Concert reviews:
Here i will post concert reviews i have attended to, i won't take reviews from other sites, just those intended originally for this site.
If any of you have attended to a concert, write me a review about it and if it will be interesting i will post it here!

God Hates the World Tour, 9th of november 2001, the Guverment, Toronto (ON) Canada featuring Slayer, Chimaira and American Head Charge
After having only 9$, instead of 10 required for the parking(we made it), me and my friend got at the beginning of the waiting crowd of crazy maniacs hungry for some extreme metal without getting our asses kicked! While waiting we saw Hanneman and Araya looking at us from a window of their bus, so the crowd hailed them. We got in the building after a detailed search and the first thing i saw was...Paul Bostaph coming out of a security door, didn't make the right move to salute him though, and he was gone.
There isn't alot to say about the first two bands, the first one had some enjoyable, headbanging tunes, but the second one(Hatebreed-special guest simply sucked). After a real long wait Slayer finally showed up and they started with some new tune(i don't own GHUA, so i don't any of them), so i was just warming up. Then War Ensemble followed and we all got into a total madness(pitfully i wasn't in the total front, but pretty near to it) which was only a small taste of what's to come.
Araya, then, asked the crowd what do they want to that wil be played from Reign in blood, i yielled Postmortem! I am sure they haven't heard me, but...that's what they played, in few seconds we were in the middle of the pit, it was great! Raining blood followed and the pit was even crazier, all moshing and headbaniging like this was their last show. Besides the new tunes i have used my throat and neck in such a way, that for the 2 days following they hurt as hell. And it was damn worth it. Though the pit hasn't come back where we stood, there was some violent headbanging, one guy, totally drunk, got into the crowd, having everyone falling down, a guy beated his ass off, and the security guys kicked him out.
songs that i remember later on: Dead Skin Mask, Seasons in the abyss, Dittohead, Mandatory Suicide, Die by the sword(i guessed this one again when Tom was asking us what to play), Hell awaits, Captor of sin, Chemical Warfare, Stain of mind.
Then they left, we started chanting SLAYER, SLAYER, and in response we heard from behind the amps the initial riff of South of Heaven, and the madness has started once again, the next song finally ended this great show, and that was obviously Angel of death. All i can say(from seeing them previously in a big arena), small clubs rule, waay better, i'm going in the front next time!
While leaving the club someone yelled at me MORBIID ANGEEL(i had Covenant t-shirt) so i yelled him back with the rest of my throat, the guy complained as don't come to Toronto, i told him that they surely should(haiving seen them already i'd love to see them in a small club).
Unforgettable show, Slayer be back in town!!!

