THE AMENTA, BRINGING INDUSTRIAL BACK ONE VADER SHOW AT A TIME
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 1:00pm by Vince Neilstein
Australian metal troop The Amenta are currently touring the U.S. with Polish death troop Vader as one of way too many support bands who get abbreviated 20 minute sets on the tour. Thankfully, even with only a 20 minute set, The Amenta made traveling into Manhattan on a Saturday night worth it; their powerful set was equal parts modern death metal and neo-industrial and their stage presence was captivating. Place The Amenta firmly in the “bands to watch” category.
The Amenta’s latest bruiser Non certainly has some electronic elements, but seeing the band live really drove home the point that The Amenta are a modern industrial metal act more than anything else, albeit a really fucking heavy industrial act. Even Senor Suarez, the last person I’d expect to run into at a Vader show, agreed that The Amenta actually utilized keyboard player Timothy Pope to the fullest rather than just relegating him to filling in the cracks like many bands do to their keyboard players. New frontman Cain Cressall was electrifying, striking the right balance between demented frontman and audience cheerleader. I wasn’t ever super-into industrial, but in a scene filled with a million -core bands it was refreshing to see and hear something completely different.
French Canadian tech-death troop Augury, on the other hand — a band I found interesting enough on record to arrive at the show early to see — disappointed. They had two strikes against them from the getgo, playing with a fill-in drummer (The Amenta’s Robin Stone, who’d learned the songs 36 hours prior after Augury’s skinsman suddenly quit) and battling a murky, lifeless sound mix. Beneath it all, there just wasn’t enough variation from song to song to keep my interest; it was all just a giant bowl of noodles.
Having seen Warbringer 16,897 times over the past 2 years and having a birthday party to attend, I jetted from the show after The Amenta’s set but not before witnessing several hundred fans chanting “War-bring-er! War-bring-er!” as the band set up. It seems that Warbringer’s non-stop support touring brigade has finally paid off, as people were genuinely STOKED when the band went on, the audience launching into the fiercest mosh pit of the night the minute the band started playing. For what it’s worth, they sounded damn good for the few minutes I saw them. Perhaps Mr. Suarez would like to tell you how Decrepit Birth and Vader were later on… if not, too bad. It was an Amenta kind of night for me.
-VN
Damn, should I go see these guys + Vader tonight in Detroit? Of course, last concert I saw in Detroit (Type O on Halloween night) my fuckin’ vehicle was stolen (although that was on the opposite side of town from where Vader and co. would be playing); kinda makes me never want to go back…
…half a show reveiw?
I tried to read this whole thing, but I really just don’t care about the “new” industrial. Old industrial was bad enough.
Didn’t stay for Vader? Fucking VADER! Vader are good. Very good. At the moment loving Necropolis, Imaginatively titled don’t ya think?
You left without seeing Vador or decrepit birth??? Minus twenty metal points…..
Warbringer are ridiculous. They’re probably even managing to make money since they’re touring so much.
Left w/out seeing decrepit?! They are the BADDEST thing tech/death metal has seen in years. (Since Decapitated)
You left before Vader? Ugh…
But The Amenta have been great for awhile. Occassus is pretty damn good and gives me a slimmer of hope for the otherwise pathetic genre of industrial metal.
I saw this show last week in Mass., the Amenta were surprisingly good, I hadn’t heard of them before.
I wonder what’s going on with Augury’s drums? Last week when I saw them they had a guy named Frank drumming, and they said he had only been playing with them for 2 days due to some incident with the previous drummer before that. Sounds like he didn’t last very long if they had another new drummer this week. They sounded great at my show though, still one of my favorite bands.
The Amanta’s drummer was filling in, but they have one now I think.
The Amenta’s drummer robin will be playing for Augury the whole tour and then their new drummer they found will join the band after the tours end
Augury (album of the year) and Decrepit Birth (album of the year last year) would ideally have been the two main attractions to this show.
I was at the saturday manhattan Vader show. Warbringer absolutely killed Amenta’s thoroughly unlistenable set, as did Vader. IMHO, The Amenta are terribly derivative grindcore/industrial band. Nothing about them was good, and they are permanently on my band’s to not watch list.
lol get better taste in music ASAP. Dumbass.
I first heard about The Amenta when I was living in France. They were featured in a metal magazine and at the time, it was the craziest most extreme music I’d heard.
The Amenta ALWAYS put an amazing show. Brutallity & precision rolled into a dark and twisted soundscape. I make a point of seeing them live whenever I can.
Seen Amenta play plenty of times here in Aus & they are always killer. Occasus blew me away when it came out, truly world class metal.
Calling these guys industrial is an insult, being that the first bands that come to the minds of most are Raamstein (NOT that they’re a bad band!). It’s just that these guys are SO much more. Some of the most extreme, heaviest music I’ve ever heard. I’d call it blackened death metal with industrial flavoring and great use of samples and spooooooky keyboards. This band uses almost no melody, and they’re proud of it!
Saw this tour last night. Every band ripped hard except The Amenta. Fuck that band. Shitty riffs, shitty shock bullshit.
Check out Tristwood. They’re crushing.
Whoa, I’m listening to The Amenta’s ‘n0n’ right now for the first time, this is dense as SHIT in a good way….reminds me of Thorns. FUCKING THORNS.