Devin Townsend Project Headlines a Show You Don’t Want to Miss
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Devin Townsend Project
So our hiatus is officially a thing of the past ~ and what ‘s that I hear? It’s you, our faithful readers, shouting “Fuck yeah, it’s about time you got your asses back to us,” and we couldn’t agree more…shyte does it feel great to jump back into “Backstage News, FrontRow Pics” mode!
Between the Buried and Me
We’re kicking off our return (and stay tuned for major news about a long-standing collaboration that we’ve just made official and that is already producing results that are nothing short of epic…and since we won’t be releasing the press announcement for a few days, in the meantime, just a suggestion, head on over to DevilDressedDown.com and see what lies within and and also Search Devildresseddown on FlashWounds.com) this Saturday with the Devin Townsend Project / Between The Buried And Me / Sabaton /Fallujah show at The Palladium. I mean, seriously, what a line-up…come to think of it, the first time I saw both Sabaton and BTBAM was at The Palladium when each was becoming a recognizable name and starting to amass a following but hadn’t quite made that leap to “band in major demand.” I was sure that it was only a matter of [very little] time before they did make that leap, but I decided to talk to random members of the audience to get their take on the bands ~ and sure enough (Sorry, have to vent a little here about people who assume that no-one who’s into hard rock/metal cares about or has the ability to distinguish good music from bad and are happy just as long as it’s loud. Sure, there’s a contingent who get off on pure volume, and but what’s wrong with that? There also happens to be a very large group of us — not just press/media — who can indeed tell the difference between a talented band that will deservedly achieve critical success and go on to play the world’s biggest festivals and largest venues for years to come and one that, in a nutshell, sucks and will be forgotten in no time. Metal heads can have discerning ears, make no mistake about it.), the unanimous opinion was that yup, we’d all be able to say that we’d seen Sabaton and BTBAM right before they exploded on the music scene. And sure enough…the rest, as they say, is history.
Anyway, now that I’ve gotten that brief rant out of my system but before I get to more about the bands, there’s one very important piece of business to take care of: We have to thank everyone ~ our loyal readers, our friends, the bands, and the management teams (reps, you know who you are!) ~ truly from the bottom of our hearts for sticking by us while we were gone and for welcoming us back with open arms… Your support means the world to us and we wouldn’t have been able to be or wanted to be back in action were it not for you all.
Now back to the line-up. There are some bands that you can see once, kind of enjoy their music, but not really feel the need to see again when they come back around your neck of the woods. These four bands are about as far from that category as you can get ~ we’ve seen them all a bunch of times at a bunch of different venues and we just keep coming back for more …
Sabaton
Why?
Fallujah
Because the guys on this bill know how to PERFORM and have an audience eating out of its hand, not just go through the motions of playing tracks even they don’t seem to care much about, and each band has a unique style and sound that backs up that statement.
The audience’s anticipation level just waiting for the doors to open is always already off the charts, and then once it all begins and the musicians take their places with lights and sets adding to the spectacle, that seductive combination of musical intensity (never a stale moment, never a repeat of a previous show even if it were the night before), synergy between band members, the dynamic exchange of electricity from musicians to audience and audience to musicians, and unmistakable passion and appreciation for getting to do what they love engages the audience completely and whips them into a frenzy of hard rock rapture and metal mania ~ something only true performers can pull off…And oh yeah, each band’s music freakin’ kicks ass and has a personality all its own ~ but the magic of this bill is that the four styles all fit together like a glove .
In other words, if you don’t leave the show exhausted from raging non-stop the entire time like a crazy person but also totally invigorated by the experience you just had, and if you don’t feel the need to own each band’s music and troll their Facebook pages for the next time they’re performing at a venue you can walk, drive, or fly to, something is seriously wrong with you.
Time for info on where you can bone up on all the bands, so let’s start with headliner Devin Townsend Project (who are awesome about documenting and posting videos about everything from their recording process to clips of shows and people from all over the country to their daily lives) and get your copy of their brand new album Transcendence (which, congrats to the band, just debuted at #26 in Official UK Charts!).
Devin Townsend Project
Website
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Next up, Between the Buried and Me, whose new album Coma Ecliptic is available on iTunes ~ and you’re going to want to get your copy now.
BTBAM
For a preview of what’s in store at the show, check out these quick cell phone vids from our coverage of the band @ Club Soda, Montreal, Canada !
youtube.com/watch?v=2Q2w0NDvEYM
youtube.com/watch?v=uPURpN63Ftod
youtube.com/watch?v=EqkFadZ1FeA
youtube.com/watch?v=rLq9HhQuGe8
And now here’s how to follow what the band from Carolina is up to and get your hands on their swag:
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Sabaton
Ahh…Sabaton. These are my guys. Plain and simple, I totally get off on their live shows and play as much of their discography as there’s time for any time I take a road trip. And I don’t impose my political, sexual, or religious views [much] on people, but you’d better believe I impose my obsession with Sabaton on anyone who hasn’t yet heard them.
The Swedish band’s latest album The Last Stand (released August 19th through Nuclear Blast) entered the Top 10 of the world charts at #6 and basically took over the global charts within hours ~ #1 in Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Czech Republic, #2 in Germany, Austria, Poland, and more…and the US needs to wise up and offer the same kind of support.
Check out the band’s brand new lyric video for the song “Sparta” here, and watch a cell phone clip from that first Palladium show we attended here. Sabaton also offers fans a really cool option here on its website: the lyrics to every single one of its releases, so take a look.
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Fallujah
Time to wrap things up with Fallujah, no strangers to The Palladium stage, either. Vocalist Alex Hofmann stated, quite more eloquently than I did above, that “Bands need to bring a knockout live show and make the audience actually feel something other than mere impulse.” That sentence gives us some insight into what the band is about ~ they consider their music atmospheric metal and you can see if you agree after watching the official video for “Abandon” off of their album Dreamless, which you can order from Nuclear Blast.
I seldom single out one item of clothing that a band is selling if it’s not part of a cd/shirt/poster/etc. package, but in this case…