A celebration of international thrash metal, this evening found German Teutonic metal originators Destruction, Sepultura colleagues Krisiun and Bay Area-inspirees Mantic Ritual (missed 'em, rats) testing the acoustics of Toronto's appreciable Mod Club Theatre. Strange how a line-up of beastly bands renowned for their ravenous musical style could wind up being so... typical.
The show shockingly lacked impressive elements despite both Krisiun and Destruction having logged many, many hours of stage time over the decades. Kicking into their 19th year together, Brazillian trio Krisiun played out exactly as expected: 45 minutes of loud and fast with no dynamics. Sure the kick drum was explosively fast and bassist/vocalist Alex Camargo overflowed with gracious thanks to the audience yet with such overused delivery as, "[Insert city here] is the best place to play," little about their performance screamed "Krisiun are the best band playing." Fueling the ennui, Camargo and guitarist Moyses Kolesne stayed firmly planted in "their spots" for the most part. Not a good idea when there are only two of you up front to entertain the masses.
Unfortunately though, while poised to step things up a notch, Destruction seemed content to go through exactly the same motions minus the rooted feet. To the contrary, bassist/vocalist Marcel Schmier amusingly utilized each of the three microphones placed across the front of the stage, bandying about between them while delivering verses. He resembled a mini-Metallica show where Hetfield might sing to the North side of the arena before bouncing to the South wing. On a much, much smaller level, mind you.
Other than Schmier's flitting though, Destruction's set was painfully straightforward: overly distorted guitars pushed too high in the mix, horn-throwing and "fuck yeah" chants placed perfectly between a set respectful of their 11 album history.
Sadly, nothing was overtly wrong yet nothing stood out either. After slaughtering fans and critics with two powerful albums (2007's Thrash Anthems and last year's D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N.) - not to mention that they helped forge the German metal scene in 1982 - one would expect a lot more from Destruction than the requisite show up, hammer 'em out and split.
The show shockingly lacked impressive elements despite both Krisiun and Destruction having logged many, many hours of stage time over the decades. Kicking into their 19th year together, Brazillian trio Krisiun played out exactly as expected: 45 minutes of loud and fast with no dynamics. Sure the kick drum was explosively fast and bassist/vocalist Alex Camargo overflowed with gracious thanks to the audience yet with such overused delivery as, "[Insert city here] is the best place to play," little about their performance screamed "Krisiun are the best band playing." Fueling the ennui, Camargo and guitarist Moyses Kolesne stayed firmly planted in "their spots" for the most part. Not a good idea when there are only two of you up front to entertain the masses.
Unfortunately though, while poised to step things up a notch, Destruction seemed content to go through exactly the same motions minus the rooted feet. To the contrary, bassist/vocalist Marcel Schmier amusingly utilized each of the three microphones placed across the front of the stage, bandying about between them while delivering verses. He resembled a mini-Metallica show where Hetfield might sing to the North side of the arena before bouncing to the South wing. On a much, much smaller level, mind you.
Other than Schmier's flitting though, Destruction's set was painfully straightforward: overly distorted guitars pushed too high in the mix, horn-throwing and "fuck yeah" chants placed perfectly between a set respectful of their 11 album history.
Sadly, nothing was overtly wrong yet nothing stood out either. After slaughtering fans and critics with two powerful albums (2007's Thrash Anthems and last year's D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N.) - not to mention that they helped forge the German metal scene in 1982 - one would expect a lot more from Destruction than the requisite show up, hammer 'em out and split.
