Review: Slipknot and 'Mayhem'

Security would not let our reviewer into "Mayhem" with his camera, so he sat on the lawn and composed an Impressionistic water-color of Slipknot instead.

Good battled evil Tuesday at Sandstone Amphitheater. Evil won.

Slipknot, clearly the primary draw for at least half of the approximately 9,000 fans at the Mayhem Festival, headlined the nine-hour bacchanal.

The Iowa band provide dead end music to dead end kids. Their forthcoming album is appropriately titled "All Hope Is Gone" and they serenade their fans with apocalyptic anthems like "People = Sh*t."

Yet for all their nihilistic despair, Slipknot's performance was spectacular.  They compensate for their musical shortcomings with constant motion and elaborate pyrotechnics.

Slipknot is Blue Man Group, Devo and Kiss rolled into a gooey ball of horror.

The Mayhem Festival is a darker, meaner version of the Warped Tour. The traveling festival featured 14 bands on three stages.  Army recruiters and alcohol companies were among the many vendors pitching products. Motorcycles soared from an extreme sports ramp as bands raged nearby.

"This ain't the music that gets played on MTV or the radio," Robb Flynn of Machine Head acknowledged.  "You guys are the underground that keeps the music alive."

When its vicious thrash struck the right balance of tension and release, Machine Head was dazzling.

They outclassed Disturbed, a vastly more popular band. While Disturbed was unexceptional, the same can't be said of their fans. The tightly packed area in front of the stage was a crowd surfer's dream.  And when vocalist David Draiman cajoled the crowd to raise their fists in the air, Sandstone resembled an enormous colony of pink sea anemone waving in a violent current.

Mastodon, an exquisitely ponderous stoner-rock band from Atlanta, opened the main stage with a well-received set of menacing sludge.

Lacking the same level of audience enthusiasm, the carefree, positive and Christian bands on the bill just couldn't contend. Airbourne offered one of Mayhem's few opportunities for joyous celebration.  "Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast" is the most notable of the Australian band's perfect party anthems.

While Airbourne expertly apes AC/DC, DragonForce takes mimicry to an even higher level.  They lovingly parody arena rock bands like Asia, Boston and Kansas.  The twist is their preposterously proficient technical prowess.  The British band is simultaneously completely ridiculous and vastly entertaining.

Underoath's extreme proselytizing was bested by fellow Christian metal band 36 Crazyfists.  The latter were noticeably slimmer than at their April show at the Beaumont Club.  Extreme temperatures will do that.

In fact, the daytime heat (and the blood spilled in mosh pits) were Mayhem's only noticeable blemishes.

A rematch in 2009 is clearly in order.

| Bill Brownlee, Special to The Star

Comments

[Casey]

Thanks, I obviously already knew the song of Airbourne that is played 24/7 on the radio now, and any idiot can figure out they sound like AC/DC... How were they live?!

[Ramsfield]

Machinehead, "Dazzling" and "outclassed Disturbed"?

Disagree 100%
i thought Disturbed was excellent and sounded great.
They keep it simple and tight.

Slipknot was crazy and a good time.

Most of the crowd was uninterested for Dragonforce.
Im sure they are accomplished musicians but i found them annoying and obviously, cheezy.

Saw Airbournes last song.
They were rocking hard putting on a good show!
\m/

[ammorton]

I tend to think that Disturbed was Exceptional as opposed to your "unexceptional" comment, and I didn't have to be there to know that. I guess that is why they were the "headliners" huh.

[TimODMO]

Walls of Jericho was an amazing show worthy of recognition, and the 'Wall of Death' that was ushered in by The Red Chorus was awesome! They really are the only band crazy enough to do somehting that stupid. Slipknot and Disturbed were excellent. I actually found the only letdowns were Mastodon and Underoath. Both shows lacked real energy and didn't do anything for the crowds.

[Ronnie]

Mastodon is meant to be seen in a club, or a smaller venue like Uptown.

[danny Smith]

Disturbed are a bunch of suburban meathead dousches who grew up playing in christian rock bands.

[MiniCoopGuy]

"Disturbed are a bunch of suburban meathead dousches who grew up playing in christian rock bands." ...which is probably why they are Disturbed now. If I grew up like that I'd be a bit Disturbed too.

Great shows but a very long day as we got there at 2 PM. We enjoyed Disturbed a lot, and Slipknot did what they do best...rock. As for the other bands we found some were okay, but nobody really blew us away as the next big thing. Solid performances from many people on a very hot day.

[CH]

Of the "second" stage bands, I enjoyed Five Finger Death Punch the most, followed by Machine Head. Some of the other bands did have really good stage presense, just not all that keen on some of their music. That Wall of Death was insane. Here's some video of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9ZltiCoI1w

Slipknot were awesome as always. Enjoyed their stage show with the lights and pyros. Corey's voice was a little hoarse when he talked, but still very powerful when he sang. Hope they come back soon on a headline tour.