MESHUGGAH / BARONESS / DECAPITATED LIVE: A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

Part of the set that Meshuggah are using for their current headlining tour resembles two stained glass windows, and while some metal fans may feel averse to any references to religion whatsoever, it seems appropriate — for, surely, the rapturous feelings Meshuggah’s live show inspires must resemble that of an avid church goer. More than one fan was overheard calling last night’s gig at Terminal 5 the best of 2012 so far; if ever there was a time when it was okay to miss Meshuggah live, this sure as hell ain’t it.

Of course, having two incredible support acts who could easily headline their own shows doesn’t hurt. Indeed, while I generally subscribe to the “less is more” philosophy of concerts, Decapitated’s thirty minute set felt at least ten minutes too short; the Polish death metal quartet’s live attack continues to be unrelenting and brutal in ways about which most bands can only dream. At times, they seem impossibly precise — Decapitated in concert are unforgiving, but they are never just a cacophony of random noise. They are, simply put, a unit that is beyond impressive.

Also, uh, so, like, not to be a total dick about it, but can the Mastodudes please please please go watch Baroness live once or twelve times? The two bands gets compared a lot, and those comparisons aren’t likely to lessen now that Baroness have more or less entirely crossed over into the realm of hard rock (their forty-five minute set seems to be deliberately avoiding their older, heavier material, drawing almost entirely upon material from the Blue Record and the upcoming Yellow & Green). But Baroness seem to be getting better whereas Mastodon, alas, do not. The difference is that John Baizley hasn’t attempted to downplay the raw, gloriously imperfect quality of his vocals on record, so that live, he still manages to sound fantastic (and often receives a valuable vocal assist from co-guitarist Peter Adams, who’s no slouch in the singing department himself). Furthermore, the band’s members don’t seem as though their feet are cemented to the stage — they run around, interact with one another, and generally behave the way we expect rockstars to behave. It isn’t hard to imagine that they’ll be headlining their own tour of this size in the not-too-distant future.

And then, of course, there’s Meshuggah. Who played for ninety pummeling minutes. I was honestly slightly concerned they wouldn’t be able to follow-up the glorious experience that was Baroness, but holy shit, they didn’t just blow the roof off the joint — they also tore down the walls and burned the remains. Seriously, in 2012, how many bands are this good live? Tool? Gojira? Anyone else? Meshuggah are just unfuckwithable. There is no band that is tighter, no band that is heavier. And not to draw attention away from their superb musicianship, but their light show is one of the best I’ve ever seen to not feature lasers (although if they wanna add lasers in the future, I’m not gonna object) — perfectly synchronized with their music for maximum hypnotic effect. The end result is that it feels as though five Swedish dudes are mercilessly jack-hammering your skull for an hour-and-a-half — and for some reason, the only response you can muster is, “Please, masters, MORE.” How is anyone going to top them this year?

-AR