Concert Review - The Facemelter Tour 2010

Date: Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Venue: Clearwater Theater, West Dundee, IL. This was my second time seeing a show here, and I honestly don't like it very much. The sound isn't very good and it's a pretty small venue. The last time I was here, the security guards were enforcing rules like dicks, but that's because the show was packed that time. This time there weren't many people, so they were more lenient. At least it's a straight shot from my house, but THE FUCKING CONSTRUCTION BLOWS.

Bands (from opener to headliner): Art of the Flesh, Conducting from the Grave, Annotations of an Autopsy, Misery Index, Arsis, Dying Fetus

Art of the Flesh - They weren't on the flier, so I assume that they're a local band. They were actually pretty good. Great stage presence and their members were good at what they did. Not much to say but I enjoyed them.

Conducting from the Grave - I'm not a fan of deathcore at all, especially when deathcore bands play live, but these guys were pretty damn good live. Incredible stage presence, and they knew how to get the crowd moving. I'm not a fan of their music at all, but they were very good live, and they're very nice in person too.

Annotations of an Autopsy - Dear fucking God HORRIBLE. Conducting from the Grave actually entertained me. These bro fucks did not. I was facepalming the entire time at every hxc br00tal xXBREAKDOWNXx. As if they weren't bad enough in the studio, live is just embarrassing, if not more. Their singer was wearing a bandanna over his fucking eyes, he looked like a god damn ghetto Mexican. And the worst part is, they're from England! I thought the English produced amazing music! Holy shit, I never want to see these guys again, I'd rather fucking see Suffokate, at least it's fun to mess with their singer.

Misery Index - I had never heard of these guys before, but they were really good. Amazing stage presence, fast and heavy songs to get the crowd moving and the heads banging, and just overall nuts. The bad part about it was that they had gear issues and had to cut their set short, which was pretty disappointing. I'm gonna have to check these guys out at some point, their studio stuff sounds great as well.

Arsis - I've wanted to see these guys for a while now, and I missed the last time they came around with Arch Enemy and Exodus because of work. I had heard bad things about them live, but they were actually great as well. They played Return, Forced to Rock, A March for the Sick, We Are the Nightmare, A Diamond For Disease, Sightless Wisdom, and The Sadistic Movement Behind Bereavement Letters. I may be forgetting a song there, but that's what I remember. I met the bassist and talked to the guitarist for a while after they played, they were really nice guys. I asked the guitarist (Nick) about any upcoming tours in the U.S. and he said he couldn't reveal anything, but all he told me was it was gonna be in September. He made it sound like it was gonna be a sick tour, so I can't wait for that!

Dying Fetus - This was my third time seeing Fetus, and like the last two times, they were absolutely nuts! They opened up with Praise the Lord (Opium for the Masses), and of course, DAT RIFF made the entire place headbang along to it. They got the place moving on nearly every song, and my neck is sore right now from headbanging the entire time. I wouldn't put them in the top 5 best live bands I've seen, but they're definitely in the top 10 or 15. From what I remember, along with Praise the Lord, they played (in no order) Your Treachery Will Die with You, Killing on Adrenaline, Skull Fucked, Your Blood is My Wine, Grotesque Impalement, Epidemic of Hate, Conceived into Enslavement, Ethos of Coercion, Homicidal Retribution, One Shot One Kill, and closed with Pissing in the Mainstream and Kill Your Mother, Rape Your Dog. It was an incredible set list, much longer than the last two times because they were supporting acts at those shows.

Overall, the show was great! Most of the bands were incredible, and I had one hell of a time! I will spend the rest of my day waiting for my neck to recover.

And the biggest highlight of the show - Drunk people outside fucking with people and cars passing by before the show - That made my day!

Next show: Pestilence on June 14th!

Concert Review - Volcom Tour 2010

Date: Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Venue: Canopy Club, Urbana, IL. I had never been here before, and it was 2 1/2 hours away, but it was a pretty decent venue. The sound wasn't top notch, but decent enough to enjoy the bands. All shows here are 18 years of age and over, so that's a plus on my part. There was a big screen in the background where bands would have album artwork, band logos, or a movie playing.