3rd of december 2001, the Reverb, Toronto(ON) Canada featuring The Haunted, Witchery, Catastrophic and some other band
The concert being on monday i knew the next 2 days at work i am going to have problems turning my head, talking properly and eating my lunch without having to shove the food down my throat. But i care alot more for metal than my work so i went totally crazy there(duh!).
I got a bit late and the first band was already in the middle of their play. I don't even remember their name, i just know it was some local band, they played pretty nice, nothing special though.
The place where i was awaiting the Obituary legend, Perez and his band was a small club, the smallest i've been to. At first i thought it's gonna pretty dead, especially seeing a small amount of metal heads at the bar, but it turned out to be the craziest show i have seen myself.
Catastrophic did a good show, i have enjoyed very much, especially seeing Perez in action, still a true death meatlhead, headbanging along with the rest of the band. I have noticed that, on the first two bands while the club was only half full(it got full when the main acts have showed), i was the craziest motherfucker around, to be modest. I was just near the stage, in the first line, wearing my Covenant t-shirt(Morbid Angel), i was headbanging madly, and i saw many times Perez looking at me like at the only really hopeless headbanger. From Witchery the whole crowd in front got alot crazier than before(more arrived), of which i was glad, therefore of it the show became really unforgettable.
After Catastrophic and their deathish set(the riffs didn't sound all the way old school, but that's ok), Witchery entered in a big way. They just ran in, after an intro, and started to give real fire, upon which the crowd responded in the same way. What i hit was the lame look of the bassist, he had something in his play and overall appreance that just made me laugh. The guy looked to me really pathetic, though he didn't play bad. The vocalist was all dressed up like a vampire, with a white paint over his face, having a hammer and a coat like from a horror movie. It looked lame as well to me at the beginning, but then i got used to it and actualy thought it fit well hs part of the show. Both of the guitarists played really well, showcasing their skills in both speed and technicality. The vocalist was a valueable showman all together, now that i analyze the whole concert, and he did good enough to have a big pit throughout the whole play, with some people diving onto us. He liked a girl that was headbanging just in front of him and apperead to get serioudly crazy on the show, so he took her on the stage, and they did a tongue kiss(!) and she started to go around touching every memeber of the band and satisfied she left the stage. As for the songs most of them were really good, and though i don't own any of their album, i did headbang alot on them as well, as the guitarist noticed few times. They were pretty thrashy, with some fast parts, some mid-paced, not losing the enjoyable musiciaship in those tempos.
When The Haunted came out i was surprised seeing the same guitarist on the stage, i don't know what was the deal, but one of the guitarist of Witchery played the whole show along with The Haunted as well.
The Haunted was the best musically and energeticly band on that concert, and though i was already exausted by the previous endless headbanging, i did what i manage to do, as the vocalist even noticed it, stopping in the middle of a song, pointing at me, and shaking his head with unbelief and acceptance.
The songs were damn thrashy and the best i heard the whole night, as the vocalist said this was a special show, as it was the last one on the tour, and they played more songs than usual, one calling as they haven't played in a long time, but for Toronto they will. He also mentioned this was the craziest audience from the whole tour, and at first i though: yeah right, you're saying that on every show, but when he repeated it the third time, and thean excused us for it saying, he just can't believe how wild we can get, i believed him.
And the crowd really WENT wild on this act, a mad pit, divers everywhere, people headbanging restlessly. After many songs the vocalist(by the way a very good showman) asked us if we wanted 1 or 3 more songs, after that he pleased us we choose the first option as he was damn tired. After some playing and teasing with the audience we heard 3 more kiler songs, of which one was Hate Song, sang by the whole club, which sounded really great.
I left the concert having some minor injuries: a hand crushed by a foot of a diver(i had it on the stage), the other hand scratched by some nails a metal chick had on her arms, a hurting bone, when i got squezed against the stage, a rigid neck, a surprisingly narrow throat and great time which i had.

28th OF FEBRUARY 2002, THE OPERA HOUSE, TORONTO(ON), CANADA FEATURING DIMMU BORGIR, CRYPTOPSY, KRISIUN AND SOULLESS

Althoughout i was supposed to go with a friend, he had to work and i ended up alone, but that won't get my excitement off and it didn't.
After waiting a half an hour in the line(of course they couldn't open the doors at the planned time) i finally got in, and meanwhile i found out that instead of Diabolic there will Soulless, which i never heard of. I wanted to see badly Diabolic as i heard only excellent things about them, o well, next time. When i entered they were already playing, i left my jacket for 3 $(!) at the entrance and got on the main floor. I've never been in this place and it was pretty vast, bigger than Reverb, that's for sure, as they had also a balcony(how can you go on the balcony to watch a metal gig?). Soulless played pretty well, tight and with good performance, death metal basically, but the vocalist had really long hair which is good. I usually don't enjoy the sound of the guitars on gigs as i can't get alot of music from that, and this hurts especially hearing new bands, as you can't get the riffs off the total chaos. But the energy and a respectable technicality was there, so no complain for the band, the audience was just standing and watching, nothing going on.
Finally after a set up Krisiun entered, the 3 crazy Brazilians, they gave an intense show, so damn fast, great riffs and amazing solos, too short, but i finally had a chance to give some fire on the floor, the pit has started(never enjoyed that alot), and as the stage was pretty low and secured divers with no jump off point climbed on other people and jumped on them, it looked pretty good. I was thrashing and headbanging like mad, but saved a total craziness for the main band on the bill for me, Cryptopsy and i haven't seen any show in 3 months(dry season), so i was a bit of rusted. After they left i heard people saying they never heard of them, how exotic they are(being from Brazil) and how unbelievably fast they can get, true.
After a veery long set up of Cryptopsy's instruments(they had some problems with setting up the sound, for which they apologized later on), they finally started by playing the intro from None so vile, "i do taht rather well, don't you think?" and the fire has started. I couldn't control myslef from headbanging very violently as i know their first two albums very well and i love them, therefore some people were very surprised by my behaviour and one tried to push me out beacuase i was almost making a small pit outside of the actual one, hehe. Cryptopsy gave an astonishing show, so thick with muisc, agression and pure enregy, i loved them! What surprised me ALOT, and i cheered that, was that they played 2 songs off Blasphemy and 2 off None so vile, and that is a rare thing as they played only 8 songs or so. One track they performed(Open face surgery) as they stated they never played live before! Only for Toronto, which was great(excellent track btw) as they are from Quebec, also Canada. They presented also the new vocalist, and i must say he is very good, not alot less than the godly Lord Worm.
I was very dissapointed here with the audience, except the violent pit and some divers almost everyone was just standing and watching or following the beats lightly with their heads, no heavy handbanging, thrashing madness, i could not stand still like them.
I was curious how Dimmu Borgir would play, as i never heard them, not even from the albums, after some smoke, an intro and the whole atmosphere raising they finally came out, their image was pretty good, like a true black metal band. But when they started playing, i thought what the fuck is this? A joke? This is a True Norwegian Black Metal as they claim? The whole structure of the songs is based totally on keyboards and drums, the guitars are almost absent(they get played all the time, but it's all background), after 4 songs i left bored. I accept additions of keyboards like Emperor does, but the shole melody is only keyboards, that's not metal anymore.
Anyway i wasn't pissed or anything as i excepted something like this, i just didn't think that much.
I came to the gig for 2 bands, Krisiun and Cryptopsy, both gave an amazing fire, i gave my part as much as i could and i was totally satisfied.
At least now i won't have to wait 3 months for another gig as in the beginning and middle of april i have two concerts, respectively Cannibal Corpse, Dark Funeral, Pissing Razors and Iced Earth, In Flames, Jag Panzer. Finally something is happening in here.

