Metallica: Français Pour Une Nuit

I seldom talk about Metallica. I reckon they really don't need that much of an attention considering how LARGE an act they are. If I had any urge in the past, it was to write about Death Magnetic. But it came at a very low point in my life. Needless to say, I missed my chance. Also if I were to say anything Metallica-related, chances are it would be bitchin' about how they had failed me in this or that aspect. 

What the hell, I need not do that really, for that would be a total waste of time. Off Metal Hammer TV: Guilty Pleasures - Just Don't Get It, Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed already said it: "anything you say about Metallica bad, it's like pissing in the ocean, it doesn't fucking matter!". 

So clear yourself of any inhibitions, I'm not here to take potshots at them!

An overload of Metallica live videos clearly can't get me stoked enough to have a few more. Cunning Stunts, in hindsight is something to remember with fondness. Even if it has been ridiculed to the max, it was a huge affirmation of a big turning point in the band's history. I have it in my rack, along with their set in the Monsters of Rock in Moscow, Woodstock '99 and some other live clips from the hillbilly-where's-the-handlebar-moustache James Hetfield era. I have none from the present line-up, and I dig Robert Trujillo. Problem is, I already got Ozzy's Live in Budokan, and he's already more than amazing there.

But it's just too hard to ignore the fact that Metallica: Français Pour Une Nuit (French For One Night, is that it?) is one badass almost-medieval metal live dvd. I found it impossible not to get my hands on this one, evidently everything about it tells me it falls into great halls of awesomeness. True enough as it actually took place in the literally awesome halls of a Roman amphitheater! 

Aaah, Metallica. It's no question you disappoint at times but you sure know how to win your fans back!

Shot in the Arena of Nîmes in France with a completely French crew, it's remarkable seeing this almost 2,000 year-old Roman structure ooze with so much electricity as if recreating what took place eons ago. Take note that it's impossible to deliver Creeping Death live, without the 'DIE! DIE! DIE! chant. Come to think of it, centuries ago it must have been that same feel with Gladiators and a huge crowd raising fists and yelling DIE! in whatever Romance language form used at the time. And have I said these Four Horsemen actually entered the arena via the coliseum's gladiator tunnel?

I can cite a hundred reasons but I'm not sure really, as to why I was completely blown away by this live disc. Maybe I was expectin' less, and they came out 'round prepared for this one. Multiple cams, combined with good mixing, well that's a given. Maybe a decent audio set-up got me surprised how tight they played as a four-piece. Close scrutiny tells me how perfect their parts were, how well-executed the thrashing of both guitars was done. Especially in the song Dyer's Eve, which I must say, stands above the rest of their other performances for that night.  Hell, maybe it was the old Roman coliseum and my insatiable thirst for anything and everything bloody in European History that got me into this dvd! 

But the location shot can only get one so far. If I were to single out one factor why I was so snagged by this that it finally got me writing, it would have to be that they played so much from ..And Justice. Which by the way, is my favorite Metallica record. And merits more space and time for me to brag about. But I'm just too damn glad the ..And Justice songs were played in full length, not like the fuckin' medleys they used to do!! The tracklist below shows it, they launched forth with Blackened, and they even played Harvester Of Sorrow! I'm sure there's just four tracks from it, but better that than any other post Black Album stuff. But then I realize there's no better theme for such a location other than what the cover of ..And Justice speaks of. 

You all know the drill. You must have seen a lot of Metallica's live performances, and quite tellingly, you might place them as predictable in a way. Well set this one aside, for it's an entirely different ride. There's just no better way to appreciate the Arena of Nîmes in a rockin' show, unless maybe, you dig Rammstein or Dire Straits.

TRACKLIST

01. Blackened
02. Creeping Death
03. Fuel
04. Harvester of Sorrow
05. Fade to Black
06. Broken, Beat and Scarred
07. Cyanide
08. Sad But True
09. One
10. All Nightmare Long
11. The Day That Never Comes
12. Master of Puppets
13. Dyers Eve
14. Nothing Else Matters
15. Enter Sandman

--Encore--
16. Stone Cold Crazy
17. Motorbreath
18. Seek and Destroy

The Big Four of Thrash - first picture together in one room!!!!

To what may be the most outstanding photograph in the annals of heavy music...

I only have a few words to say, you see I was thrilled with some news that might be good enough to get your asses all fired up, but I'm shoving that aside lest it gets in the way of this killer of a boulder!!!