Bands (from opener to headliner): Valient Thorr, Baroness, Between the Buried and Me, Mastodon

Valient Thorr - They came on at 6:30, the time it was supposed to start (A metal show starting on time, no fucking way!) They're not a metal band, more hard rock, but still very good! I had started listening to them only a couple of months before this show. Their stage presence was amazing and their execution of the songs was nearly flawless. The frontman of VT was really into the show and pulled a Trevor Strnad by taking off his shirt 2 songs into the set. I met the singer at the merch booth after the show and he was a very nice guy. Unfortunately they didn't have any small patches, just back patches. I definitely would've used them as the back patch for my jacket if I didn't have my Atheist one already. I'm hoping VT comes back on their next tour, I'd love to see them again!

Baroness - I had never listened to these guys before the show, but they put on a nice set. They're more of Mastodon's style, which is sludge/progressive metal. Like Mastodon, they didn't interact with the crowd at all and made their songs lead into one another until the end when they thanked everyone. I started listening to them just yesterday and I'm impressed by their studio efforts as well. Maybe they'll come back as another supporting act or even headlining. Either way, I'd like to see these guys again.

Between the Buried and Me - This was my second time seeing BTBAM, and once again, they put on one hell of a show! Compared to their headlining show, the sound wasn't as good this time, but it's hard to top the House of Blues' sound system, but the sound wasn't bad this time. The one thing I was very happy about was that because the show was 18+, there would more than likely not be any hardcore dancers, unlike last time. And what do you know? I was right! People started mosh pits when they came on, and people were getting pushed to the front, which is a big no no at shows. Mosh pits should be kept in just one area, and it is usually like that for most shows. But here, there were morons pushing people up front, getting people pissed off. Aside from the crowd, BTBAM overall was amazing! Their set list was pretty strange in my opinion, consisting of Fossil Genera - A Feed from Cloud Mountain, Prequel to the Sequel, Backwards Marathon, Disease, Injury, Madness, and Mordecai. It was great to see them playing something from The Silent Circus, so I was very happy with them. Unfortunately the next tour they have is The Cool Tour, which isn't very cool because 80% of the lineup are screamo garbage bands. Hopefully they'll be back on another good tour, headlining or supporting.

Mastodon - The moment everyone was waiting for! This was my third time seeing Mastodon, the first time being at Mayhem Festival 2008, where their sound was awful. I couldn't comprehend anything that was going on. The second time was with Dethklok back in October of 2009, and they were much better there. The Aragon Ballroom's sound isn't very good, but they managed to sound decent. This time, the sound was more clear than the second time, and with a much longer set because they were headlining. Like the last time, they had a trippy movie going on in the screen behind them to go with Crack the Skye, which they played in it's entirety (again). I love that album, and in my opinion, it's one of the best albums, if not the best album of 2009. To see it played live is one hell of an experience. After they finished that, they took a small break and came back with a second set consisting of their older works. In order, they played Crusher Destroyer, Crystal Skull, I Am Ahab, Circle of Cysquatch, Aqua Dementia, Capillarian Crest, Iron Tusk, March of the Fire Ants, and closed with Blood and Thunder. This is one hell of a set list if you ask me.

Overall, the show was worth the longer drive and I had an amazing time! I only picked up a small Mastodon patch since I already have a Mastodon shirt and Between the Buried and Me shirt and they didn't have any other patches for me to get. This is one of those shows where all the bands performed great, and I hope all of them come back sometime in the near future!

I did see Gorod at a small club the next day, but it was such a small show that I'm not going to bother writing about it.

Next show: Dying Fetus on May 26th!

It's amazing how one death can impact the world.

As expected, it's been quite a while since I've updated this blog. I've got a lot to talk about here, and I may as well because I'm actually home tonight being bored rather than hanging out with friends or working.

As I said there, now that summer is here, I've been going out a lot more with good friends. It's always a blast being with them and there will be a lot more to come later on. I've been coming home a lot later, sometimes being as late as 3 A.M. It's weird for me because I go to bed earlier than that! But either way, it's always a great night with them. I know I'm gonna be coming home that late when my friend and I go to see Mastodon in 3 days. It's still gonna be a fun time, nonetheless.

