Meshuggah, Baroness, Decapitated House of Blues April 29, 2012
When I arrived at House of Blues for Sunday night's heaviness, a large crowd had already been lined up on the second floor of the Houston Pavilions before the doors opened. Hadn't seen that before. Evidently, this show had been circled on more than a few calendars.
Not hard to see why, really. It was the first night of Meshuggah's "Ophidian Trek" tour with Baroness and Decapitated, a pretty damn salty lineup starring some of the most original bands in modern metal. For the city's serious fans of extreme rock, this was not one to miss.
Poland's Decapitated opened the show with pulsing death metal punctuated by titanic blast beats and vocalist Rafał Piotrowski's throaty yowl. Sunday night was my live introduction to the group, but it was plenty noticeable that the band's newer-sounding material seemed heavily influenced by Meshuggah, full of polyrhythmic explorations, crushing breakdowns and acerbic soloing from the band's guitarist/mastermind, Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka.
Predictably, this went over rather well with the crowd. There are certainly worse groups from whom to take your cues in the extreme metal sphere, and Decapitated turned in an energetic set that got the crowd pumped up for what was to come. The set's closer, "Spheres of Madness," kick-started the first (and only) real mosh pit of the night.
"C'mon, it's Meshuggah Day!" cried Piotrowski. "How're you fucking feeling!"
The audience was feeling good, indeed, and it felt even better when Baroness took the stage. The Savannah, Georgia, group has risen to the top of the heap in progressive metal over the past five years behind a pair of color-coded records: The Red Album and the Blue Record. The group took a year off from touring in 2011 to write and record a new double-disc opus, Yellow & Green, due out later this year.
If Baroness debuted any of that new material on Sunday, they certainly didn't make a big deal about it. The majority of their set came from 2010's Blue Record. The rollicking "A Horse Called Golgotha" was the first tune out of the gate, greeted by much fist pumping. Guitarist Peter Adams showed off some dynamic fretwork while harmonizing with the howls of singer John Baizley.
Drummer Allen Blickle looked very pleased to be back out on the road playing music. He broke into a broad grin numerous times during the band's set, and even led the crowd in clapping along at one point.
The lengthy "Steel That Sleeps the Eye" was one of the set's highlights, delving a bit into stoney Floydian territory. "The Gnashing," on the other hand, was pure driving power, touching off some furious headbanging both onstage and in the crowd. The band finished up with the heavy, jammy "Isak." Judging by how much louder the roar of the crowd was at the end of their set than it was at the beginning, I'd wager they made a few new fans.
"Thanks very much," Baizley said. "Stick around for Meshuggah!"