LIVE! | Soundwave Festival 2012

by Cameron Edney
Guest Staff Writer –

February 26, 2012 at Olympic Park in Sydney, Australia

Soundwave Festival presents metal bands that make the rounds to three regions of Australia. It features a number of international and Australian music acts, from various genres including rock, metal and punk.

Bands appearing at this years event included: System of a Down, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Marilyn Manson, A Day To Remember, Bush, Machine Head, Lamb of God, Mastodon, Trivium, Alter Bridge, Devin Townsend Project, Dillinger Escape Plan, Black Label Society, Steel Panther, Meshuggah, Paradise Lost, Shadows Fall, Hatebreed, Biohazard, In This Moment, Kittie, Cherri Bomb…

Locations for the event:
Brisbane, 25 February 2012, RNA Showgrounds
Sydney, 26 February 2012, Olympic Park
Melbourne, 2 March 2012, Melbourne Showgrounds
Adelaide, 3 March 2012, Bonython Park
Perth, 5 March 2012, Claremont Showgrounds

Soundwave Festival 2012 Photo Gallery

Photos appear courtesy of Wicked Pix

Lamb of God | Resolution

by Alissa Ordabai
Staff Writer –

The creative method Lamb of God have been meticulously perfecting since 1999, has now reached its apex. The band has finally managed to distil all of its influences into one laconic formula, and tighten and tweak to exactness the way they present it. The end result is a vehement, roiling concoction of power groove, stoner rock, death metal and punk on the album with is both their personal benchmark and a new touchstone for metal. Resolution is a work of huge energy of conviction, and although the band – as ever – doesn’t invent anything radically new, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more persuasive and concise exponent of metal as a genre on today’s scene.

It would be interesting to see where Lamb of God go from here, now that they have seemingly reached the peak of the mountain they were climbing for 7 albums straight. It’s hard to imagine what could beat this release in intensity and aplomb, but it would also be just as hard to imagine them going in a different direction. The three available options seem to be carrying on in the same vein trying to match what they have done on this album, putting their feet up, or taking a cardinally different stylistic path.

The band is tentatively tapping into ways to escape the monolith formula they have cemented on this release by introducing some darkly unsettling symphonic passages on some of the tracks, but don’t show enough interest (or stamina) to explore this direction to the full. Although with guitarist Mark Morton being a blues enthusiast, there are many other interesting detours they could take outside of the genre of metal. The real question is whether they’d be willing to take a risk on their next album or will stick to the blueprint which lays golden eggs. A solid guitarist – as dynamic and convincing as the rest of the band – Morton could certainly develop further as a lead player by bringing in other influences into the band’s format. As well as expand their stylistic terrain to make sure they avoid becoming frozen into a formula which from now on is in danger of becoming too familiar, if not predictable.

Genre: Metal

Line-up:
John Campbell – bass
Mark Morton – guitar
Chris Adler – drums
Randy Blythe – vocals
Willie Adler – guitar

Track Listing:
1. Straight for the Sun
2. Desolation
3. Ghost Walking
4. Guilty
5. The Undertow
6. The Number Six
7. Barbarosa
8. Invictus
9. Cheated
10. Insurrection
11. Terminally Unique
12. To the End
13. Visitation
14. King Me

Label: Epic, Roadrunner

Online: http://www.lamb-of-god.com/

Hardrock Haven rating: 8/10

Lamb of God Hourglass (Volume III: The Vault)

by Trevor Portz
Staff Writer

Whether celebrating their 15-year anniversary or cashing in on their current popularity, New Wave of American Heavy Metallers Lamb of God have just issued a multi-volume retrospective (available in formats ranging from vinyl to USB drives) entitled Hourglass. As the first two volumes are little more than a greatest-hits package, we’ll only focus on Volume III: The Vault, which certainly is the most interesting volume for longtime fans. And, due to its inclusion of early Burn the Priest tracks, it also may be the best part of the set.