Like I said in my last post, I would go over a summary of my freshman year at college, so here goes...

I didn't really know what to expect. Anything could happen there, so I basically expected the unexpected. What I got was pretty good, if I'd say so myself. My floor was cool (at first...), I met some great people and I was just having a fun time. Over time though, it started to get very boring. I had no idea why I would stay there on weekends because really, I found out myself that I really don't like to party, and that's all there is to do there on weekends. Video games were absolutely boring at this point, and most of our floor lost almost all interaction with each other. I was noticeably gaining weight, and that's when I started to go to the gym. I'd normally go once a week just to miss the Hall Council bullshit, but I started going every night at 8 P.M. It was a great way to kill time because I'd have nothing to do at night after dinner, and it was very beneficial. I started this near the end of first semester and carried on through the whole second semester. I also changed my eating habits. I'd eat a lot during lunch or dinner time, inevitably leading to more weight gain. I cut out the big eating and tried to eat smaller meals throughout the day in attempt to raise my metabolism. It wasn't too bad for me to do, but continuing it was very hard because I'd be busy some days and not have access to snacks or any other food I would want. I'm still trying these methods today and working out more. I got my L.A. Fitness membership back and I'm going any morning that I'm free or not lazy. I'd much rather work out at night than in the morning, but I guess I'll have to live with it now since I'm busy most nights. So basically, to sum up my first year at college: First semester: Decent start, but pretty lame on some parts because I didn't know what to expect. Second semester: Awesome! I listened to music for most of it (Seriously, I had my headphones in my ears more than I didn't in a day) and met a lot of people. While I did meet a lot of people at college, I'm afraid I could only call a few of those my friends. These friends are awesome. Without them, I wouldn't have known a lot of things or done other things, such as going to possibly one of the best shows of my life, or getting into awesome bands. If by some divine miracle, they end up reading this, they know who they are and are awesome. I'm really looking forward to next semester!

In sadder news, a legend has been taken from this world. Ronnie James Dio, the inventor of the devil horns hand gesture, one of the most important figures in music, and the bearer of quite possibly the best voice in all of metal music, died today in the afternoon. He was battling stomach cancer for quite some time now, but what was really confusing was that there were reports of him having great health recently. This was very unexpected, even with the rumors of his death last night. Apparently some site said that he had died, causing fans to be very confused, but Dio's wife confirmed that he was indeed alive, but not in great health. She then confirmed later in the day the very unfortunate news...

I can't say I was a huge Dio fan. I loved Holy Diver and his work with Black Sabbath, but never got around to his other albums. Maybe I'll check it out when I have time. But from what I did listen to, I knew that he definitely did have the greatest voice in metal and influenced nearly all the bands I listen to to do what they do now. After Dio's death announcement on Blabbermouth.net, every single article following were from various band members mourning his death. As the title states, it's amazing how one death can impact the world. I never got to see him perform with Heaven & Hell when they came, but I couldn't go otherwise due to work and restrictions, which is pretty sad. I would've loved to see him and the remaining members of Black Sabbath live.

It's a very sad day in metal, and while Dio may be gone from this world, his soul and voice will live on throughout history and keep fueling metal, inspiring new and old bands worldwide. Rest in Peace, Ronnie James Dio. You were one hell of a musician, and you will be missed by many.

\m/

So that's all I really have to say here. Today's been a very boring day, and the death of one of the biggest metal icons didn't help at all. I'm currently learning the 24 minute epic The Odyssey by Symphony X on guitar. I may not be able to get it done soon, but I will try and possibly get parts of it on video. Other than that, here's to an amazing summer coming up.

Now Playing:
Artist: Morbid Angel
Song: Desolate Ways
Album: Blessed are the Sick

I would not expect such a beautiful song to come from a band like Morbid Angel. Regardless, it's an amazing song.

Bored

It's been a few days since I updated this, but as the title implies, I am incredibly bored right now so I need something to kill time.

