High on Fire/Converge/Mastodon/Dethklok at Patriot Center

Awesome show for the most part.

High on Fire started things off with a set that was disappointingly short but played with tons of energy. I've heard lots of great things about them live and I think they lived up to it. It was a little difficult keeping track of songs with four bands up but as I recall the songs played were (in no particular order except the first and last ones):

Fury Whip
Speedwolf
Cometh Down Hessian (this one got the first mosh pit of the night going)
Surrounded by Thieves
Waste of Tiamat
Frost Hammer (new song)
Rumors of War

Converge came on next and for me they were the big sore spot of the evening because I'm really not a fan of these guys and the live performance did little to win me over. I will say the vocalist had good energy, lots of jumping about and swinging the mic around like Roger Daltrey, but whenever he opened his mouth he sounded like a dog barking, and the actual music didn't really have any groove I could get into. On top of that, their set seemed to go on forever, although maybe I was just frustrated because I wanted to take about 15 minutes away from them and give it back to High on Fire. I guess I was in the minority, though, because a lot of folks in the crowd really dug them.

Mastodon then started and they played the entirety of Crack the Skye, followed by...Circle of Cysquatch, Mother Puncher, Where Strides the Behemoth, Call of the Mastodon...? Sorry, my brain is getting scrambled and I can't recall all the songs. I was slightly surprised by the lack of anything from Leviathan but I've heard the band is a little tired of that album. Anyway, they sounded really good, almost as good as on the album to my ears. I was wondering how the singers would hold up live as the band has been criticized for its vocals but they sounded fine to me.

Mastodon's set was also accompanied by a cool video playing on the big screen behind them, illustrating the story of the album in the manner of a psychedelic silent film.

Dethklok finished up and I have to say they were very good; in fact I thought they sounded better live than they do on the show or on the cd. They played with a ton of energy and the merging of the live band on stage with the cartoon videos on the big screen was extremely effective. Hit exactly the right balance between being funny and yet also providing some very cool music. I overheard some folks leaving because they didn't see the point of watching "some cartoon joke band" but I think they missed out. As I recall, they played:

Detheme
Bloodlines
Burn the Earth
Hatredcopter
Dethsupport
Black Fire Upon Us
Birthday Dethday
Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle
The Gears
Awaken
Murmaider
Thunderhorse
Go Into the Water
Fansong (encore)

Sounds like a great show! I love all those bands with the exception of Dethklok.(watched the tv show maybe once)
I've seen High on Fire a couple of times and they were great. I've seen Mastodon several times starting from right before their first album was released. It's been great to see how these guys have progressed in their music and their popularity.

I can see how some might not be into Converge but I think they're brilliant. To me they've always had a great punk aesthetic to go with all that metallic fury as well as some interesting progressive tendencies that may not be apparant at first listen (or two).

Sounds awesome!!!! I wanted to catch that show, but had prior engagements.....

I think it's weird that Dethklok are headlining this tour. I'm going to try to make Wednesday night's show.

Incidentally, Mastodon were the only band to get dressed up for Halloween. Brent Hinds looked like he was supposed to be Jackie Moon, Bill Kelliher was wearing a Batman mask, I think, and Troy Sanders had a huge afro wig on. I couldn't see Brann Dailor very well from our seats

It was nice to see Gene Hoglan get a big ovation from the crowd as Dethklok was finishing.

One thing about Dethklok's music that struck me is that the songs from their new album are certainly more sophisticated than what they did on the first one. I think the initial Dethklok album, catchy as it is, was more of a tossed off gag release to make fans of the show happy, with songs that are just basic expansions of the musical snippets heard on the cartoon. On the second album, the songs have more complex and involving arrangements that make the band sound more like an actual metal band instead of just a Spinal Tap-ish parody where it's more about the comedy than the songwriting. They're talented musicians so I expect they'll keep progressing if they're serious about releasing more cd's and touring.

nevermore wrote:

I think it's weird that Dethklok are headlining this tour. I'm going to try to make Wednesday night's show.

The Austin show is advertised with Mastodon as the headliners.