Children Of Bodom / Trivium / Amon Amarth
By Taylor Green
Monday. Dec 12, 12:15 AM
live at Slim's (San Francisco, CA) Nov. 25th, 2005.

COBHC. For the uninitiated, these five letters link the masses of Children Of Bodom fans around the world. And for this, the band's latest and third headlining tour since supporting Lamb Of God and Fear Factory just a year ago, the Hatecrew has come out in full support for their idols. Two other bands round out the extravaganza: Swedish viking metallers Amon Amarth and the young and promising thrash-esque Trivium. The show was instantly sold out and lines began forming over five hours before the show began. The 400-plus packed in the narrow confines of Slim's could barely move for the hour between doors opening and the show’s beginning, but when it began, no one was still.

Amon Amarth started the night with their brand of metal straight from Ragnarok. And for an opening band, the crowd response was huge. Even more so, I was amazed to see a band this big opening what's essentially a club tour. But Amon Amarth did not feel like the opening act one bit. The long blonde hair of the band twirled as they hit their signature synchronized four man circle headbang, frontman Johan Hegg drank wine from a viking horn between songs, and as the band drew closer and closer to their last song, "Death in Fire," the venue was feeling more like the last band was wrapping up than a show just beginning. Nevertheless, Amon Amarth's short 30-minute set was done almost as soon as it began and it was time for the first intermission.

The staff at Slim's was nice enough to play an old episode of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. When the intro hit, the crowd response almost topped that of Amon Amarth. Sadly, there was no sound so it was kind of hard to figure out what exactly was going on. But it was a good diversion between the long set changes the night had in store. Between both set changes, there was probably at least an hour of dead time for a mere three-band show. No one was thrilled about that.

Between Amon Amarth and Trivium, a "Fuck Trivium" chant broke out somewhere near the center of the crowd, but it seemed a lot of people in the audience weren't too pleased, and during Trivium's set frontman Matthew Heafy addressed the group during a heated one side debate. One of the Trivium haters actually called Trivium a hardcore band, proving the age-old theory that if you have an ounce of clean vocals in today's metal, you're somehow not true metal to the elitists. However, the minority of the audience was put in their place between songs by Heafy, whose final comments were "it doesn't really matter what you're saying because I have the mic and you don't." Heafy got the crowd pumped for the most part, but there were times when I felt almost ashamed to be in the audience. In fact, during the thrasher "The Decieved," it took the pit almost two full minutes to form a circle pit, something hard to fathom since San Francisco is pretty much the birthplace of American thrash. Churning out all three singles from Ascendancy and four other tracks, Trivium's set was straight speed for 40 minutes. I was pretty disappointed that the band didn't play anything off their first and much less known release, Ember to Inferno, but playing the familiar tracks obviously had its advantage. The set sure shut the Trivium haters up, but when it was over I think everyone had taken their minds off Trivium and fixated them on COB.

At least three times during the near 40-minute set change, "BODOM!" chants broke out in the masses. Finally, when the five-piece took the stage, the crowd lost all control. The set kicked off with the opening track from Are You Dead Yet?, "Living Dead Beat," and from there began to span across the five album career of the band including such classics as "Follow the Reaper" and "Sixpounder." The highlight of the set was probably a fusion of "Bodom After Midnight," "Lake Bodom," and "Bodom Beach Terror," which was pretty inventive. About four songs into the set, Jaska Raatikainen threw a solid drum solo out which, much like Bodom's style of metal, wasn't typical in the slightest. And what was easily the coolest thing I've seen at a metal show was lead guitarist/vocalist Alexi Laiho giving a very unique version of dueling banjos with keyboardist Janne Warman. Spanning over 75 minutes and playing all the hits, Children Of Bodom's set was something to write home about.

This show is currently one of the hottest hitting the metal club scene. Almost every show is sold out, so if you're thinking of going, get your tickets now. And if you're a fan of any of these three bands, I'd advise the same. This is not a show to be missed.
www.cobhc.com
www.trivium.org
www.amonamarth.com

Taylor Green

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