This report will be extraordinarily short, because this was one of those concerts you had to be at — describing it is pointless. Can you convey a storm in words? You can't. Tell me, dear readers, do you love death metal? Well, even if you don't love this rather divisive genre, you still know the band I'm about to discuss. But wait — you actually do love death metal? Wonderful, then I can rest easy and not introduce them — or should I...? Brothers John and Donald, surname Tardy, founded the band EXECUTIONER. Pretty clever, right? Then they changed the name to XECUTIONER; the next name change was more substantial, and in 1988, in Florida, the band OBITUARY emerged. To John and Donald — vocalist and drummer respectively — add guitarist Trevor Peres and bassist Frank Watkins, who joined after the first album was recorded. This lineup remained unchanged until the band's breakup in 1997 and is the same one we see after the 2004 reunion. Since 1994, the band also includes Allen West — a figure of no small renown in death metal.
The albums "Slowly We Rot" (1989) and "Cause of Death" (1990) became genre classics. Tight, sharp, yet dirty riffs, an absolutely unique vocal style with no analogues to this day — it's neither growl nor scream on one hand, nor the hoarse yell of thrashers on the other, but a primal, bestial howl. Compact compositions, and — especially worth noting — contrary to the general trend, OBITUARY never competed for speed, even at a time when death metal and grindcore were breaking every possible record. Having released three more studio albums in 1992, 1994, and 1997, plus one live record (1998), the band shocked the public with their breakup. In 2004, to many people's surprise, the split-up status was replaced by that of an active touring band preparing to release an album. In 2005, video appeared online, and a new album was released. Those who'd hoped for the preservation of traditions were extremely pleased.
Now let's talk about russia. How often do American musicians come our way? Rarely, right? Among death metal classics, only CANNIBAL CORPSE in 2004 and... OBITUARY in 2006 had visited moscow! As part of their European tour, the band visited Kyiv, st. petersburg, and moscow, flying out to play the famous Graspop festival immediately after russia.
From here on, it's extraordinarily difficult for me to describe what took place. So: June 21, 2006, evening, but still light outside, club Tochka. I honestly skipped HOSTILE BREED — first, I'd heard them before; second, I'm not much into that sort of thing. Arriving in the hall midway through the second band's set — metalcore act PERIMETER — I saw what I'd expected: a quite well-filled venue. Not a sellout, of course — not like the one I'd witnessed two weeks earlier at the LACRIMOSA concert — but still, no fewer than a thousand people. The warm-up ended, and those in the hall made for the bar; although even during the support sets, about 40% of the esteemed public preferred to warm themselves up by other means.
The band appeared onstage — all musicians except the vocalist. "Redneck Stomp," the three-and-a-half-minute intro from the latest album. And... the hall erupts. A massive figure with enormously long blond hair charges toward the mic. The rapid, aggressive "On The Floor" — which occupies the same second slot on the latest album — and the hall goes into true pandemonium. As I said, Tochka wasn't packed to the rafters that day, which allowed slam enthusiasts to stretch out. A special word about the stagediving — that it broke all conceivable records is a fact, but more on that ahead. The third track on the latest album is called "Insane" — the third song in the concert setlist bore the very same name. And then, fans of the band's older material simply fell into indescribable ecstasy, as "Back To One" rang out — the sole composition from the album "The End Complete" that day. And from there, describing things is simply pointless. By the first notes, everyone recognizes "Chopped In Half" from the second album, "Cause Of Death." That 1990 full-length turned out to be the most represented at the concert (excluding the current album). During the main set, three more songs from it were played: "Turned Inside Out," "Find The Arise," and "Dying" — under the last one, a vicious slam erupted during the ultra-fast instrumental passage.
The album closest in sound to the current release, "Back from the Dead" (1997), was also represented — the short "Threatening Skies" and one of the band's darkest and slowest compositions, "By the Light."
Unfortunately, the band didn't perform their most famous creation, "Don't Care" — why remains a mystery. From the 1994 album "World Demise," only "Solid State" was played that day.
The band's exit after "Stand Alone" was completely unexpected — the concert hadn't even lasted 50 minutes. But facts are facts: the main set was over. The break was brief, but then Donald Tardy took his place and for the next 5 minutes subjected his drum kit to terrible punishment before the screaming hall. Though let's be objective: the solo didn't exhibit particular technical brilliance. Still, it produced its effect. At the solo's conclusion, the remaining musicians appeared onstage and we heard four more songs — two from the latest album, "Lockjaw" and "Slow Death," and two from the very first: the speedy "Til Death" and the one that gave the debut album its name — one of the most famous songs in death metal, period — "SLOWLY WE ROT"! After which John instantly left the stage; the other musicians said their goodbyes and likewise departed.
A brief summary. The event was in its own way monumental — one of the founders of death metal visited us and delivered an excellent concert. The disappointment: the short setlist — seriously, just 1 hour and 15 minutes — you'll agree, that's very little. Aside from the main hit not being performed, everything else was at the highest level. The audience received the band very, very warmly — even too much so. The number of stagediving incidents exceeded all acceptable limits — two to three jumps from the stage per minute was the rate observed toward the end of the main set.
Of course, it would be great if American death metal bands came our way not once every few years, but more often, and didn't forget about russia as part of their European tours.
Written by Alan
Setlist: 1. Redneck Stomp / 2. On The Floor / 3. Insane / 4. Back to One / 5. Chopped In Half / 6. Turned Inside Out / 7. Threatening Skies / 8. By the Light / 9. Solid State / 10. Back Inside / 11. Find The Arise / 12. Dying / 13. Stand Alone / -Encore- / 14. Donald Tardy Drums Solo / 15. Lockjaw / 16. 'till Death / 17. Slow Death / 18. Slowly We Rot