Stole this from Megadeth.com. The biggest event in the history of Thrash, and Heavy Metal  in general, happens tonight in Warsaw, Poland at the Sonisphere Festival.

For the story behind that picture above, click HELL!

Damn you Jeff Hanneman!!! Where the fuck were you when they were raisin them devil horns?!!!

EDIT 17 June:

More pictures from BLABBERMOUTH..

I am practically in tears.. (WTF?)

Warbringer Live in Manila!

Unfuckingbelievable. But click HELL and wake up to reality baby!!

By now you may have marked me for an old timer, but grant me absolution when i shed a tear for bygone years 'cause the eighties ain't seen the last of this genre! At least not yet.

The Ray-Ban aviator has definitely become a timeless piece. Levi's jeans too. Gibson Les Paul? Timeless. Hard Rock. Timeless. Thrash Metal? Well, Classic maybe, but to suggest its timelessness needs more perspective, maybe ten more years down the line for some clear judgment. 

Coming from a big fan of this genre, that, i must say, is saying something. 

The very FIRST band from the New Wave of Thrash 'revivalists' to visit this country has chosen Manila as the LAST stop of their tour before returning to the U.S..

Now join me as i rip the sleeves off my acid washed denim jacket in preparation for this genocidal gathering. Hand me some Exodus pins, some Death Angel patches, worn-out hi top white sneakers and I'll be ready with my bullet belt of literally live ammunition. 

It's Warbringer, and I'll be thrashin' like a maniaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaac!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!        

I will be back for my account of the colossal Wrath that was last night..

It's not gonna take long 'fore I put up that hair-raising video from my cam last night. It will be my first YouTube upload, and damn if there can ever be a better one for such a debut.

Meanwhile, chew on some appetizer :)

The End is Here!!! Lamb of God and Testament Tonight!!!

Here's a pic I stole from PULP Magazine's fan page. If this can't get the metalhead in you stoked enough, I don't know what else can.

LOG arrives in Manila.

Also, if you have not signed up for anything PULP-related in Facebook, go ahead and join up right the fuck now. It has been an insane week gettin' all the blow-by-blow status updates of this mayhem, and we're gettin' close to reality here. Every fuckin day i take in Mr Vernon Go's updates and make them my caffeine to get me through the day. But it was this one single pic that led me to finally write something. And lots of thoughts are now swarming like hornets. The most important of all, i must make mention. 

(And no, it's not Dodoy Dizon's comment on this pic. Although that gave me one hell of a laughing fit.)

Did they 'organize' a mob to welcome them harbingers of destruction at the airport?? 

Hell, we made Shadows Fall feel like Iron Maiden Gods with a kick-ass monster backdrop, Dante's Inferno became the stage that was supposed to be Arch Enemy's with all those pyros and a hissing giant bat, balloons enveloped all our moshing for Trivium.. I imagine a bunch of crazy hooligans acting like end-of-the-world freaks ready to embrace rapture wouldn't hurt to be outside of the airport during LOG's arrival. 

Correct me if I'm wrong and if there was indeed a mob, but forgive me if I ain't, I know this is asking too damn much.

I'll see you brothers in the Wall of Death tonight. Lamb of God has truly brought the wrath upon us. And with Testament in tow, tonight will indeed be 'biblical', pun intended.

Arch Enemy Live in Manila : The Experience!

27 October.

It had been exactly a week when I had first seen Arch Enemy in flesh. Indeed I’m so mighty proud to have witnessed them shatter the roofs off of Manila’s World Trade Center.


I wish I had written this piece much earlier and captured the elation I was in at that moment. But then again, not even alien speak can put across the evil sensation that has soaked up my heart. My only regret is that right now, I have gained quite some perspective.


After seven days of exhuming (damn I love that word, however inappropriate) old AE vids and researching for more on the net to feed my fix, I cannot help but fucking compare. It might be good for doing a review, except that this one isn’t. What I plan to share is the intensity of one such electrifying heavy metal experience and not some tale of the tape between the act last week, and the live video that is Tyrants of the Rising Sun.


Having said that, I am keen to accept that Rising Sun is a conscious effort to make the best concert dvd and that it had been well-directed. I’d be better off seeing my heroes in the most primal of their state. And by the way, Arch Enemy Live in Manila sure had one notch of evolution from their previous performances. It had what Ronnie James Dio calls the ‘Disneyland E-ticket’. I’ll get to that bit in a few.


