Metalliance Tour Review 03/22/11

Being a fan of Crowbar I was aware of the Metalliance Tour for some time now.  It started off as a tour featuring a band I love and one I'm not too familiar with at all, Helmet.  Later, Saint Vitus and Kylesa sweetened the pot even more, not to mention some other bands that I was less familiar with but had heard good things about.  I had just assumed that this tour was some time away and would probably only be on the west coast anyway.  Needless to say I was pretty pumped when I saw a post on Crowbar's Facebook page that said they were going to be in Greensboro, North Carolina that night.  Not only was that in my area but it was actually closer than the last Crowbar show I went to.


Seeing as how I didn't find about it until the day of, I was already running behind.  After finding someone to go with me, my buddy who has been my concert going partner for  years, we were on our way but unlikely to make it in time.  Sure enough when we arrived we had already missed the first band, Atlas Moth, and the second band Howl was already playing.  I hoped that they were only beginning their set but they were actually on their last song.  I had heard good things about these fellas but had never actually checked them out.  What I heard sounded like a heavy as hell death/doom band and I was definitely feeling it, but my friend picked up one of their albums from their merch table and I found it sound more along the lines of bands like Bison B.C. 
Up next, and in quick fashion which is always a good thing at shows, was Red Fang.  My buddy that I was with, Jonah, had been telling me about these guys for a while but like with Howl I had never gotten around to checking them out.  I was pretty excited to check them out because he had put them over pretty well but they didn't exactly blow me away or anything.  Their brand of stoner rock reminded me of a cross between Fu Manchu and Kyuss, with Fu Manchu being the more prevalent of the two.  I definitely didn't hate them but I honestly would've rather seen all of Howl's set than them.  The more happy stoner rock sounds the less I like it most times.
Kylesa was the next to grace the stage and I had been looking forward to their set.  Their Time Will Fuse it's Worth album had made me a bit of a fan but the follow up to it, Static Tensions blew it away in every sense.  I highly recommend that album, particularly the song Unknown Awareness which is just awesome.  The follow up to that album, Spiral Shadow, I had high hopes for but I don't feel it lived up to the greatness of Static Tensions.  They cleaned up their sound a lot and it featured a great deal of experimentation which is fine but it just didn't grab the way the previous album did.  While they were setting up I noticed two things: firstly that their stage set up encompassed far more than it did last time I saw them and that two of the members had been replaced since then as well.  I can understand that they want to feature all of the new instruments that they've been experimenting with but I would have to say that apart from a few songs all they did was extend the time it took them to set up and tear down.  Nevertheless they put on an awesome show as I expected.  I really dig their sound but was a bit disappointed that Unknown Awareness didn't feature in their set, nor did the title track off their new album which I really like and figured for sure would make an appearance.
The main reason I was there, Crowbar were up next and as expected they put on an awesome show.  All of the expected tracks made appearances such as I Have Failed, All I Had (I Gave), New Dawn, The Lasting Dose and the mighty Planets Collide.  Along with those classics were two songs from the new album Sever the Wicked Hand.  The title track showed up around the middle of the set and the song Cemetery Angels was used as the closer.  I have to admit that the newest Crowbar release was somewhat of a disappointment for me as it features a lot of faster tempo tracks than their previous albums and I much prefer the slower sludgy jams they are famous for.  That said, Cemetery Angels is my favorite from the album, and while I would've preferred to hear Planets Collide as the closer like in the past, it was cool to hear that one live. 
To close out the bands that I was interested in, Saint Vitus made their way to the stage.  It was cool to see a guy as legendary as Wino walking around the crowd before their set started.  I must admit that beyond the classic album Born Too Late I'm not very familiar with their back catalog at all.  That said, I wasn't disappointed at all as all the "hits" from that album were played including Clear Window Pane, Dying Inside, and of course the title track Born Too Late which was the epic closer.  A few other songs were also played including a new track which came with the announcement that they were in fact working on a new album.  It was basically an honor to get to see such a legendary band of the doom genre live.
All of that said, Helmet were the only band remaining and I just couldn't see losing even more sleep over a band that I wasn't at all familiar with.  Had I not had to go to work the next day I would've loved to checked them out but I wasn't too distraught about missing them.  Anyways, it really turned out to be cool evening, especially since I had no idea that it was even happening the night before.