Funeral Rain Press Corps

When: Tuesday February 15, 2011
Where: Edmonton Event Centre, Edmonton, Alberta

It’s so awesome to get onto the guest list for a concert that you REALLY want to see. But it’s lame as shit to be turned away at the door due to a clerical error. But it’s even more awesome when you’re walking through West Edmonton Mall (where the venue is housed) and you see the singer for the band that you’re at the show to see walking around.
You call his name. He turns around to see who the hell just recognized him. You chat for a moment. He laughs at the situation, and basically sneaks you and your wife into the venue so that you can watch the show.
And then after it’s all over you realize: “Fuck man, I just met Blake Judd and didn’t get my picture with him.”
As we got into the show late, we ended up missing all of Turisas, except for most of the last song. All I have to say about that is LAME. They seem like a really cool live band, and there’s something kind of sexy about a hot chick headbanging while playing accordion, so to have caught the whole set would have been sweet. Based on half of one live song: 7 out of 10.
The second act, Daniel Lioneye, was really fucking odd. I did some quick research into them, and they’re a HIM side project. Their singer is in fact Linde from HIM. They played a mix of black metal, melodic death metal, and Black Label Society-esque Southern rock, all with a stoner rock feel more than sound. Pretty good, but not something I would personally buy. 6 out of 10.
Nachtmystium took the stage to barely any fanfare. Poor bastards in the crowd had no idea who Nachtmystium are, it would seem, because there wasn’t much cheering. And as the band got off the stage, there still wasn’t much cheering. I hope it’s because everyone was stunned by how awesome they played.
Seriously, Nachtmystium became one of my favorite bands after last night. The sound wasn’t as muddied as Daniel Lioneye’s, making Blake’s vocals intelligable, and keeping all the instruments fairly well balanced. It’s hard as hell to do that at Edmonton Event Centre, mostly because it’s a shitty designed venue. Throw in a band that actually fucking PERFORMS and you’ve got a guaranteed win.
Sadly, Nachtmystium do perform a style of metal that does require one to have an attention span, intelligence, and the ability to recognize more than one musical influence at a time, which is probably part of the reason there were not as many people into the music as I thought there would be. Yes, Edmonton, that is a mild insult. I hope you’ll overcome your shortcomings in the future, because this band is pure win. 9 out of 10.
Cradle of Filth had the baton passed to them, and they were really good at getting the crowd into the tunes, but I’ll be honest when I say I’ve never been a huge fan. And after seeing them live, I’m still not a huge fan. Dani’s a great frontman, but at times seems awkward with himself more than others. The lady at the keyboards is gorgeous, and while no Sarah Jezebel Deva, she does the female vocals that SJD did on the albums wonderful justice, especially in “Her Ghost in the Fog”. The rest of the band, Paul, Dave, Martin and James, brought Cradle of Filth’s Gothic-tinged black metal sound to a loud and proud level for Edmonton once again, getting the crowed pumped and the pit somewhat violent looking. The sound man obviously had not shit the bed, as pretty much everything that Cradle did was crystal clear, so kudos to him. But ultimately, I prefer Cradle of Filth’s recorded music more than their live show. 6 out of 10.