1st OF APRIL 2002, THE REVERB, TORONTO(ON), CANADA FEATURING CANNIBAL CORPSE, PISSING RAZORS AND 2 OTHER BANDS

One thing surely improved from the last time i've been in this venue, the ticket holders could go right away inside and wait for the opening. I have seen some amazing shirts while waiting, very rare like and old Celtic Frost, Schizophrenia by Sepultura, Transilvanian Hunger by DarkThrone and others which made me think some old metalheads have come to feel once again the brutality of a CC show.
After a break in front of the stage, when the finally opened the doors, i see a guy jumping from the floor on the stage, at first we all thought we was some "sound guy" as someone yelled at him, but he grabbed a bass, 3 more guys appeared and the show has started. I don't recall their name, but i enjoyed their show as well played and interesting, but just near me some asses were creating a fake pit, just thrashing everyone, and i've got crushed against the stage, which was my first injury of the night. After that another band came out and i wished again it was Pissing Razors so i could start headbanging with Dark and Cannibal(just got off work) instead of spending half of the night listening to some sleepy bands. It ended up being a local band(alot of people saluted the singer) which played grind mixed with death, as long as the music was pretty nice, because it had the extremity of grind(very nice vocals, from deep growls to schreeches) and the creativity of death the guys didn't know what to do on the stage besides playing their instruments. Just standing there, focusing on the music, almost like on a rehersal, they have to work on dealing better with the audience.
Finally Pissing Razors came out and i was pretty surprised what they played as i expected just trendy nu-metal, but there were alot of heavy/deathish/thrash influences audibale with few nu-metal patterns. Throughout all these shows i was just watching and enjoying to conserve my energy for the 2 acts i've come here for.
And what i was afraid of has just confirmed itself as after Pissing CC came out, and in the middle of their show Fisher said to make a pit for their friends of Dark Funeral who have been stopped at the border(!) and didn't get the visas from Canada. I was soo damn pissed at the beginning as i was really counting on seeing my first real black metal show(i'm not counting the ridicolous Dimmu Borgir), but then i thought to give as much as i can from myself on the CC part and enjoy it as nothng can be done anyway.
Thanks to CC this was the most agressive and brutal show i have attended to yet, i really embraced the sheer instensity and dedication of the band(especially George, amazing health) and the agression, energy and madness within the audience. George was simply amazing through the whole show, headbanging like mad with no moment to take a breath, his vocal performance was very high, one could see he was in a good metal shape.
I was on a side of the stage(by the way in the first line), near Owen playing, and i must say i wish i would have been on the other side, with Webster and O'Brien. This guy surely knows how to play his guitar well, precise and fast, but damn, he is on a brutal death metal gig, not on a rock concert, and that's how he behaved, through some parts he was cosing his eyes and simling in a musical pleasure. He was totally absent on the stage, i had to revolve my head to look how much energy the other guitarists put in, i was just admiring his instrumenatal skills.
As for the injuries part there was one damn idiot who was punching everyone near the pit(i've been hit once) so i pushed him away and left his within, then i felt a diver's solid and heavy boot on my head, hehe.
But i enjoyed the show not becuase they played(CC) their part very well and intensely, but also because i was just thrashing like mad, headbanging as violently as i could and showing also to the kids near me how to behave on a death gig, just get fucking shizophrenic!
There were also some nice girls, most of them staying away of the pit, but a couple making a nice confusion between the guys which surprised me well. One thing was funny, i've seen a very short girl really wanting to have one dive, and at the end of the show her friends finally gave her a boost. Usually a diver is on the top for a minute, no more, but she was so cute, the male part didn't want to get her down(for the touching part hehe), and she had to stay there for about 5 minutes. I looked at her face and she was really bored on the top as she couldn't get off, just hanging in there, heh.
Cannibal Corpse really knew how to please us after the Dark Funeral dissapointment with making the show as intense as if both of the bands would be present that night, blended together in one smashing metal machine!

