Ministry – Mesuggah – Hemlock
C U laTour Tour
House of Blues – Hollywood California
April 6th, 2008
Al Jourgensen – Ministry
Opening up this pure night of metal was Hemlock. Recently signed after fifteen years of hard work this band was well worth the opening slot to two giant names in the industry.
Second slot belonged to Nuclear Blast’s very own Mesuggah from Sweden. The boys took the stage with a powerful drive and did not stop until the entire audience was screaming for more. This was my first time seeing and photographing this band and I was won over quickly. The sound was very different from any other metal that I have heard and was enticing. Mesuggah started in 1987 and has thirteen releases to date. In 1999, Mesuggah performed at the Milwaukee Metal Fest with a week of dates along side Cannibal Corpse and Slayer. After this they were hand picked for eleven shows in direct support of Tool’s U.S. arena tour of 2001. Music from Destroy Erase Improve aired on MTV’s reality series The Osborne’s and shortly after that they were picked to play OzzFest 2002. Then once again they hit the road with Tool.
Customizing 8-string Nevborn guitars introduced a new musical vocabulary for Mesuggah and the honors came soon after that. Evolving and changing the way people listen to music. Praise from editorials like Guitar One and Terrorizer they soon hit a spot on American Billboard Top 200 Chart to help sell the 100,000 copies of their fourth full-length recording Nothing.
With so much history to this amazing band, go to their website to catch up on all of their work at: http://www.meshuggah.net
Vocalist Jens Kidman gave a commanding performance with such songs as “Bleed” off the new album obZen, “Perpetual Black Second,” and “The Mouth Licking What You’ve Bleed.”
Headlining in support of their new and supposed last album The Last Sucker, Ministry. If you are a fan then you already know the kind of show to expect. Long and brutal metal. Al Jourgensen demands perfection and always has the most amazing line-up. Tonight on guitars was Tommy Victor (formerly of Prong), and Sin Quirin (Ministry former Society 1). On bass guitar was the talented Tony Campos (Static-X), on keyboards was John Bechdel (Prong and Fear Factory) and holding up the drums was Aaron Rossi (John 5, Sins for Sanity and Prong).
About a two hour long set with hits like “Lets Go”, “Watch Yourself” and “The Dick Song”, Ministry had the crowd at their mercy. Off the new album, cover songs such as “Under My Thumb,” “Road House Blues,” “Radar Love,” and “Black Betty,” got the girls in the crowd wound up. It was a treat hearing such a huge metal icon doing these songs.
Taking demand of the night with a pitch dark stage and chain link fence was a cool effect but a photographer’s nightmare so that would be my only complaint of the night. If this is Ministry’s last tour, I am happy that I got to see this entity one last time. For more information please visit: http://www.thirteenthplanet.com/ministry/
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