After a whirlwind three-day visit to the "Big Apple" - not to mention a grueling 15-band, 12-hour Deathstock III show the day before - Chronicles of Chaos contributor/writer Adam Wasylyk and I finished off our trip to NYC in pure loud fashion by seeing Los Angeles metallers Fear Factory play a sold-out show at local bar Tramps.
Tramps was packed and the crowd was waiting in anticipation for the arrival of the Los Angeles death metal quintet. Following the hilarious cover/rip-off of the Los Del Rio hit song "Macarena" (an unknown band came over the loudspeaker sounding a lot like Brujeria doing "Marijuana"), FF took the stage and for almost 75 minutes held the crowd by their balls. Rippin' through loud and abrasive versions of songs off 1995's _Demanufacture_ LP, most notably the title track, "New Breed", "Self Bias Resistor", and "Pisschrist", and singer Burton C. Bell fueled the mosh pit with every growl. It was intensity at LEVEL 10. I must say, I have seen FF five times to date and this was one of their best shows I have seen. Period.
The band also played the cool Agnostic Front cover of "Your Mistake" (found on the _Demanufacture_ Digi-Pak) and ended the show with a blistering and explosive three-song encore of "Replica", "Martyr", and the ever-popular "Scapegoat". Impressive, to say the least.
Opening the show was a promising hardcore/metal outfit from Providence, Rhode Island called Kilgore Smudge. Mixing hard driving beats and a serious metallic edge, the band won over many of the fans. I personally dug the Mike Patton (Faith No More) meets Burton C. Bell vocals of the singer. Throw in hardcore elements and you got a solid opening act. Oh yeah... a crappy blues/hardcore/rock band called Carped Tunnel opened. Hehehehe... they should be grateful I even mentioned their name. I didn't find one thing about the band likeable. Oh well...
Anyway, it was a blast to see FF play one of their last shows before they head into the studios to finish up work on the re-mixed version of _Demanufacture_ songs called _Remanufacture_ (much like what they did with _Fear Is the Mindkiller_) and to start on their third effort due out in the summer time. The wait is gonna kill me.
To end: A big THANKS has to go out to both Adam and my IRC (#metal) buddies Pook and Knitten for hooking up with us at the FF show and for taking us to the bus station (to catch our bus home) after the show. Thanks... even though it was the wrong station you dropped us off at. What do we know? We live in the small and safe Toronto. But the bottom line is: New York rocks and we shall return.