MEGADETH
with Children Of Bodom
Metro City - Perth, Australia
October 16th 2015
It's been 5 long years since Megadeth toured Australia and while they almost made it back at last year's Soundwave Festival, this time around they came as headliners which to be honest is always a better show. The more intimate vibe of a club show and the added bonus of a stage setup catered to the band (including Vic Rattlehead himself making an appearance!) is what a live show is all about. With a new album on it's way, "Dystopia" and new members Kiko Loureiro on guitar and Lamb Of God drummer Chris Adler in tow, this was one anticipated tour that was not to be missed.
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Opening for Megadeth were Finnish melodic metallers Children Of Bodom who in their own right are headliners too and who last appeared in Australia almost 5 years ago as well. The band are also touring in support of a new album "I Worship Chaos" and tracks from that album did make a healthy inclusion in the setlist. The title track is a highlight from those songs and showed a progression in the band that has been steadily moving forward since the band started back in the early 1990's. While the new tracks faired well with the crowd, it was the older songs that made the most impact, "Are You Dead Yet" a classic song early on while "Hate Me" off the "Follow The Reaper" album a crowd favorite. More recent material like "Halo Of Blood" which is another great song meant the band were mixing it up quite nicely as they proceeded to give the first taste of the tour to the Perth fans. Frontman Alexi Laiho is always a fairly laid back guy on stage and not a lot of words were said during a short set of the best of what Children Of Bodom had to offer. Of course we couldn't leave a COB show without hearing "Hate crew Deathroll" as the band left the stage to handball it to Megadeth for the night. Let's hope they come back for a full tour of their own!
Megadeth came on fairly quickly to a short animated video introduction before launching straight into the classic "Hangar 18" which to be honest, surprised me so early on. From there the focus was on early material. "Wake Up Dead", "In My Darkest" Hour, the legendary "Sweating Bullets" and the always welcome "She Wolf" off the "Cryptic Writings" album. More recent material made it's way onto the set like "Public Enemy No. 1" which is one of the better tracks from the later Megadeth era but again, the focus was on more classic material.
Dave Mustaine sounded better than he had in a longtime, despite the vocals still sounding too low in the mix as it always does. But vocally he was sharper than recent years and seemed to be in a great mood through-out the night. Moving onto the newer members which must be mentioned, guitarist Kiko Loureiro was phenomenal to watch, his guitar talent easily the biggest reason why he was picked for the band. Say what you will about the revolving door in Megadeth but when it comes to guitar players, Dave sure knows how to pick them! And then there is Chris Adler, better known as the drummer for Lamb Of God and an absolute monster behind the kit. His precision and timing is flawless and that didn't change in Megadeth's live show at all. His drum sound was unsurprisingly different to Lamb Of God, the pingy snare sound replaced with a more solid one. But it was the way he added his own flavor to the songs, just little things that really made it. An extra double kick here and a stop-start there, Chris made his own show behind the kit and is really one of the biggest highlights of watching Megadeth right now. I couldn't help though that at times it seemed like he wanted to just launch into a tirade of double bass like he does with Lamb Of God but certain simplicity in the songs are needed with Megadeth. But still, it seemed like he was the happiest guy on earth while on stage with this legendary band. And who wouldn't really?
The video screens behind the stage were a very cool addition to their show, something that the Australian fans have not seen with Megadeth before. Each song had a different video, some hilarious cuts from various films which mention Megadeth while others more serious and relating to the individual song itself. The stage setup was simplistic but powerful enough to add brilliantly to the show in a positive way. An interesting story from Mustaine led to the staple track that is "A Tout Le Monde" and the brilliant "Skin O' My Teeth" while a Thin Lizzy song "Cold Sweat" made a surprise entry to the set. Right after "Peace Sells", it was the live debut of the new single "Fatal Illusion" towards the end of the set and honestly, while the studio version is pretty average, the live performance is not that great either. It's missing a solid groove and has no hooks, it's just not a memorable song even though it's heavy, has thrashy moments and almost harks back to a more vintage Megadeth sound but it just doesn't work well live unfortunately. As the band finished the night off with "Holy Wars", we are reminded that this will always be Megadeth, the classics will never die and we still look forward to hearing the new album when it comes out next year.
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Review and photos by Andrew "Schizodeluxe" Massie
Additional photos by Tammie Molotov - Molotov Enterprises And Photography
