Annihilation of the Wicked Tour Review

Annihilation of the Wicked
Tour Review

Annihilation of the Wicked Promo

Annihilation of the Wicked Tour
Nile
Hypocrisy
Soilent Green
Raging Speedhorn
Decapitated
With Passion
1/30/06
HOB
Reviewer: Karma E. Omowale
Photos: Erika Kristen Watt

The Annihilation of the Wicked Tour boasts six bands ranging from extreme carnage with the likes of Nile, Hypocrisy, Decapitated, to solid noisy rock - Raging Speedhorn. Louisiana's Soilent Green, princes of doom metal fit in well and then we have gothic metallers, California’s own With Passion. This package offers a lot of diversity if nothing else, however there’s always the red-headed stepchild, looks like the moniker goes to With Passion this go round. Either way you look at it, all of the bands on this bill are not known for heavy touring schedules, so it should have been an extreme source of merriment for those that were able to bare witness the malevolent storm, which swept through the House of Blues on Monday, January 30^th, 2006. What better way to warm your achingly cold bones than by crowd surfing, moshing, and throwing horns on a brutally cold Chicago night?

Controversy surrounded this tour from the beginning as promoters erroneously misrepresented the start time of the show, listing a later start time by at least two hours. Naturally the show here started at 6:30 pm, if not mistaken this start time applied across the board. Of course, a mix up like this can be quite disastrous indeed surely, this inconvenienced a many of headbanger nationwide. Tonight’s review is only for Hypocrisy and Nile but at least we did fall victim to the time mishap. From what we understand, all the acts were good, especially Decapitated. As anticipated, the band received an overwhelming response from those we spoke to. By the time we got our gamefaces on, the venue finally filled up especially since the body count was at an all time low for the previous bands. Here’s a mini-marathon rundown of the two bands:

Lineup: Peter Tägtgren – vocals, guitars; Mikael Hedlund – bass; Horgh (Reidar Horghagen) – drums; Andreas Holma – guitar

Peter Tägtgren of Hypocrisy (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt)

During the changeover, the audience was enthusiastic from Raging Speedhorn’s performance but as time wore on, they really started to get revved up for Sweden’s Hypocrisy. The crowd went ballistic as “Into” off the new album, Virus piped through the PA. Once the band filed on stage, the crowd went more berserk. Frontman and guitarist Peter Tägtgren was obviously able to catch his second wind as he came alive from the last time we saw him (from the interview we had with Peter from earlier in the evening).

Tägtgren captivated his audience from the very beginning, addressing his ever exuberant following screaming to the top of his lungs, “This is the Eraser! “Come on people are you fucking with us?”, the faithful flock pumped their horns and fists in unison to the intro of “Eraser”. Talk about on fire, damn, someone obliviously lit a fire under their asses! Power naps have been known to do such!! It was nice to know we were not the only ones rockin’ out to this Hypocrisy favorite; the place went nuts! At the conclusion of the song, Tägtgren addressed the crowd again, “Chicago, it’s fucking great to be back!”, fans in the audience screamed back, “Its great to have you back”! Oh the love, as it was great to have them back!! Tägtgren then screamed the intro to “Craving For Another Killing”…let’s just say it was good to know that his weapon at hand was his guitar and not a real axe, okay! Good thing to know he takes his frustrations out in a constructive manner. During the middle of the song, Tägtgren held his horns high in appreciation for his interactive audience; everyone in the crowd did the same.

During the middle of “Fractured Millennium” [Note: if this song is incorrect, Mr. Tägtgren gave me the setlist himself prior to their performance] the entire band gave horns to the crowd. It was a sight to behold!! At the conclusion of the song, the lively frontman screamed, “So are you having a good time so far?”, the crowd roared, “Good! We have a new fucking album out and this one is off it, it’s called “Scrutinized”! Not soon, there after the song starting an enormous mosh pit erupted it also resulted in the first body surfer to cross the barricade. For the outro, Peter addressed the crazed crowd again, “Show me your fucking horns!” and that they did!! “Thank you Chicago… no matter how ugly you are!” the crowd erupted with uproarious laughter. Unsure as to what prompted that outburst but hey, we just report what happens! Tägtgren continued, “This our first song, “Impotent God” [off their first album Penetralia] The old school Hypocrisy fans went into hysterics in which they seemingly understood the inside joke.

The band massacred the audience during “Roswell 47”. Guitarist Andreas Holma and bassist Mikael Hedlund headbanged in unison for a while during the middle of the song, something you might not expect. Again, the boys partied it up the previous night. Tägtgren prepped the last song, “We have one more song for you…” the crowd hissed in response, “We will be back VERY soon!”, at this point, the crowd began to cheer again. Tägtgren instructed the audience to pump their fists & throw their horns every time the band would sing kill during “Let the Knife Do the Talking”. The audience did as they were instructed, the band beamed from ear to ear. In conclusion, Tägtgren addressed his faithful supporters one last time, “Thank you Chicago, what a kick ass set! Thank you very much. We will see you soon! We love you!!” Aww, vi ses Hypocrisy; vi älskar du också! This was one amazing performance; far superior to the last time we saw the band during the Soilwork tour. We cannot wait to see them again. As far as you lucky European bastards are concerned, you will see the band much sooner than we will on the Neckbreaker’s Ball tour [with Scar Symmetry, One Man Army & the Undead Quartet, and Amorphis] all we can say is snap your neck for all of us that cannot make it to that blessed tour! Horns high!!

