Written by:	rohgue123
Published:	December 25, 2007
Event:	Enslaved: N. American Tour
Location:	B.B. King, New York, NY, USA

I got there a couple hours early thinking that there would be a long line, like previous shows at B.B. KIngs, and I was actually proven wrong. When they let everyone in at 6 there were about 20-25 people. The first band was Canadian avant-garde metallers Unexpect, who acually started before the posted time which was at 8. They played at 7:15, which is a serious letdown especially since they were opening for Canadian metalcore band The Agonist. Though there was a small crowd, the band was still professional about it and headbanged like there was no tommorrow. Though for the first few songs the nine-stringed bass was cutting, but once it started working it completed everything. The band played songs from their demo We_Invaders and their debut, In A Flesh Aquarium. Leïlindel's vocals lit up the venue with her angelic voice and her high pitched shreiks along with the two guitarists adding their virtuoso of both guitars and vocals. They closed with a track from their first album Utopia (which is more accessiable then the rest of their albums), so in a sense they were helping our ears to transition from beautiful mayhem and chaos to the more simpler music of The Agonist.

The Agonist had a tough crowd at this show with one spectator turning his back to the stage right in front. Even with a tough crowd, you would think a band would try its hardest to impress the audience; well not in this case. The band's performance was very sloppy, especially Danny Marino's guitar playing. His overly loud and crunchy sound was ear-peircing, and not in a good way. Plus, on numerous occasions he screwed up solos and tempos, leaving drums and bass to hold it down. The drummer is indeed very energetic, but it is still not a reason for his fills to be sloppy. The band was not tight at all. And it was very apparent after following a band like Unexpect and will be even more apperent when tech-deathmetal band Arsis goes on stage. They closed with the album's main single "Combat Boots and Business Suits." For those of you who know the song it starts with an aggressive intro followed by a short guitar sweep/solo which shows good musicianship. On stage though this short solo consisted of three extremely dissonant notes, peircing our ears once again.

Then Arsis came on and completely owned the stage the second they started playing. Opening with "Oh the Humanity" the whole venue was going crazy with tons of headbanging and moshing. Following the Agonist proved extremely easy for them, playing, for the most part, with complete synchronization within the whole band. Just imagine brutal, technical melodic death metal blasting with a venue full of metalheads, you could imagine how insane and beautiful it was. There is not much more to say for these guys, they played an amazing show with extreme ease. It's as simple as that.

Enslaved.........these crazy Norwegians. As soon as they got on stage the crowd went completely insane, cheering and screaming their hearts out. These guys were simply incredible, taking complete control of the stage and playing their wonderful black metal. They played hits like Ruun and songs from their split album with Emperor. I nearly lost my voice screaming and singing along to the songs. God, was this a great night of metal.

I would give this show a perfect 10 if it wasn't for The Agonist giving metalcore an even worse reputation.