Chart Attack, Canada
July 27 2006
LIVE: System Of A Down Save Ozzfest
Thursday July 27, 2006 @ 06:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff
July 25, 2006
Molson Amphitheatre
Toronto, ON
by Andre Mishin
It’s too bad the Mindless Self Indulgence review already has the
headline “are for the children,” because it would have been just as
appropriate for the 11th edition of Ozzfest. While kids in the past
have flocked to the annual metal festival to see the likes of Marilyn
Manson, Disturbed and other new generation metal acts, they went home
with a new appreciation for Maiden, Priest or at least Ozzy/Sabbath.
This year, with the rigours of touring catching up to him, Ozzy is
only playing certain dates on the tour. Without any bands on the bill
with more than a 10-year career, the older crowd that would have
showed up just to see Sabbath was conspicuously absent and, in their
place, were lots of screaming girls. For a tour that has suffered
through questionable lineups and varying degrees of prosperity
through its history, the success of this year’s Ozzfest was in
serious jeopardy if no one was able to carry the headlining torch.
I arrived just as Massachusetts metalcore group Unearth were getting
into “Black Hearts Now Reign” from their recent release, The Oncoming
Storm. Metalcore is the latest heavy music sub-genre to have the shit
kicked out of it, mostly due to the ineffectual nothings that have
emerged from it. Unearth, on the other hand, were one of the earlier
metalcore bands and have managed to keep it skull-crushingly heavy,
staying true to the brutal breakdowns of hardcore and the riffage of
NWOBHM (that’s New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, for the children) era
bands. The group have, however, become a little stagnant, and it’ll
be interesting to see if Unearth can rise above the rest of the
metalcore bands with their upcoming release, III: In The Eyes Of The
Fire, which is out next month. Regardless, having seen them a couple
of times, they’re always powerful live.
The next band were one of those ineffectual nothings. I really tried
to sit through the entire Atreyu set, but adding to the torture of
listening to their annoying brand of boy band metal were a group of
young girls in front of me who were not only loving it, but thrashing
around like wounded animals. Until then, I never thought there was a
wrong way to mosh.
The crowd grew larger as Italy’s Lacuna Coil hit the stage. I saw
them open for Rob Zombie earlier in the year and, while they didn’t
blow me away, I did enjoy their set. I attributed that, though, to
the voice and beauty of Lacuna Coil singer Cristina Scabbia, and I
thought there was no way that was going to happen this time. But,
once again, I liked their show. They’re not a really heavy band, but
they never try to be. They go out and do what they do, and do it
well. This time around, I was even able to recognize the song “Our
Truth,” where before, it all sounded the same to me.
The true “veterans” of the tour were Hatebreed. Playing their third
Ozzfest, the champions of underground hardcore can’t really be the
classic band that save Ozzfest because they’re underground hardcore.
They’ll go down as legends in their sub-genre, but the hardcore sound
is too limited to make them heavy metal icons. Still, Hatebreed were
the first band on the bill to really command the crowd, eventually
getting everyone out of their seats and pumping their fists to
pulverizing anthems “I Will Be Heard” and “This Is Now.” Everybody,
that is, except for the Atreyu fans in front of me who were now
literally sitting in their chairs with their fingers in their ears.
Hatebreed are another band who always kill live. The fact that singer
Jamey Jasta has strong enough pipes to perform those songs night
after night is incredible.
Avenged Sevenfold opened with “Beast And The Harlot,” a song that
flirts with Guns N’ Roses-like greatness, but degenerates into a
slightly heavier Simple Plan. That pretty much sums up the band’s
music and performance. They can be great at times, especially lead
guitarist Synyster Gates and drummer The Rev. But if the band want
the respect they feel they deserve, singer M. Shadows needs to knock
it off with the girly singing. They score points for putting on an
entertaining set, but those points were subtracted when they covered
Pantera’s “Walk.” Phil Anselmo himself said it best on “Regular
People (Conceit):” “You ain’t got the balls, son.”
Next up were Disturbed. Singer David Draiman went into a diatribe
about the decline of heavy music and, on a separate occasion, asked
the crowd to “pray for heavy metal.” If my prayers were answered, the
lights would have collapsed on stage – not killing the band, just
rendering them unable to play music anymore. To my surprise, the
now-capacity crowd didn’t share my sentiments. Fans pumped their
fists throughout the entire set and sang every word, including those
to tracks off the band’s latest album, the appropriately titled
10,000 Fists. Why is it that somewhere in some publication, poor Fred
Durst’s name continues to be crucified while these nu-metal rejects
have a platinum album in Canada? I can understand why fans like
Atreyu or Avenged Sevenfold, but these guys? Maybe it’s the band’s
battle cry, “Ooh wa ah ah ah?”
With only one band remaining, Ozzfest seemed destined for failure
because nobody was able to fill Ozzy’s shoes. Then System Of A Down
guitarist Daron Malakian’s silhouette appeared on stage as he kicked
into the solo intro of “Soldier Side” before the rest of the band
joined him as they launched into “Attack.” As they moved on to the
infectious hit “B.Y.O.B.,” something slowly began to dawn on me. In
the mere nine years separating the band’s debut and their headlining
slot on this year’s Ozzfest, SOAD have become a classic metal band.
>From the deafening singalong of “Chop Suey!” to the sea of lighters
during “Lonely Day,” the audience reaction proved that System are the
only band that could possibly headline Ozzfest. Even during some of
the band’s sillier songs, like “Violent Pornography,” the group
exuded an air of greatness. Frontman Serj Tankian was reminiscent of
Geddy Lee at times behind his keyboards. Malakian, who used to turn
his back to the audience for entire songs in the earlier days, has
evolved into a hell of showman. Combined, the Armenian-American duo
make up the greatest one-two punch in all of current heavy music,
making them the new millennium version Page and Plant. Seriously,
their chemistry is that good.
By the time SOAD ended with new classic “Sugar,” everyone was singing
and dancing, much like they were throughout the 90-minute set. But
the guys on stage simply ended with a humble bow, even though they
single-handedly saved Sharon Osborne’s ass. With the announcement
that System Of A Down are going on hiatus after this tour, you can
bet that no matter how long they’re gone or what happens to metal
music in that time, fans will anticipate the return of the first
classic group of the Ozzfest era.