Devil Driver and Behemoth headline at the Worcester Palladium! Jan 31 '10 (Updated Sep 19 '10)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1 by The Prodigy From $11 Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 The Bottom Line Devil Driver Behemoth Suffocation Goathore and Thy Will Be Done at the Worcester Palladium  January 29th 2010.  It was a fun show! Quite a number of fans braved the freezing temperatures in Worcester Massachusetts on Friday, January 29th, 2010.   The Palladium had a powerful line up of  metal bands from California to Poland performing in the Upstairs and the Downstairs!  We could only be one place at a time, so we arrived at 6:00 in the larger downstairs venue to watch five metal bands in a row rock out the Palladium. Thy Will Be Done This is a metal band from Providence R.I.! They opened the show, and although they only had a half hour set, they sounded awesome.  J. Costa is the vocalist, and the band uses the twin guitar attack of Kurt Fraunfelter and Chris Drapeau with a solid foundation of drums (Bob Harris) and bass (Eric Tavares). It is refreshing to see a metal band buck the trend of occult lyrics and themes in their music and rock.  The band played songs from both of their releases, Was and is to Come and In Ancient of Days. Singer Costa clad in an Entombed T-Shirt fired up the crowd with a powerful growling vocal.  Bassist Tavares has to be seen to be believed, he cranks out power from his five string bass with the longest dreadlocks I have seen spinning in a circular rhythm.  Both guitarists traded off fast paced rhythms with blistering leads. Goat-hore Hey with a name like Goat-hore (not spelled quite right here because of the epi-censor), your band has to be good!  I told my son in no uncertain terms that even if this band was awesome, we would not be getting a T-Shirt with this band's name on it.  The band is a blackened death metal band from New Orleans.  They also use the standard two guitars, one singer, bass and drums set up.  They definitely have the blackened death metal sound down, and show the Norwegians that we do know how to do metal in the US.  Despite the name, I was quite impressed with Goat-hore.  Judging by the swirling mosh pit the crowd did too. Suffocation Wow, I had never heard of this band before, but what a show. The technical prowess of Metallica, tight guitar rhythms and powerful vocals made this band's set quite enjoyable.  It wasn't until I got home and looked them up I discovered that they are a death metal band from New York City!  Frank Mullin is the singer, guitarists are Terrance Hobbs and Guy Marchais, and the drummer is Mike Smith and finally the bassist is Derek Boyer.  A label of technical death metal fits them quite well, because they raised the precision of the rhythms and solos to an art that I haven't heard since, well.. Metallica.  I will be looking for more by this band.  Their singer was one energetic dude as well. He looked like someone who would be at a gym pumping iron or a heavy metal Jason Statham. He had the same amount of hair as me, and was able to growl out the songs for Suffocations 45 minute set.   Bassist Boyer slung his B.R. Rich bass almost to his knees and held it nearly upright.  Suffocation's lead guitarist, Terrance Hobbs looks like the Klingon Lt. Worf from Star Trek the Next Generation.  Both he and the drummer, Mike Smith are black, breaking the stereotype of white Scandinavians as the only death metal guitarists.  Hobb's shoulder length dreadlocks didn't quite conceal his very receding hairline as they spun around. He delivered amazing licks on his customized BC Rich Warlock guitar. Behemoth  When I was a kid and told people I liked heavy metal I got mixed reactions.  Overprotective parents and mainstream pop listeners would stand back and warn us that heavy metal was evil and satanic.  Where did heavy metal get that reputation from? I mean aside from founding bands with names like Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult, or Jimmy Page owning Aleistar Crowley's mansion?   Well bands like Behemoth carry forth the stereotype of occult themes going together with metal bands like peanut butter and jelly.  (The reality is that most bands do not have occult or satanic themes, and even the ones that do, use it purely as a gimmick and don't believe any of that nonsense).  Behemoth's lyrics are based on occult and thelemic themes. Anyway, this blackened death metal band from Poland comes on stage looking like those tall creepy aliens in the movie Dark City, with their leather outfits, sallow faces and dark countenances. Red spotlights throw a deep red glow onto the smoke filled stage giving it the appearance of something Dante or Milton would conjure up.  Behind them a huge banner of the cover of their latest album Evangelion, displaying the image of the Harlot of Babylon described in the Book of Revelation. I wondered to myself how many of the audience were familiar with the symbology.   Despite my lack of enamour with their decidedly anti-Christian lyrics and symbology, the band actually puts on a very heavy, gothic sounding at times, middle eastern and egyptian at other times, death metal in the style of the Norwegians.  That is to say, black death metal!  Truth be told, most of the lyrics are unintelligible since they are growled out death style by singer, lead guitarist and lryic writer, Adam "Nergal" Darski.  On rhythm guitar is Patryk Sztyber and on bass is Tomasz Wroblewski. Hidden in back on the drums is Zbigniew Prominski.  Behemoth played songs from many of their albums including Satanica, Demonica and Chaotica.  I prefer melodic death metal, but I must admit this blackened death metal band put on quite a show.  For the last song, Nergal put on his weird gothic helmet (it actually reminded me of one that Peter Gabriel wore in early Genesis concerts) to the delight of the crowd. Devil Driver A California heavy metal band that is just straight up hard rock/heavy metal. Despite their label as "groove" metal, whatever that is, I just found that they delivered a great heavy metal sound before the genre dissipated into a dozen various sub genres.  They got their name from Italian folklore and superstition. A "devil driver" is a small bell that is used to ward off evil spirits. (No, I didn't know that, I found out on Wikipedia) The band thought it sounded cooler than their original, too generic name, Death Ride. It was my first time hearing Devil Driver, and I was impressed. They put on a very powerful set, and had the mosh pit going full throttle throughout the show.  I'd never heard the band before, but they've been around for quite a while and their latest album is Pray for Villians and has a big owl on the front of it. Devil Driver closed the show with an hour long set. We stopped at the merch table to get T-shirts, and I picked up a free poster.  We had to go home and get our sleep for our return trip to the Palladium Saturday for Epica, Threat Signal and Blackguard. If you would like to check out photos of the show, check out returntothepit.com and do a search for the show under photos. Other metal tales from the Worcester Palladium! Ensiferum, with Ex Deo and Blackguard Korpiklaani and Tyr Arch Enemy and Exodus Epica, Blackguard and Threat Signal Atticus Metal Festival with Unearth & more Finnish Metal Festival! Finntroll, Moonsorrow and Swallow the Sun New England Metal and Hardcore Festival 2010 Hypocrisy, Scar Symmetry, Hate, Blackguard and Swashbuckle Fear Factory, Silent Civilian, Prong, Thy Will Be Done and Acaro Dream Theater Transmission Festival Hell and other places Mayhem Festival 2010 - Korn, Rob Zombie, Lamb of God & more OzzFest 2010 - Ozzy, Motley Crue, Rob Halford & more Rush - The Time Machine Tour

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