The "Troll Rough Draft" post that I put up a couple days ago was something that I posted on the Guitar Hero/Rock Band forum board, Scorehero (SH), recently. I posted it on here to show my friend and see how he liked it, and he did, and I got mostly positive feedback from it on SH, with the exception of one of the people I used to troll with, who of course chooses to hide with a fake account, but that just goes to show the incredible irony there, so it's hilarious. I'm glad I got that out and made peace with the people I shouldn't have provoked in the first place.

Aside from that, the reason I'm bored is that I only had two finals today, COMS and German. I didn't study one bit for COMS because I was busy with other things yesterday, so I doubt I did well on it, but German went fine, despite that I didn't study for that at all either. I have Geography and Theater finals tomorrow, and I'm just really worried about Geography. I have to get a 71% on the final to get a C in the class, but I don't know if that will happen considering I average a high D when it comes to exams in that dumb class. Theater, on the other hand, will be nothing more than a breeze because my teacher literally gave us the final. It's composed of 50 questions taken word for word off of the 3 previous exams, and we went over them in class last week. After that's done, I'm heading home for good!

Going back to the boredom, after I finished my German final at 11 A.M. this morning, I had to finish my English portfolio and turn it in. I've been doing nothing productive since (aside from this, I guess). I've also been listening to Opeth's discography all day. 9 albums, each at least an hour long, so it's definitely lasting the whole day. Right now I'm on Blackwater Park, the 5th album from them. I must say, after listening to their first album, Orchid, all the way through, I've really appreciated it more. But I love every album from them, so this was a good discography to listen to to kill time.

My plans for tonight are to just work out and study a bit for Geography. I'm not gonna go overkill on it, that's what fucks me over. I did the opposite for my math final and that went well, so I'm taking the same approach there.

And that's about it. I really can't wait for tomorrow. I'll probably put up a post about freshman year overall tomorrow night, but that's if I have time.

Now Playing:
Artist: Opeth
Song: The Funeral Portrait
Album: Blackwater Park

Troll rough draft

First off, moderators, if this is in the wrong place, feel free to move it to the appropriate area. However, all I ask is that you please don't lock this. This took a quite the time to think of and write, and I'd love to see whoever reads this and their feedback, positive or negative. Thank you.

I'm sure a few people, maybe more remember who I am. Once talented Rock Band player, who with inevitable notice took a turn for the worse with my attitude towards the community I was once part of. By that I mean I would waste countless hours doing what I could to displease the, as I once referred to, "fruits" of the Guitar Hero/Rock Band (mostly Rock Band) community just for my own pleasure and fun. Why did I do this? That's what I'm here to talk about, and why it wasn't worth a single second of my time, and why it shouldn't, and will not be, for anyone else.

The first sign of this was when I stopped playing Guitar Hero/Rock Band, and pretty much video games altogether. Of course, like several of the people on this site, I eventually got bored of competitive play and pretty much the game overall. I started to focus more on real life, but at the same time, stayed with the still competitive community online. At this point, seeing people still playing the game competitively was a joke to me, and I felt the need to make fun of and laugh at them for it. This was around the spring of 2009 and lasted until the end of the year, if I remember correctly. I'd be on IRC and in certain streams or chats just making fun of people, along with others. I'd even be on here or on AIM doing the same thing, as you can see from my perma rocker status, which I got intentionally. At the time, I thought that was hilarious and that I was the better person for doing it. Almost a year later, I brought this up in my mind despite me not having any interaction or single thought of the community while focusing on my real life, only to realize now that it was a bad mistake on my part.

Why did I do this? Why does anyone do this? By "this," the best I could say about it is to "troll." Why do we troll for our own pleasure? I've always been against sadism, and I realized then that I was a huge hypocrite for doing such a thing. These people do have lives as well, so what if they play a video game competitively? Maybe they like to be competitive, or just have a lot of fun doing so. Making fun of them does not make me the bigger man or make me have more of a life doing so. But I thought the opposite whilst doing so, and it was a very stupid move on my part.