As with most NWOAHM bands, Lamb of God rose from the ashes of nu-metal, infusing the groovy aggression of that genre with more technicality, more balls and a much less jock-rock backbone. Unfortunately, with all of the improvements made over nu-metal, the one thing left unchanged was a huge lack of variety among the songs. Tempos, riffs, tunings, etc. rarely deviate from a very specific place, causing many of the songs within a band—and even bands within the scene—to become virtually interchangeable. Sure, overt variety is rare in most defined styles—that’s why they can be counted as distinct styles—but when the reliance is almost entirely on groove with little accounting for melody, dynamics or stylistic variation, to put it bluntly, everything starts sounding the same. Hourglass Volume III exemplifies this notion as the bulk of the tracks are almost indistinguishable from each other.

Now, to be fair, Lamb of God is far from lacking in the technical talent area. All instruments and members are beyond well-oiled, and the band functions almost as a heavy, groovy machine; every part working in perfect synchronicity with the rest. While many riffs do blur together, most songs do contain extremely cool, interesting riffs, but they tend to be buried in the middle or end of the songs. Why hide the best parts and surround them by un-original, cookie-cutter metal? A great example of this—though the same could be said for most tracks—appears in the once Japanese-pressing-only track “Another Nail For Your Coffin.” While the bulk of the song is rather forgettable, several minutes in, we’re treated to a great melodic riff, replete with guitar harmonies and solos. This should have been the basis for the entire song. Perhaps the band is afraid of deviating too far from what they know, but as bands like Strapping Young Lad have shown us, there are a lot of ways to be heavy. Just because your low E (or more likely, C, B, or whatever) is “heavy,” doesn’t mean it’s the only string you should touch.

Moving on, after several previously hard-to-find bonus tracks, we get a batch of rehearsal demos. These songs illustrate the tightness and skill of the band, though they also bring to light how much “perfecting” is done in the studio, as the computer accuracy of the playing is lacking, revealing that much of it obviously is helped with a computer. However, It is nice to know that the members are incredibly competent, as there are other bands in the scene that barely can dream of recreating their studio perfection.

The last two “chapters” on the disc take us back to the early, pre-Lamb of God days, when the band was known as Burn the Priest. Compiling tracks from a tour tape and 7-inch EP, these tracks arguably are the best part of Hourglass. In their Burn the Priest guise, LoG were already showing bits of what they would become, but they also feature a punky rawness that would be lost as the band evolved (or devolved, depending on how you look at it). Missing are the repetitive, chugga-chugga riffs, with songs instead held together with hardcore and punk-inspired bursts of energy, occasionally even veering into grindcore territory. If anything, it would appear that Burn the Priest truly was the “original” band, as the ideas used way back when showed a group with something very new and interesting to say (and play), which sadly seemed to have faded as the band gained wide acceptance.

For Lamb of God fans, Hourglass (well, Volume III, at least) will be a very worthwhile purchase, likely filling in a few holes and delivering some rarely heard material to those who have everything else. Of course, for new fans, it also will serve as an excellent glimpse of the band throughout the years, detailing the band’s gradual rise to Grammy-recognized fame. Just don’t expect to be blown away by diverse song writing and unique songs. Then again, how many bands actually can claim they have either of those things?

Genre: Heavy Metal

Band:
Randy Blythe (v)
Mark Morton (g)
Willie Adler (g)
John Campbell (b)
Chris Adler (d)
Abe Spear (g)

Track Listing:
1. “We Die Alone”
2. “Shoulder Of Your God”
3. “Condemn The Hive”
4. “Another Nail For Your Coffin”
5. “Nippon”
6. “Now You’ve Got Something To Die For”
7. “Hourglass”
8. “More Time to Kill”
9. “Dead Seeds”
10. “In Your Words”
11. “Leech”
12. “Salivation”
13. “Lame”
14. “Duane”
15. “Ruiner”
16. “Ballad of Kansas City”
17. “Suffering Bastard”
18. “Preaching to the Converted”

Label: Epic Records

Website: www.lamb-of-god.com

Hardrock Haven rating: 6/10

Mark Morton

by Alissa Ordabai
Staff Writer

Summer festivals are a great way to catch up with musicians for a face-to-face chat. A festival run for many bands means getting into a relaxed holiday mood, so usually those conversations turn out better than any other interviews. But while some cats kick back to an extent where they end up asking you more questions that you ask them, some remain unaffected by the festival atmosphere and keep their composed demeanour.

