metal!

I often surprise people by my fondness for heavy metal, Mastodon in particular.  This summer I didn't watch much tv, but when I did it was Adult Swim on cartoon network.  I've always liked cartoons.  One of my favorites was a show called Metalocalypse, which follows the life and times of a hugely popular, powerful, and wealthy band called Dethklok.  There are five band members in the show (only four in the real band I found out two nights ago).  They are goofy, childish characters that play violent music to adoring fans that are often left dead or maimed by the band's mishaps and performances.  My favorite part of the show was almost always the music.  Here's an example.

Cartoon Network told me that Dethklok and Mastodon were touring, but I had no internet and was slow to check tour dates.  I found out a few days ago that they were playing in Portland on the 2nd and Seattle on the 3rd.  I couldn't make the Portland show, but I could make the Seattle show.  Then I could also ride the NW which I have wanted to do for an honest 6 years.  The trip also gives me the chance to visit Jeff and Brittany in Seattle and Portland, respectively.  Lots of driving, a little more expense than I'd like, but an opportunity to do a lot of stuff I want to do.

After driving through Seattle traffic to Jeff's and taking the bus from there I made it with perfect timing.  The show opened with High on Fire (not so good) and Converge.  Converge may have been ok if the lead "singer" would quit yelling randomly over the band's otherwise good instrumentals.  Most metal I just don't understand...

I was stoked for Mastodon, but when they started, I didn't recognize the tunes.  I asked a fellow fan next to me, "Did they come out with a new album?"  He said, "yeah, Crack the Skye, where have you been?"  oops.  Thats what I get for living in Driggs and having no internet.

Their new stuff was ok, but lacked the energy of their classics.  I thought maybe it was just because I didn't know the music (which is very important), but the crowd just wasn't as excited as they should have been...was anyone moshing?  It seemed like Mastodon band members were taking voice lessons--moving away from the rough, gravely vocals of their past to some crazy new harmonizations.  That's cool and all, but they didn't really do a great job.  As one of my favorite bands I hope they figure out where they're headed.  They did play some classics, and the crowd responded appropriately.  The vocalist/bassist seemed pleased and a little relieved by the crowd's response.  My neck was sore from snowboarding, so I had to kind of take it easy, which sucked, but I managed to have fun regardless and got to the front-ish.  This did mean I had to charge through the moshing crowd and kind of hug the front line.  I only got knocked over once, and was immediately picked up.  The crowd was still kind of lame.  At the Atlanta show everyone was dancing and moshing and having fun.  Here it seemed that folks were more fearful and some people at the edge of the pit were throwing defensive punches.  I called one guy out on it after he got me near the kidney.  Running into people, pushing, and dancing is totally cool with me, but if you're standing on the edge of the mosh pit hitting people that are getting shoved into you then you're a tool.  If you don't like people running into you then move back.

Fearing I would surely worsen my sore neck if I were to continue my shenanigans for Dethklok, I took a seat.  Their performance, matched with video from the show and some original, was stellar.  Bummer about the sore neck.  I'll look for dethklok and mastodon's future tours.