I had a lot of friends from this community, and while I did not know them in real life, they were still very cool people to talk to and play video games with. Because of my actions, it cost the friendship of these people on here, and even though it's best not to go online to talk to people you don't know in real life, these people would still be considered my friends. I had panic attacks and a depressive personality back then and I would talk to these people, and they would talk to me and help me. That is what a real friend is for. To those that I actually offended and ruined friendships with, I am truly sorry for what I did, it was a stupid and wrong mistake on my part and I assure that it won't happen again.

This realization, in my opinion, comes from maturity. Once you grow older, at some point you'll start to realize how people feel if you put yourselves in their shoes. My word of advice to anyone that actually reads this: Don't waste your time trolling or trying to make someone's life miserable, both online and especially in real life. If you have a close friendship with someone, whether it be online or in real life, don't ruin it because of peer pressure or any other reason.

It's been several months since I've been on this forum board, and even longer since I've touched my Xbox 360 console. With all this being said, I'll be on here from time to time again, but more than likely not on Xbox Live because I've been very busy since my first year of college started and will continue to be busy.

I hope everyone who clicked on this topic read this all the way through and understands what mistakes I made, how I learned from them, and why you shouldn't do the same thing as me. Thank you for your time, and please comment if you have something to say.

- Dan, GarageMetal468

Quite possibly the worst day of my life so far?

I'm writing this at about 9:30 A.M. on May 1st. April 30th, 2010, was probably the worst day of my life so far. I need to get this out.

It starts off with my sister waking me up at 6:30 in the morning telling me to get her Potbelly at noon and drop it off at her school. Now, I tend to think, and it usually ends up happening, that if a day starts off like shit, it will continue to be shit throughout the day. Waking up at 6:30 after going to bed at 12:30 isn't my day. So I go back to bed and wake up around 9:30 I believe. The grades for that geography exam I took on Thursday were up, so I decided to check if I got that 74% so I don't have to take the final and if my 3 hours of studying paid off. And wouldn't you know? I got a fucking 68%. Now I have to take the final and get at least a 72% on it to get a C in the class. That's some bullshit, along with what was to come throughout the rest of the day.

I was stuck running errands for my parents. I had to go to the DMV to get license stickers for my dad's car and the mall to get coffee for my mom. On the way to the DMV, I decide to take the long street to get there, which for some reason is STILL under construction, so I was backed up for a pretty long time. Not only that, but there was no way I could make it to Potbelly and get my sister her food and drop it off at her school, so that was pretty disappointing. So at a green light, I'm stopped (yeah, construction is the best) and I put my arm out the window and I feel a sharp pain in my forearm. I got stung by a fucking bee. For the first time in my life, I get stung by a bee. This could have all been avoided if I took the back road to the DMV, but I was a dumb ass and decided to take the straight shot, under construction forever street. After I did get the stickers, I took the way back home that I should have taken on the way there.

After I stopped back home to drop off some stuff, I went off to the mall to get my mom's coffee. I decided to get Panda Express for lunch while I was there, and I also got a chiller from Gloria Jean's while I was at it. Of course, those two should not be combined and I got horrible heartburn after wards. I thought I was going to throw up. After that, for some dumb reason I went to Best Buy to look around, which was very pointless, especially with the heartburn I had, so I left to go to 7/11 and get a Sprite to calm down the heartburn. After that, I just chilled at home until I had to work. And it only got worse from there on.

It was a pretty shitty day outside. It was very windy and the sky was a dark gray/blue, so it was inevitably going to rain. This left the restaurant empty for a while, so one of the other bus boys left early. Soon after he did, the place started to get packed with only me and another bus boy to take care of everything. Of course, I'm getting bitched at left and right to do shit while I have about 100 more things to do, as if I'm not doing enough. On top of that, my sack of shit boss was there and was bitching at me as well. The worst fucking thing he was doing was telling me to smile as I work. Let's point out what's fucking wrong here in a list.
1. No one else is smiling. What makes me so special?
2. I would tell him about the shitty day I had, but I was so busy with other things, I didn't have time to and he probably wouldn't give a shit anyway because he's a dickhead.
3. With all the things I'm doing, how the fuck am I supposed to smile while I'm doing it?
4. He's drinking with his "friends" (acquaintances and people that don't give a shit about him, for a more accurate description). Of course he's having a blast doing jack shit while I'm working my ass off. Fuck him.