One such musician is Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton, who this writer caught up with back in June at Graspop Metal Meeting, one of the biggest European heavy music festivals which take place every June in the Belgian town of Dessel.

Morton seems cool, calm and somehow reserved, as we sit down backstage for our chat just a few hours after the band’s set on the main stage on the festival’s second day. But he is still willing to talk candidly about his love for his instrument, his attitude to fame, and, most importantly, the band’s latest album Wrath, which has been seen by many as a radical departure from Lamb of God’s earlier sound.

Hardrock Haven: I watched your set.

Mark Morton: Yeah?

HRH: It was amazing!

MM: Thank you very much.

HRH: I think it was the best set of the day, but I’m still waiting for Satch.

MM: Yeah, right. I’m looking forward to that myself.

HRH: Do you prefer to play outdoors or indoors?

MM: I typically prefer to play indoors, to be honest. I tend to like the smaller shows. They have a little more direct interaction with the crowds, and typically, it sounds better, but there is a cool energy in a festival like this as well.

HRH: What elements do you think need to coincide for a great live show to happen?

MM: I think it relies a lot on the audience, really. I mean, the band is only one part of the show. Without the audience, it’s just the band playing by itself. But when the audience is high energy and really interacts well with the band, sometimes you get the kind of dynamic, that synergy, I guess, among the band, I guess. And I think we had a little bit of that going on today, so it sort of starts expanding on itself from there.

HRH: Do you have a favorite part of the world to play in?

MM: Anywhere close to home because I like being home with my family. But outside of that, I really like Australia. I think Australia is a really beautiful part of the word, and I enjoy being there.

HRH: I’d like to talk a bit about the latest album.

MM: OK.

HRH: Do you think enough time has passed for you to take an objective look at it or are you still very much attached to it? How long in general does it take for you to detach yourself from your work?

MM: Yeah, that’s a pretty good question. I don’t know. Yeah, I haven’t spent a lot of time listening to it since we made the record. Once we get all the mixes through and everything, I don’t spend a lot of time listening to my own music. But I think I’ve got a pretty good feel as to where it sits in the scheme of things. I think it was the right record for us to make at this time. It was definitely a response to Sacrament, the record before it. We took a very different approach sound-wise.

HRH: And songwriting-wise as well.

MM: Yeah. The big thing that stands out for me songwriting-wise is that we have incorporated some more melodic guitars and acoustic guitars, clean sounds and that kind of thing. There is a little bit more dynamic on that level. But the way we wrote the songs, the objectives we had while writing the songs never really change. We just try different things within that context.

HRH: But the album still sounds very different from your previous work. And you once have said in an interview that you never stay at one place musically for very long. What’s behind that? Do you get bored with your musical achievements or have you set out to cover as much musical ground as possible from the very start?

MM: I think, as musicians, we are constantly striving to keep ourselves interested, keep ourselves challenged.

HRH: Keep yourselves entertained?

MM: Yeah, exactly. We never write songs or albums trying to achieve anything with the fan base or to tap into some new audience. We just write the stuff we want to hear and we want to play. And, as musicians, we try to keep ourselves challenged, keep ourselves entertained.

HRH: Do you ever listen back to a song you wrote or a guitar part and feel that you have learned something new about yourself, some new aspect to your character?

MM: Yeah. There are some times when you can take your head out of it for long enough just to listen to yourself objectively. And I don’t mind saying it, sometimes I hear some stuff that we did and I’m like, wow, it’s really cool. That’s what you hope for.