Setlist: Eraser; Craving For Another Killing; Warpath; Fractured Millennium; Scrutinized; Impotent God; Roswell 47; Let The Knife Do The Talking.

Lineup: Karl Sanders – guitar, vocals; Dallas Toler-Wade – vocals, guitar; George Kollias – drums; Joe Payne – bass

Dallas Toler-Wade of Nile (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt)

Even though Nile has been out since ‘93/94, it’s hard to believe they have only released four studio albums to date. The band is in support of their latest 2005 critically acclaimed Relapse Records release and name of the tour, Annihilation of the Wicked. On another headlining tour, these seasoned vets definitely chose well in having a band like Hypocrisy warming the crowds for them night after night. Speaking of the crowd, they grew restless with a capital “R” during the changeover. The noise level became deafening over the endless tuning of the guitars and drums. After fifteen minutes, the wait was over! The band immediately ripped into “The Blessed Dead”, the first song on tonight’s hour plus journey. During which time touring bassist Joe Payne proceeded to do continuous headbanging and windmills…damn, to be that young again, right! Speaking of Mr. Payne, here’s some pretty cool trivia on Joe, did you know that he learned eleven Nile songs in three days right before embarking on the 2005 headlining tour American/European tour? Anyway, back to tonight’s show, a violent mosh pit broke out during the middle of “Blessed Dead”; the band was ecstatic!

When vocalist and guitarist Dallas Toler-Wade threw up his horns at the conclusion of “Excretion Text”, the crowd was all about it. Dallas realizing the crowd was hungry for interaction he spoke, “This is Serpent Headed Mask”. It was enough to satiate the onlookers for the time being. The band had gone on to perform the song with complete precision. It’s amazing to see Payne consistently do windmills without missing one note. On “Serpent” drummer George Kollias and guitarist, Karl Sanders were amazing in their own right. To intro the next song, Wade screamed in his best death metal voice, “If I can hear you fucking scream, we’d like to play you a song from our latest album, Annihilation of the Wicked. It’s the first song called “Cast Down The Heretic” The audience exulted and in appreciation, a massive mosh pit broke out.

Introing the next song, Wade ranted about Chicago being a place “full of metalheads” and that we were not wimps because we knew good music when we heard it and that they were happy to be able to supply us with such. Sanders then got into the act demanding the audience, “Give some metal respect to Dallas”! Karl then said, “Wanna hear more? Well give up some love for George because he’s back there and breaking shit for you”! The crowd went nuts. Of course, the eye of the storm (or mosh pit) grew bigger on “User-Maat-Re”. Dallas then instructed the crowd to growl thee times in their angriest let out all of their aggressions voices. It was pretty impressive to hear the primordial emanations at once. Dallas was definitely proud of his creation, “See how evil you are? That’s powerful as fuck!” For the outro to “Masturbating the War God”, Dallas thanked the Dean Representatives for “giving them the finest guitars”…aww isn’t that nice. Just goes to show that people can be nice in extreme death metal! The band then ripped into “Sarcophagus”. Dallas then introduced the next song, “It’s time for Black Seeds of Vengeance” the crowd was definitely at its loudest by this point. The kids in the front row sang louder than Dallas. During the brief lull after the classic Nile favorite concluded, the crowd proceeded to chant “Black Seeds, Black Seeds” it was great! Following the audience’s über cool tribute to the band, Kollias ripped into a mini drum solo. Have to say, Mr. Kollias is a very much underrated, what a performer. Not sure how he makes the intricate appear effortless as he does. It's always interesting to see him enter his trance-like state when playing.

Next up was the song off the 2002 release In Their Darkest Shrines, Dallas introed by saying that “Kheftiu Asar Butchiu” is a personal favorite of his. They slayed this song, we actually thought Payne’s neck was going to snap; we don’t think he ever stopped headbanging. For the next song Dallas addressed the hyper crowd, “So you ready for some more?”, the crowd went ballistic. He continued, “It’s off our latest album Annihilation of the Wicked!” The crowd really got into this song. It may not have been a packed house but it was light years away from last night’s show in Minnesota of about 170 people that showed according to the band. By the way, the rhythm section annihilated on this song (all puns intended)!

To wrap thing up, Dallas addressed his hate filled audience, “Always a pleasure to play for some real fucking metalheads, I can tell you guys are into it! This is our last fucking song, it’s very apocalyptic and it’s off Annihilation of the Wicked. It’s “Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten”!” During which time Sanders gave horns to all the opera box dwellers. This song was probably the best one performed, if you can believe that as they decided to save the best for last. Technically speaking, after Sanders’ performance we should have been giving him horns! Dallas concluded the evening by thanking his ever-faithful and exuberant audience “Fucking thanks to you!! We are fucking Nile and we will see you soon!” The crowd did not want to disperse right away as they we faced with instant withdrawal. Short and simple, Nile's superior set will not be one that will be forgotten anytime soon! Double horns go out to Nile!

Setlist: The Blessed Dead; Excretion Text; Serpent Headed Mask; Cast Down The Heretic; User-Maat-Re; Sacrifice Unto Sebek; Masturbating The War God; Sarcophagus; Black Seeds Of Vengeance; Kheftiu Asar Butchiu; Annihilation of the Wicked; Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten.

NILE supporting acts: Hypocrisy, Decapitated, Raging Speedhorn, Soilent Green, With Passion