve almost raw meat? I don't really get it. Pissed off, we left as soon as we devoured the shit. In the meantime, our friend Slawek gave us a call to check out if we were going to appear. At 6 pm the journey was done.

Upon entering the venue we learned there were 6 bands on the bill. Quite a lot for an European tour organized by a Pole. Another thing is that it meant we weren't going to be back soon. We didn't hesitate much and got a beer then it was time to hang around with Slawek. The first band, Hurtlocker namely didn't catch our attention, probably because their metalcore was so fuckin' sloppy. Not to mention the fact that we hate metalcore! Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to bash them, it's good that they have an opportunity to present their stuff to the crowd but what they play isn't my cup of tea. On the other hand, we had time to talk about the latest releases and upcoming shows so I can't really say their show was a particular waste of time. Next on the agenda was Vesania, a black metal horde from Poland. Again, we didn't focus on their performance cause we don't give a fuck about forest black metal. This time we took a look at the merchboot. I was pretty disappointed when I learned Cryptopsy didn't have their full catalogue, I wanted And then you'll beg shirt badly! Damn! They had only Once was not and None so vile tees. What a pity. I could easily get OWN one but I felt I shouldn't get it cause I didn't dig the CD in its entirety. Having postponed buying merch I got myself another beer. I believe I should mention the fact that the beer served in the club was terrible. It was just pure piss! To make matters worse, it was way too expensive. Perhaps I shouldn't have bought it but hey, I was so thirsty I couldn't help it. Anyway, in case you visit Proxima, go for soda or something. Don't buy this shit.

After half an hour or so, Aborted hit the stage. It was time to unleash madness and they pulled it off! Starting with “Dead wreckoning", they encouraged maniacs to mosh the shit out of them. I took some photos and then watched their show till the end. They focused on “Goremageddon", their second last CD which was a good thing cause the songs off it have this specific drive if you know what I'm talking about. It's not really hard to notice the Carcass worship on their last two CDs. It's not a problem for me, not every band has to be extremely original. I was afraid if the new line-up was going to perform well, fortunately the first song dissipated all my fears! Matty du Pont from Emeth shred on his guitar as well as the second guitarist, Seb and the female (!) bassist Olivia. Really cool show!

I must say I'm not particularly into Swedish death metal, I prefer US over it. I'm talking about it because the Grave show followed. You can predict I didn't like it. That's true indeed. Somebody might say death metal is death metal. Not for me though. This is not to say I was prejudiced before they started. Their show wasn't at all energetic, they played with one guitar only and it seemed to me the singer was drunk. They all were I think. Overall, I didn't enjoy it.

The tension was growing as Cryptopsy were about to start their show. Short intro followed and the killing began. This caused an immediate reaction, the crowd got crazy. I started shooting photos, which was quite difficult due to the people moshing and hitting one another! The boys focused on their latest release, Once was not, out in October '05 on Century Media. With Lord Worm on vocals, their performance had a unique feeling to it. He was writhing on the stage as if he was in agony or something. Very, very crazy way of performing. I like Mike DiSalvo Cryptopsy era better but I have to admit that with this show, I began to see Lord Worm in a different light. Better that is. Worth mentioning is also the fact that they played all they songs faster than on the CDs which was surprising knowing what speed they play at. Flo Mounier, the drummer was unbelievable behind his kit, man, what a tightness and intensity!!! The rest of the band was cool as well, the tour guitarist Christian Donaldson and bassist, Eric Langlois who sold me a t-shirt after the show. Yes, I eventually went for a None So Vile one and an Aborted tee. To tell you the truth, words can't express what their show was like! Totally killer! I can easily say that along with Suffocation gigs, it was the best show I've ever seen! Period.

In summation, you can regret missing the show. As far as I know, there are no dates in Hungary but if you want to witness the madness, go to http://www.empirerecords.com.pl/pl/domination.pl.html to check the dates. Thanks for your attention and till next time!!! Cheers!

• Aborted
• Cryptopsy
• Dew-Scented
• Grave
• Hurtlocker
• Vesania