HRH: How do song melodies come to you? Do you have to isolate yourself or do they come to you as you go about your daily business?

MM: Either or, sometimes I just sit, pick up the guitar and the song will write itself; it’s just comes out. And then sometimes you’ve got a nagging melody or an idea in your head for months, and it takes a long time for you to put it together. There is no rhyme or reason. I wrote the song “Redneck” in two hours one morning before going to band practice. “Walk with Me in Hell:” I worked on that for two years before we actually put it together. They are all different, they all come together differently.

HRH: You play blues and country on the side as well.

MM: Little bit, yeah.

HRH: Do you ever see that incorporated into the main band?

MM: I think I infuse little elements of that here and there, yeah. I think it’s probably part of my style. But at the end of the day, we are a metal band. There is only so much of that they will let me get away with.

HRH: Your childhood heroes included Jimmy Page and Billy Gibbons. Is there anyone else you admired when you were growing up?

MM: Sure, yeah. All those classic-rock guitar heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton. I’m a big fan of Peter Green, an older British blues player.

HRH: From Fleetwood Mac.

MM: Yeah, exactly.

HRH: What about Jeremy Spencer?

MM: I’m not familiar with him.

HRH: He played in the same band with Peter Green, but he played slide guitar.

MM: Oh, OK, OK!

HRH: One of the first British slide guitar players on par with Brian Jones.

MM: Ah, you see, you know more than me about it! (Laughs). I’ll have to check him out. And then there are more modern guitar players that I’m really into like Luther Dickinson.

HRH: What do you make of the changes that are happening in the music industry right now? The way fans are recruited, the way the bands relate to their fans? A part of the recording process of your latest album was made available to view online. Did you feel pressured to do that?

MM: No, I think from my perspective my goals don’t change. They are just to write cool songs that interact with ourselves first and then hopefully with our audience. I’m glad I’m not in the business of trying to sell records. I’m glad I’m not a record company because they are the ones who are really confused as to what to do about file sharing, downloading and all that kind of stuff. You know, if we were sitting here 15 years ago, I’d probably be selling a lot more records.

HRH: You’d be rich.

MM: But as it stands, it’s not the nature of the industry anymore, and you have to find other ways to keep yourself going. And we do. I’m not complaining. I make a very comfortable living playing my guitar and selling tickets and t-shirts, and I’m lucky to be able to do that. The music industry is changing; technology has made it very simple for people to get music for free. That’s not going to go away. You can’t legislate it away, you can’t do anything about it, so you just have to keep moving forward doing your thing.

HRH: I have a strange question for you. You don’t have to answer it if you don’t like it. Do you ever play for yourself? Not for practice, not for anybody else, but for yourself?

MM: Yeah! Absolutely! All the time! I’m a guitar player. I didn’t pick up the guitar because I wanted play at a festival in Belgium or to hang out with groupies in Japan. That wasn’t why I started playing the guitar. I started playing the guitar because I love the instrument, I love the sound that it makes, and I love the feeling I get when I’m playing it. That’s all I ever wanted to do. All this shit just came, and it’s cool, but it wasn’t my objective, it wasn’t my motivation, so yeah, I play guitar a lot.

HRH: Is it difficult for a professional musician to retain this kind of personal relationship with the instrument?

MM: Not for me, not for me. To me, all this stuff is sometimes difficult. Playing guitar is the easy part. I get paid to be away from my family and to do interviews all day long. The guitar playing I do for free, do you know what I mean? That’s easy for me.

HRH: I have one last question and it’s a bit goofy. I hope you don’t mind. If you were given an answer to any question in the universe, what would you ask?

MM: I don’t know! That’s a bit too existential for me! (Laughs).

HRH: OK! Can I replace that with something else?

MM: Sure!

HRH: If you were to write a letter to yourself that would travel back in time, what would you write?

MM: I think I’d remind myself to take things a little less seriously than I used to. I think I used to get a little bit uptight about every little detail and every little thing. The older you get and the more of the world you see, the more you just let it be.