Last night, the entire Metal Injection crew came out for what may end up being the biggest show of 2009: Meshuggah, Cynic and The Faceless. It was truly place to be. Spotted in the crowd were members of GOD FORBID, A LIFE ONCE LOST and SUICIDE SILENCE. Everybody was there to see this killer lineup.
Starting things off was my favorite new band, THE FACELESS. These guys are just so far and above any other modern metal band out right now, it's not even funny. The band played their 30 minute set flawlessly. Michael Keene's green guitar looked as awesome as ever. Clearly, the crowd new whats up as the sold out Irving Plaza was nearly packed at the start of the show ready to see this band. I can't say this enough: The Faceless are awesome and if they are coming to your town you need to see them.
Next up was the band that I was most looking forward to, CYNIC. The last show the band played in 1994 before breaking up was in New York, so this was a special show for them and from the moment they started they had me. They were so fucking good that today I almost feel like I didn't appreciate it enough. Just flawless musicianship. If you are looking for dudes jumping up and down on stage, this is not the band for that. This is the band for pure shreddage and some ridiculous drumming. I think I'm running out of adjectives to describe how great this band is. The one complaint I have is that I wanted much more of Cynic. The band played for 45 minutes, but I could have watched them for hours. Luckily, during an interview we did with Paul Masvidal (which should be up on the site next week) he said the band is far from done with touring for this record.
It was then time for the main event: MESSSSHHHUGGGGAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!1!1! The band was set to play for 90 minutes and cameras swarmed the venue, so it's clear the band was shooting a live DVD at this show. The Sweedes played a ton of tracks off of obZen as well as a few classics such as "New Millenium Cyanide Christ" and their "Enter Sandman", "Future Breed Machine". Tomas Haake is a beast on drums and never ceases to impress me. But, to be honest, as much as I completely fucking love Meshuggah, 90 minutes may have been a bit too much. At the halfway mark, I was a bit drained and had to retreat to the back with the other old farts. Don't get me wrong though, the band was phenomenal. I think if it the show was during the weekend, where I didn't spend 10 hours previously to being at the show at a day job, I would've had the endurance to make it through the whole show. I guess we will always have the DVD to look back on now.
If you missed this tour, you really need to be kicking yourself in the ass. There were three bands on the stage at the top of thier game, absolutely crushing all those who dared watch them. Maybe this CYNIC video diary will you make you feel worse:
