Meshuggah/Animals As Leaders/Intronaut – Ace Of Spades, Sacramento, CA 3/13
By Jeffrey Easton
Meshuggah by far are the dominate leaders of heavy music and when they hit the stage they prove that time and time again. They bring feel to metal without sacrificing the power and the fans feed off it. This tour brought three distinctly different bands to the masses and that is what touring should be about, diversity and not about boring the crowd.
Intronaut appeared and the show was on in a darkened way. Intronaut are masters of heavy jazz influenced, progression laced metal that makes you stop and listen, take in the scenery of the music that is imposed upon you. Their new album is Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones) and possibly the deepest to date. They introduced the sold out crowd to this behemoth with the soaring Milk Leg and their live interpretation of this massive track was daring to say the least. The rhythms are difficult to absorb as they make you feel beyond your normal capacity. Also from Habitual was The Welding, another monstrous groove fest that puts you in another zone. These guys are masters at their craft and of course, they did not forget the older stuff either. They fed the crowd with Past Tense from Valley Of Smoke, The Literal Black Cloud as well as Australopithecus from the amazing Prehistoricisms.
Animals As Leaders, here is a group that lives and plays beyond reality. A sharp as nails drummer with two amazing shredders on two Ibanez eight strings, purely mind numbing. Tosin Abasi is the founder of the band and his skills with his Ibanez RG 8 string are unworldly. On vinyl they are one thing but when you unleash Animals live they take it to the next level. Shredding material from the last album, Weightless, they blew the salivating crowd away. They opened with Earth Departure and the hook was set. Every note that Tosin tapped was followed with fervor as Javier accented his movements with solid rhythms and duo leads. The title track followed as well as Cylindrical Sea, Somnarium and Do Not Go Gently. Weightless is their definitive record and the live interpretations of the albums nastiest cuts is solid proof of that. The S/T album as shredded upon the crowd as well with the massive CAFO as well as the scale exercises in Tempting Time. If you have yet to witness their power live, you have not yet lived.
Meshuggah are the headliners and rightly so. Their career has been nothing but one success after another with musicianship so skilled that most others just fall in their wake. Most perceive metal to be a few chords but Meshuggah prove them wrong album after album. Nowhere is that more affirmative than on their new record Koloss, a musically deft record with riffs as sharp as razors and leads that can saw your head off. So confident in the record that they opened the proceedings with Swarm, one of the lead tracks with a riff so nasty it nearly blew the doors off of the venue. Do Not look Down, Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion and I Am Colossus as well as The Hurt That Finds You First made their way to the set list from Koloss as the band proceeded to show the fans why they have been around for so many years and continue to garner new shredheads into their massive flock. The past was revisited heavily with the inclusion of Transfixion, obZen, Straws Pulled At Random and the overly brutal New Millennium Cyanide Christ which kept the floor in constant motion and the band proudly hefting their second to none musical skills upon the moshkings. This tour was a blessing, three uber talented bands put together for one purpose, taking music to another level and they did it with ease.
Official Meshuggah Site
Official Animals As Leaders Site
Official Intronaut Site
By Jeffrey Easton
Meshuggah by far are the dominate leaders of heavy music and when they hit the stage they prove that time and time again. They bring feel to metal without sacrificing the power and the fans feed off it. This tour brought three distinctly different bands to the masses and that is what touring should be about, diversity and not about boring the crowd.
Intronaut appeared and the show was on in a darkened way. Intronaut are masters of heavy jazz influenced, progression laced metal that makes you stop and listen, take in the scenery of the music that is imposed upon you. Their new album is Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones) and possibly the deepest to date. They introduced the sold out crowd to this behemoth with the soaring Milk Leg and their live interpretation of this massive track was daring to say the least. The rhythms are difficult to absorb as they make you feel beyond your normal capacity. Also from Habitual was The Welding, another monstrous groove fest that puts you in another zone. These guys are masters at their craft and of course, they did not forget the older stuff either. They fed the crowd with Past Tense from Valley Of Smoke, The Literal Black Cloud as well as Australopithecus from the amazing Prehistoricisms.
Animals As Leaders, here is a group that lives and plays beyond reality. A sharp as nails drummer with two amazing shredders on two Ibanez eight strings, purely mind numbing. Tosin Abasi is the founder of the band and his skills with his Ibanez RG 8 string are unworldly. On vinyl they are one thing but when you unleash Animals live they take it to the next level. Shredding material from the last album, Weightless, they blew the salivating crowd away. They opened with Earth Departure and the hook was set. Every note that Tosin tapped was followed with fervor as Javier accented his movements with solid rhythms and duo leads. The title track followed as well as Cylindrical Sea, Somnarium and Do Not Go Gently. Weightless is their definitive record and the live interpretations of the albums nastiest cuts is solid proof of that. The S/T album as shredded upon the crowd as well with the massive CAFO as well as the scale exercises in Tempting Time. If you have yet to witness their power live, you have not yet lived.
Meshuggah are the headliners and rightly so. Their career has been nothing but one success after another with musicianship so skilled that most others just fall in their wake. Most perceive metal to be a few chords but Meshuggah prove them wrong album after album. Nowhere is that more affirmative than on their new record Koloss, a musically deft record with riffs as sharp as razors and leads that can saw your head off. So confident in the record that they opened the proceedings with Swarm, one of the lead tracks with a riff so nasty it nearly blew the doors off of the venue. Do Not look Down, Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion and I Am Colossus as well as The Hurt That Finds You First made their way to the set list from Koloss as the band proceeded to show the fans why they have been around for so many years and continue to garner new shredheads into their massive flock. The past was revisited heavily with the inclusion of Transfixion, obZen, Straws Pulled At Random and the overly brutal New Millennium Cyanide Christ which kept the floor in constant motion and the band proudly hefting their second to none musical skills upon the moshkings. This tour was a blessing, three uber talented bands put together for one purpose, taking music to another level and they did it with ease.
Official Meshuggah Site
Official Animals As Leaders Site
Official Intronaut Site