15th OF APRIL 2002, THE OPERA HOUSE, TORONTO(ON), CANADA FEATURING ICED EARTH, IN FLAMES AND JAG PANZER

"Thanks" to my movement from Canada to Italy, plus my usual laziness i post this review almost 3 months after the event, sorry for that. Right after i've got inside i had in front of me a good, energetic heavy metal band and a group of devoted, frenetic fans of it. This is basically what the first band, namely Jag Panzer showed us that night, good, classic heavy metal with some thrash influences in speed and some riffs. I'm not a big fan of the first version of our beloved metal, but it was a good training for the In Flames attack that followed next.
I like to be as close to the stage as possible, but on the side of it, not in the front, as i enjoy the pit for a short period of time, not for the whole gig. Thus trying to get to the stage i was literally thrown in the very center of the pit, right after the Swedish metalheads have the started the slaughter. Somehow i saved my ass by getting to the speakers, but sacrificing a part of my hearing as to be to able to see something i had to put my head on one of the speakers. I heard the thundering for the next day to follow.
All my previous expierence with In Flames was some downloading from the net according to their last setlists from other North America dates. i had no album purchased or copied, but thanks to the fact that for a week i was listening only to those chosen tracks it helped me enjoy alot more the show.
First of all i was very surprised how nice the guys are with the public, they were few occasions when they showed they really do care for their fans, i saw a few gigs already and it's rare to see such a behaviour towards the audience.
The songs live are alot more energetic, rawer and agressive than those on the studio releases.
There's not alot more to say about them, they performed all the songs very well, with a bit of improvisation here and there. All the classics from all of the 5 albums were there plus a new one called System. It's a good sign for the new album as the song was everything, but commercial.
It was very hard to make a better show after the great impression In Flames left to all of us, and in fact Iced Earth(as for me) played worse, but not bad at all.
It is maybe so because even if i have no album of IE(like IM), but In Flames blends death with thrash, two genres that i love. Whereas Iced Earth makes their music out of thrash and heavy, and of the latter i can't say it's one of my favorites.
No offence, but you could see the musicians are far older than the In Flames ones, there was less energy, less craziness, but more reflection upon life and all the facts within it.
The biggest impression i had from Iced Earth was the unbelievable volume of the vocalist's hair, despite his age he looked very well with such long hair.
IE's show had its ups and downs, there were moments when the public was pushed to shred by the thrashy parts, mid-paced riffs-like songs, very melodic and as slow and light as this band should go for me. And there were the veery slow parts with the vocalist trying to make things dramatic and sad, but he didn't convince me.
After all it was a good metal night, perphaps i didn't enjoy the later, melodic songs of IE because i was exhausted after IF and some fast american tracks. That doesn't change the fact that i saw 3 good bands, 3 bands devoted to metal and true to their fans, i saw a good gig.