8:18 pm. Without an invite up my sleeve and a brother on the way from the suburbs, I got off the cab and wished I could die on the spot. I had rushed straight from the tight-ass environment of my workplace rolled up in my ridiculous blue uniform with a necktie on. There I was exposing myself to two lines of Arch-hungry fans in all their black t-shirt glory. Now I had become ‘the weird one’, but damn I loved the feeling. Stare me on some more, I’m feelin’ you all!


I got to the end of the line and begged concert security that I be spared with my lighter. There is no way in this world I’m throwing away a Led Zep Zippo to the bin. Later on I figured I was even spared the whole evening as well. I managed to get through the entrance with my fighting knife and realized that after all the rigorous frisking, this is the one city with an ordinance to forbid such weapon. And the manila cops/pigs are everywhere.




8:43 pm. No more Super VIP tickets. Fuck it, there is no meet and greet anyways, I was told. I got two VIP’s, snagged the Rise Of The Tyrant cd’s and bagged the free drinks. I got back out to change clothes and took my brother in. There he was, eager as hell in his long dirty locks and Sic Vic t-shirt but in no way the lesser Arch fan. He had pushed the boundaries for us to be in this threshold. As we had done another round of waiting in line and going through inspection again, we were fortunate enough to see at least Bloodshed. Man, I thought, this is the stuff that would make parents shit in their pants. I’m glad to be here.

9 - 9:30pm. Nothing. Just pure anticipation and bladder pressure control lessons. The crowd is anxious and I’ll be damned if I take my piss and risk the chance of seeing them jump out of the stage.

 

9:31pm. Pure Fucking Metal Mayhem.

The moment they hit the lights and that long ‘boing’ synth of a gong was reverberating, I knew I was in a different haze. Clouds of smoke were creeping through the big Root of All Evil gigantic skulls as the big bat stage backdrop stared dead into my eyes. Right this very moment Arch Enemy all came out and goosebumps started to rise from my spine up to my nape. The intro to Blood On Your Hands had me lost somewhere here and in limbo as I stared up to the newest of my heroes. Then, the much awaited Diva Satanica came out screaming from hell. I could not believe what I was seeing. It was really her in person !

Struck as I am, I was also stunned to be seeing her in full-on black clothing, with tops up to the wrists and leather catwoman tights and boots. I was expecting her traditional torn-jeans, white tank top and black streaks just beneath the eyes. Instead, the strips were in white make-up, as the armbands they all were
wearing were in white. Her hair was not in its usual grease as well, bleach blonde as it was, I figured it grew longer and might have had a wash or two. I’ll bet my bottom dollar everyone in the hall was holdin horses from jumping to the stage and poking her. Conversely, it was the lady beside me who was shouting ‘I love you Angela’.

I swept a glance at the remainder of the band with all the mindful effort I could afford. As I knew that unlike Angela who is German, the rest is Swedish. I knew that this is one different block as they never looked Anglo-Saxon in any way. I am faced with Vikings! And they’re playing serious metal!

Meanwhile, I checked on our cam to see if we were getting some images. But I made it a point for us to enjoy the show and feel the power and intensity and get some recorded stuff later. The crowd was now goin’ freakin’ nuts over shouting ‘RE-MEM-BER!!’. I figured right then and there which songs I must remember to put more stars in my iPod. I will be back for more of the heaviest parts of this night..

Arch Enemy Fever..

I will be back for the ultimate Arch Enemy experience, World Trade Center in Manila, 20th of October...

Arch Enemy Live In Manila Oct 20 @ The WTC!!!

Officially announced in their website, Angela and Friends will destroy Manila to pieces and eat us all alive on October 20.


http://www.archenemy.net/tours.php


Finally all the buzz that started in social networking sites in this country has come to an end. Since May of this year me and my brothers in heavy music have been relying on hearsay and gossip about Arch Enemy even trying to consider coming here. From the supposedly sold out VIP tickets, to possible venues that can withstand their trademark swirl mosh pit, to whomever has the guts of iron to summon them. Pulp and JB Music Store proved us all wrong that it's impossible this side of the world.

Truly Manila has become a metal stronghold!

Thanks to PULP for pushing the boundaries to open the floodgates of hell. Thanks to JB Music as well, but go fuck your know-it-all, pea brain clerks.