Chelsea Grin/Ice Nine Kills/Gideon/Enterprise Earth – Ace of Spades, Sacramento, CA 4/17
The Self Inflicted Tour
By Jeffrey Easton
Chelsea Grin are one of the deadliest acts that are constantly touring today and when they drop in your venue they will certainly lay waste to it. Self Inflicted dropped last summer and it still feels as if its brand new when Alex Koehler spews its vile every night. Ice Nine Kills was direct support and they came out and played as if they were headlining. Having dropped the album of their career in the form of Every Trick In The Book, they have been scorching every stage they have hit since.
Enterprise Earth opened the set and to say the least quite forgettable. When you see them, you see the embodiment of all that is wrong with metalcore, or at least every cliché that is metalcore. The typical screams, guttural vox, stage moves, everything. Jared Dines makes fun of bands and players like these every day and for good reason, the band a mockery of the bands that made the scene what it once was. What they played is nothing I haven’t heard a thousand times before in a thousand different songs, if you wanted a career as a perennial opener of everybody else’s tours, you have certainly made it.
Gideon were next up and again did not deliver anything with substance and difference. Now I will give them the fact that they have been fairly successful with what they do and they have toured well, they just do not stick out of the pack in which they cohort with. I do give them props for finding different subject matters to project on their albums, they still cannot break from their Core roots. Coming from the Christian Facedown Records crowd, they do have a lock on a fan base that’s looking for something cleaner to get into but still a scene with very little innovation. They do have a new album coming out soon in the form of Cold so we shall see if they spread their wings a little further.
It was now time for Ice Nine Kills and the massive presence that they bring to the stage. Every Trick In The Book dropped last year and was one of the best records in 2016. As they progress through their career they continue to evolve and push the boundaries not wanting to stand still in their careers. Every Trick saw them taking on the darkest books in our history putting their own demented twist into the details and live it is indeed a massive animal. The Self Inflicted tour saw them unleashing most of that album and the fans gave their approval very loudly. They knew all of the words and at times were louder than the band. The first single, Communion Of The Cursed, got massive attention when it dropped and live it was even nastier as well as set opener Hell In The Hallways. Me Myself And Hyde, The Plot Sickens, Bloodbath and Beyond, all from Every Trick, came across as the embodiment of the career, the songs they were dying to get out and here they were in your face as the band killed it on stage. They did dip back into the past with The Coffin Is Moving and Connect the Cuts amongst others and you could clearly see where the journey to this album took shape. Ice Nine Kills is one of the best bands on the planet right now and if you have yet to see them live you are seriously missing out.
Now the night just got more disturbing as Chelsea Grin have been one of the most dangerous and psychotic bands playing live these days. Their precise attack on their songs live is unreal, it is as if you are witnessing clinic on how to play live and still deliver bombast to the live show. Self Inflicted came out last year and has leveled the playing field on dangerous albums and how evil they can be. Chelsea have never held back on what they release from the studio and Self Inflicted is no different. It showed to their fans what they are made of and brandished their pissed off side even more. They played to their audiences desire to hear the new stuff so they gave it to them in spades with the ominous Skin Deep, Clickbait, Strung Out, Broken Bonds and Four Horseman and that elicited a nasty roar from the attendance. As stated watching them play is a clinic and their technical ability only gets better with every album and this album has watched them attain a new height. The old albums of course got them to where they are now and dropping Never Forever, The Foolish One, Recreant and Playing With Fire which showed the true depths of their vile scourge. Chelsea is one of those bands that will never sell short on what they deliver and they deserve your presence at their shows.
Official Chelsea Grin Site
Official Ice Nine Kills Site
Official Gideon Site
Official Enterprise Earth Site
The Self Inflicted Tour
By Jeffrey Easton
Chelsea Grin are one of the deadliest acts that are constantly touring today and when they drop in your venue they will certainly lay waste to it. Self Inflicted dropped last summer and it still feels as if its brand new when Alex Koehler spews its vile every night. Ice Nine Kills was direct support and they came out and played as if they were headlining. Having dropped the album of their career in the form of Every Trick In The Book, they have been scorching every stage they have hit since.
Enterprise Earth opened the set and to say the least quite forgettable. When you see them, you see the embodiment of all that is wrong with metalcore, or at least every cliché that is metalcore. The typical screams, guttural vox, stage moves, everything. Jared Dines makes fun of bands and players like these every day and for good reason, the band a mockery of the bands that made the scene what it once was. What they played is nothing I haven’t heard a thousand times before in a thousand different songs, if you wanted a career as a perennial opener of everybody else’s tours, you have certainly made it.
Gideon were next up and again did not deliver anything with substance and difference. Now I will give them the fact that they have been fairly successful with what they do and they have toured well, they just do not stick out of the pack in which they cohort with. I do give them props for finding different subject matters to project on their albums, they still cannot break from their Core roots. Coming from the Christian Facedown Records crowd, they do have a lock on a fan base that’s looking for something cleaner to get into but still a scene with very little innovation. They do have a new album coming out soon in the form of Cold so we shall see if they spread their wings a little further.
It was now time for Ice Nine Kills and the massive presence that they bring to the stage. Every Trick In The Book dropped last year and was one of the best records in 2016. As they progress through their career they continue to evolve and push the boundaries not wanting to stand still in their careers. Every Trick saw them taking on the darkest books in our history putting their own demented twist into the details and live it is indeed a massive animal. The Self Inflicted tour saw them unleashing most of that album and the fans gave their approval very loudly. They knew all of the words and at times were louder than the band. The first single, Communion Of The Cursed, got massive attention when it dropped and live it was even nastier as well as set opener Hell In The Hallways. Me Myself And Hyde, The Plot Sickens, Bloodbath and Beyond, all from Every Trick, came across as the embodiment of the career, the songs they were dying to get out and here they were in your face as the band killed it on stage. They did dip back into the past with The Coffin Is Moving and Connect the Cuts amongst others and you could clearly see where the journey to this album took shape. Ice Nine Kills is one of the best bands on the planet right now and if you have yet to see them live you are seriously missing out.
Now the night just got more disturbing as Chelsea Grin have been one of the most dangerous and psychotic bands playing live these days. Their precise attack on their songs live is unreal, it is as if you are witnessing clinic on how to play live and still deliver bombast to the live show. Self Inflicted came out last year and has leveled the playing field on dangerous albums and how evil they can be. Chelsea have never held back on what they release from the studio and Self Inflicted is no different. It showed to their fans what they are made of and brandished their pissed off side even more. They played to their audiences desire to hear the new stuff so they gave it to them in spades with the ominous Skin Deep, Clickbait, Strung Out, Broken Bonds and Four Horseman and that elicited a nasty roar from the attendance. As stated watching them play is a clinic and their technical ability only gets better with every album and this album has watched them attain a new height. The old albums of course got them to where they are now and dropping Never Forever, The Foolish One, Recreant and Playing With Fire which showed the true depths of their vile scourge. Chelsea is one of those bands that will never sell short on what they deliver and they deserve your presence at their shows.
Official Chelsea Grin Site
Official Ice Nine Kills Site
Official Gideon Site
Official Enterprise Earth Site
