Show Bodom and 1 give metal f r iE t. t 1 Amanda Chamberlain t. t f The Globe r Even though the outdoors seemed cold enough to freeze a bottle of liquor Saturday Nov 19 brought both a literal and sonic heat wave within the walls of the Lo-Fi Lo Cafe Caf with the arrival of Viking-metal Viking Amon laden breakdown-laden and the long-awaited long and epic headliner headliner head- head headliner liner Children of Bodom Shortly following the door opening an ominous instrumental instrumental tal intro cut off the between-band between background music The most hard die-hard of fans recognized this intro as belonging to the Swedish death metal band Amon Seconds following the start of the intro drummer Fredrik Andersson appeared on the stage and the horned devil-horned hands of over half the crowd shot into the theair air air to to which Anderson smiled modestly and returned the ture The remainder of the longhaired longhaired longhaired long long- haired Norse Lords took the stage complete with the vitalizing vitalizing vitalizing ing presence of a blonde bearded and shirt-free shirt Johan Hegg the theAmon theAmon theAmon Amon frontman that with his stature stage presence and looks could quite easily be mistaken as a genuine Viking warrior impressing and involving set continued for the next thirty-five thirty minutes which consisted of the happy head- head bangers tearing through songs from their six albums including their most recent release The Fate of Olavi and Johan S derberg complimented complimented complimented each other on guitar while simultaneously swinging their heads around in tandem along with the facially animated bassist Ted Lundstrom m. m Between songs SOniS He Hegg would remove a out hollowed-out animal horn from a leather holster on his hip and sip some beverage while encouraging the crowd to raise your hands in the air And just justas as the crowd was at their climax the sinisterly quick drum rhythms insanely catchy yet unmistakably metallic guitar riffs and Heggs Hegg's devilish scream all came to a halt and the band ducked off the stage leaving the fans chanting for more Not three minutes passed before re retook retook retook re- re took the stage blasting out a satisfying satisfying satisfying sat sat- encore After the encore Hegg shook hands with fans overall generating a rejuvenated hype for the talented group of metal men Post the wait for newly famous metal meets-metal band was minute as only a series of moments later the haired black-haired early looking esque quartet took the stage fans got exactly what they wanted as the energetic Orlando natives chugged through their set with an animated stage presence to say the least The show commenced with guitarist Corey Beaulieu playing guitar alongside lead vocalist and guitarist Matt Heafy Heafy tweaked the ears of some with his slightly off-key off and ish emo-ish singing during durine parts Darts of A Athe the performance albeit an iniquity ty overlooked by the better half of the entire tive By the time the wait was on for final act Children of Bodom the teeming compound reached a roasting temperature fit to instantly fry an egg on the backs of many of the tightly packed metal heads But that aspect proved of little consequences to the Bodom fans of who promptly prompt prompt- ly searched for their final ing positions smiling and conversing conversing conversing con con- with neighbors while anticipating the acclaimed metal bands band's glorified performance Tunes from the Agony Scene looped over the PA in the background background background back back- ground taunting waiting fans rubber rubber rubber rub rub- like a to the limit ber band waiting to snap paced the stage tuning guitars and performing sound check taking a quarter of an hour that to attendees seemed closer to a quarter of a year Then the left the stage the lights dimmed and the telltale the background music halted While a worded re-worded popular pop song took over the PA system system system tem fans looked at each other with fleeting confusion shrugged their shoulders and began nodding nodding nodding nod nod- ding their head anyway in pure excitement of being beine in the final moment before Children of Bodom The beginning of Living Dead Beat track one from Bodom's Oct 2005 release Are You Dead Yet cued the first four members up to the stage to take their places and taking over playing the song Vocalist and lead guitarist Alexi Laiho appeared from the sidelines and galloped up to front and center strapping on his guitar and perusing perusing perus perus- perusing ing the entire crowd with an appreciative glare before putting the first strums on his Randy Rhodes guitar Metal presided over Salt Lake City from there on as the brutally metallic Finnish death metal icons shredded pounded and wailed out their set A longhaired and Laiho flew his black fingers over the entire range of frets sweet picking and finger tapping not excluded while screaming out pitched alto-pitched lyrics to songs from five length full-length albums and one EP While Laiho's stage presence drove the crowd into metal euphoria the vigorously prodigious prodigious prodigious frontman didn't want all the credit Not far into the set he and three other band members exited the stage leaving drummer drummer drummer drum drum- mer J Jaska aska Raatikainen under a literal spotlight ht Raatikainen spat out a a dr drum m solo that Chris Adler would be proud of-and of the crowd went wild Cheers and horned devil-horned hands applauded Raatikainen moving him to standup standup stand standup up meekly take a modest bow and smile in sincere appreciation After giving the crowd a thumbs- thumbs up the longhaired Bodom crew jumped back on stage and moved into their next song After playing such r renowned Bodom odes as Silent Night Bodom Night Bodom after Midnight and Angels Dont Don't Cry Laiho and Metal Cont on Page 12 92 1 Metal Cont f. from Page 8 J Janne anne Warman remained onstage as the remaining crew disappeared to the sidelines once again The then shirtless Laiho positioned positioned positioned himself next to Warman's tilted keys and serenaded the crowd on his mounted knee-mounted vertically propped guitar with a mind- mind bending solo of which Warman then translated the exact melody into keyboard strokes Warman then shelled out a quick fin professional pianist caliber keyboard solo of his own to which Laiho mock- mock scuffed at and repeated on the guitar adding a jaw- jaw dropping guitar number of his own at the end And after the guitar and keyboard keyboard keyboard key key- board duel came to a close the band regrouped for their final moments onstage It didn't take a concert scientist to know that Children of Bodom would be receiving an encore request After abruptly walking off stage after an unannounced last song the crowd began to chant for another Their wish was granted as the Bodom crew shelled out two and a half encore tunes the half being Laiho's addition of Oops I IDid IDid IDid Did it Again riffs and exited once more The crowd stood static in shock of the elaborate metal spectacle spectacle spectacle spec spec- they had just witnessed witnessed witnessed wit wit- which encouraged the Laiho-the Sultan of shredding shred shred- ding ding to to jump back on stage with the and sing along revived background music Schools Out for Summer Summer while shaking the fans' fans outstretched outstretched outstretched out out- stretched hands But after Laiho disappeared disappeared disappeared again off of the stage for the final time like a meal that tasted so good while you were eating it but eventually fills the the ach concert ended leaving the sweat soaked and near-deaf near fans with thorough satisfaction in a state of absolute metal Nirvana |