North American Khaos Tour 2011 feat Arch Enemy – REVIEW

A tornado of bands, on the North American Khaos tour 2011, came whirling its way to the House of Blues in Chicago. On this tour came Arch Enemy, DevilDriver, Skeletonwitch, and Chthonic. You can check out our review after the break!

The North American Khaos Tour battled it’s way across the US and Canada to finally crash landed in Chicago this last Tuesday. The tour is being put on by MetalSucks.com, a leading blog on all things heavy, as well as Full Metal Jackie, the host of an independent radio show centered on heavy metal.

No local openers this show; things got rolling right away with Chthonic. Hailing all the way from Taiwan, this quintuplet really brought back my interest in them, as the last time they had come to American was in 2007 as a rotating second stage slot on Ozzfest. All black outfits, all straight black hair, all black instruments and face paint of symbols and Chinese swears made for the bands semblance. Chthonic, which happens to be a Greek word not Chinese, is just as stunning audibly as they are visually. Vocalist Freddy Lim occasionally donning mid-song an erhu, a Chinese two stringed instrument who’s history dates back over a thousand years. On top of traditional Chinese sounds, Chthonic take a very unique blend of black metal elements and mixes them with a lot of symphonic keyboard and synthesizer textures which happened to wrap up into a very diverse but cohesive sound. After doing a little research on the band I came to learn that not only are their lyrics written in traditional Chinese (which is very uncommon nowadays in music) but that they are also very political as well. The band has actually been banned in certain parts of China due to the meanings of some songs. I definitely fell for Chthonic again as well all of the crowd whom saw them play. I’d highly recommend checking them out if your ears are eager and open minded.

After a short set of Chthonic, Skeletonwitch took stage. Skeletonwitch to me is if you took a band and told them to write a jingle for a heavy metal themed beer commercial. That not being an insult but an extreme compliment. They take a lot of influence from classic Bay Area thrash bands and brings it to today’s table with a modern twist. Breakneck fast drums, shredding guitar solos, and a bass tone that sounds like a diesel engine backfiring; it’s thrash alright! I noticed a few times during the set that the music reminded me of 3 Inches of Blood, another modern thrash band that was bigger a few years back. I’m glad to see that this style is still around albeit its lack of support by most of the newer metal community and its dismissal from die-hard thrash fans. Skeletonwitch is going to be releasing a new studio album entitled Forever Abomination October 7th on Prostetic Records and I plan on picking it up, in addition to a six pack, indefinitely.

Curtain draws and a low, ominous note permeates throughout the House of Blues. DevilDriver takes stage and for the next forty-five minutes onslaughts the crowd with a continuous bombardment of ‘American heavy metal’. Formed in 2005, relentlessly touring and writing since, Dez Fefara (ex-Coal Chamber) and crew have grown such an understandably large following that I have still yet to join. DevilDriver unfortunately falls into my classification of bands-that-I-know-are-really-good-but-still-do-not-like’ accompanied by Mastodon and Trivium, to name a few. I have tried time and time again to become a fan of DD but cannot seem to make the leap into enjoying their music. Keep in mind that this does not mean that I didn’t enjoy them live. A band live to me is a completely different beast and they does not disappoint. The band is incredibly tight and singer Dez is a very consistent performer and a professional in interacting with the crowd. DevilDriver’s latest release Beast has been out since February and peaked at 42 on the US Billboard charts. Maybe they deserve just one more listen.

Whether I was asked to write this review or not, as soon as I heard Arch Enemy was coming to Chicago, I knew I would be attending, front and center. A lot of people have that one band that sparked their interest early on and remained since and that band for me is Arch Enemy. AE was truly the first metal band I had every heard. Up late one night avoiding homework and scouring through Napster I randomly decided to search ‘metal’ and sure enough The First Deadly Sin off of the 2001 Wages of Sin album popped up first. It was the best four minutes and 21 seconds I had ever heard. Arch Enemy also sparked my interest in musicianship which I am forever grateful for. Hearing the Amott brothers harmonized solos and razor sharp rhythms made me beg for a guitar that Christmas. But I digress. Fronted by vocalist Angela Gossow, Arch Enemy always puts on an amazing show and the last night of the Khaos tour was no different. They have never ceased to put me into absolute awe as to how accurate they sound live. Not one member skips a beat or a note the entire set. Daniel Erlandsson’s, who’s older brother Adrian played for Cradle of Filth (imagine how proud the parents must be) drums are by far the best sounding drums I have ever heard; the overall production value of the live show was impeccable. The setlist was a near perfect selection of both old and new tracks, spanning the six albums released, disregarding the three earliest albums which featured ex-singer Johan Liiva. One thing that did surprise me is that not one song from the Rise of the Tyrant album was played that night despite it being the highest charted effort in the band’s history and happens to be one of my personal favorites as well. Mid-set soft blue lights wash the stage, brothers Mike and Chris Amott step to center, bouncing guitar melodies back and forth. Every note leaping off the fretboard of their guitars, waltzing it’s way into your ears and straight to the very deepest place music can go. At the end of the set, singer and front-woman Angela addresses the crowd in such a powerful way it’s mind boggling. I have rarely seen any frontman or woman get the attention and respect from a crowd that she does. Much like a president or royality, every word is hung onto and every line is followed by a roar of agreeance. As the two song encore came to an end, all the members file in center stage, locking hands and took a bow. Absolute showmanship; not nearly enough bands do this in my opinion. They’ve taken a show and made it into a completely unforgettable experience.

I can think it’s safe to assume that not one person left that show without a smile on their face or air-guitaring a solo. That was the type of tour that had you excited months in advance, and had you swapping stories on the train ride home about which solo you thought was best or which band member looked at you and nodded or which mosh pit was the most crazy to be in. After attending so many shows in my life the luster of seeing bands live is sometimes marred. Though the right tour package can spark that interest again and make you feel like the first time you heard those songs all over again.

Information about this review…
Tour: North American Khaos Tour 2011 feat Arch Enemy
Bands: Arch Enemy, DevilDriver, Skeletonwitch, and Chthonic
Reviewer: Shaun Andruchuk
Date: October 4, 2011
Venue: House of Blues in Chicago, IL