Even worse is that throughout the day, when something does go right and I think that my day is going to get better, nope. It gets worse. What a better way to screw me over than get my hopes up and have them crushed? What's even more weird is that if I remember correctly, the first day of April was a shitty day for me, and the last day was even shittier. Aside from the Overkill and Cannibal Corpse shows, April was a fucking awful month. Today is the first day of May, and other than getting woken up by my family being loud at 8:00 A.M. (no surprise), it started off pretty nicely with the new As I Lay Dying album getting leaked. I listened to it all the way through, and I must say, the more heavy and brutal approach they've taken worked out well. It's an awesome album! The metal albums of 2010 are really good so far, and there's still Morbid Angel, Atheist, Necrophagist, and a lot more to come!

I really hope May doesn't suck, especially as much as April did. It should be a good month though, what with the Mastodon and Dying Fetus concerts, and being out of school for the majority of the month. I should probably start studying for my math final at some point, but I actually plan on having fun today! I'm helping my friend record a satire for one of his finals for his classes, and I'm seeing the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street tonight! I can already guess that the remake is going to blow, but A Nightmare on Elm Street was one of my favorite movies, so I want to see what they can do. I'm also going with a good friend, so it should be fun.

And that's about it. April can suck a dick because May is here, and it's going to be good. I have to mow the lawn soon, but thankfully I got Sadus' discography, so I have something to listen to as I mow the lawn, which is good. I'm probably gonna get a Monster after that to wake up, so today should be an awesome day!

Now Playing:
Artist: Sadus
Song: Twisted Face
Album: Illusions

Concert Review - The Evisceration Plague Tour

Venue: The House of Blues, Chicago, IL. I've been here a number of times, and the sound quality is very good, but because of the 9:30 curfew, the show has to start early which I don't like very much.

Bands (from opener to headliner): Lecherous Nocturne, Skeletonwitch, 1349, Cannibal Corpse

Lecherous Nocturne: I had never heard of these guys before, but they did good live. I'm more than likely not gonna check them out because I didn't like their music, but like i said, their stage presence was good.

Skeletonwitch: This is what got the people moving! One of the bands that I can safely say are much better live than in the studio! They played a long enough set for people to enjoy and everyone was having fun during their set. The crowd surfing started (I joined in later on) and overall they kicked ass as usual! I hadn't seen these guys since The Black Dahlia Murder in October, and I think it'll be a while before I see them again, which sucks, but I'll still be looking forward to the next time they're coming around!

1349: I knew these guys were a black metal band from Norway, but I had never listened to them before until now. They were actually really good! A lot of people loved them and I'm actually listening to their Hellfire album now! But back to the show, this is where things got brutal, and not just the band. There were 2 fights during their set, security was all over the place at that point. This is why morons who have short tempers should not be in the pit. But overall, they were really good and I'm probably gonna check out more of their stuff later on!

Cannibal Corpse: And the moment we were all waiting for! They had a much longer set list than the last time I saw them, when they weren't even headlining! They changed it up a lot from the 2 previous times I saw them, which was a great thing because some of their songs haven't been played for a long time, such as The Cryptic Stench. Again, there were some jackasses picking fights with people in the pit for no reason but security took care of them, so the pits were free of morons. I went in for a good portion of the set, and now I have bruises on both of my arms, and my nose and hip were nailed pretty hard so if I apply pressure to there then I can feel it a little. I've said this before and I'll say it again: Cannibal Corpse fans don't fuck around. But really, those pits were incredibly fun, and I think I burned more calories from that show than I do working out a night!

Overall, it was an amazing show! I met up with a few people I knew, saw some people from previous shows, and met new people as well. Hopefully Cannibal Corpse or Skeletonwitch will be back in Chicago soon enough. Next concert: Mastodon on May 19th!