Century Media has put together an awesome lineup with God Forbid, Angel Dust, Opeth and Nevermore. However, despite the 100% effort given by every band at Club Krome in NJ, the show was less than what I had hoped for. For everyone who doesn’t live in NJ, here is a brief synopsis. There is one club in the entire state worthy of playing and Club Krome is not that club. Secondly, hardcore is a huge scene in NJ. Shows are often frequented by young teenagers, and this show was no exception. God Forbid are natives of NJ. Despite their totally metal music, their vocals categorize them as hardcore. Not to mention years before they signed with Century Media, God Forbid was playing with NJHC premier hardcore acts. Needless to say, God Forbid has come a long way. Musically the band is superb, filled with catchy guitar riffs and killer drums. God Forbid suffered through the bad sound at Club Krome (horrible mix and crackling speakers), and gave it their best effort. The band was tight and it seemed the more pissed off their singer got at the smoke (Club Krome doubles as a dance club and therefore felt the need to fill the room with their smoke machines and bubbles), the better he got. Overall, God Forbid was very energetic and put on the best show they could in the circumstances. I’m looking forward to their record release show in NJ in June. After God Forbid, the teenagers went home and a whole new crowd walked in to see Angel Dust. I was not overly familiar with Angel Dust prior to this show but I was extremely surprised. Angel Dust put on a great show. They sort of reminded me of a NWOBHM band with less high notes. The singer seemed to be backing off a little bit as if his voice was a little worn from the tour. However, they were tight and had some very cool keyboard parts. Now I was just waiting for Opeth. This band was technically phenomenal. Although they too has sound problems, everything went pretty smoothly. However, if you are not a fan of technical music and you’re looking for energy and intensity, stay away from Opeth. Note for note they were perfect. Maybe I just don’t have the attention span for ten minute a piece songs, but I could not get into Opeth despite the fact I love their albums. There is minimal stage presence coming from anyone in the band although they seemed like really nice guys. Not exactly the image I had of the band but, their fans seemed very supportive throughout the show. Finally it was time for Nevermore. I will be honest that Nevermore is one of my favorite live bands. This was probably the fourth or fifth time I have seen them. They opened with “Narcosynthesis” and played almost every song off of their newest release, “Dead Heart in a Dead World.” Nevermore did not go without their sound problems either and momentarily had to pause after their opening song to try and remedy their problem with Jeff Loomis’ guitars. Nevermore should be playing better venues in NJ. The time before this, I saw them at a Roller Rink with a stage in it with In Flames. Whenever Nevermore plays in NJ, there are never more than 50 people (and that is a vast overestimate), because no one wants to go to the clubs they get booked at. However, Warrel always caters to the fans that are there and on this night, he made sure the fans were taken care of. The band had an awesome display of hair as the band participated in synchronized headbanging, which always makes for great stage presence and keeps the energy level high. Warrel seemed happy as he flirted and joked around with the fans. The band never leaves the stage and walks back for an encore so the last song they played was “The Sound of Silence.” Once again, Nevermore was put on a show with high energy, amazing vocals, killer guitar work by both Jeff Loomis and Curran Murphy, tight bass lines and amazing drum work by Van Williams.
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