This past weekend was my metal weekend as I caught not one, but two metal shows. Metal shows are always interesting for the crowds they attract. The fans are kinda like goth kids, but they have gotten over their depression and moved on to anger. Metal shows are an outlet for them to vent their aggression, either through mosh pits, crowd surfing, air guitar or just growling along with the vocalists. And the t-shirts are some of the most detailed shirts ever, usually with graphic horror scenes in the tradition of Iron Maiden, always trying to outdo the last band’s shirt.

The first show I saw was All That Remains at The Venue here in town. I got there late (who knew a metal show would start so early?) and misssed the first 3 bands and the fist-pumping crowd was already in good spirits, packing the lower bowl of the Venue. Now, I’m not an expert on the various metal subgenres, but I suspect this might have been death-metal. It sounded like something Beavis and Butthead would enjoy, with unintelligible singing (actually sounded more like Satan with indigestion) and twin guitarists competing for solo time. No matter how many notes they packed into their solos though, the guitars were so distorted that the melody was lost in a pummeling fury of beats and squeals.

Even the bassist sounded like Satan when she sang (that’s right, I said she!). Satan is a firm believer in diversity. The singer ended the show by thanking the fans for shelling out their hard-earned bucks to see them. I never knew Satan was so gracious.

The next night, I went to Orlando’s Hard Rock Live for a show headlined by Mastodon and Dethklok. This was a more high-profile tour with a much better production and sound that the previous show.

I’ve seen Mastodon and can appreciate their dark brand of metal. They have epic songs and solos with a point to them, and their shows have a dark side (what’s wrong with a spotlight on a metal performer anyway?) And their songs have nice touches such as banjo (I didn’t see it but I know I heard it, maybe the keyboardist was playing it), and there is a sense of melody (which I think means it is not death-metal). It was a nice set that even my sensitive ears could appreciate, and they had some nice animation on the video screen behind them.

Dethklok was an unfamiliar beast to me, though. From what I understand they started as a cartoon and evolved into a band that is now touring. I don’t have a television (and am so grateful for that) so I am not as up on their history and this was my introduction to them.

Like Mastodon, they’re not death-metal, the licks were fast and furious, but with a clean tone that let the melody through. They had the double bass-drum beats going on though and it was loud and fast. I could tell that they were competent musicians, just by their ability to shred, picking out notes in a malevolent maelstrom of demonstrable technique. Sadly they didn’t even look very metal (except the bass player who had the requisite long hair and headbanging down), what with their short and/or greying hair (at least on the two guitarists). The lead singer looked like he stepped right out of your accounting class, although he did have the snarling vocals down (although I could tell what he was singing by the lyrics on the video screens sometimes).

In addition to the music, between songs the video screen would sometimes show the cartoons that birthed the band. It was about a metal band with funny accents trying to make it and it was funny, whether it was about leaving the stage for a bathroom break or a war between mermaids and lobsters. I didn’t really get the band connection (other than they supplied the music) until the end of the show.

Just before the final song, the singer gave a speech thanking the audience for coming out and praising Orlando as the birthplace of death-metal (a little known fact but I’ve know that for years, although I thought Tampa was just as important). He seemed to think that many of the death-metal cliches were spawned on rides at Universal and he named which cliché and which ride. It was a long speech but he used several different voices, the same ones in the cartoons, to give the speech. Apparently he must have done the voices for the cartoons as well as the music.

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