This nice little tour package was a pleasant surprise. The Sounds of the Underground is a 10 hour/ 20 band extravaganza showcasing diverse and upcoming metal and hardcore bands. I was thrilled that I was able to get the chance to catch this sweet deal (it was only 30 bucks) and also was able to take pictures from the photo pit.

The festival kicked off at 12 noon promptly with NYC hardcore legends "Madball". Since it was still rather early in the day, there were about 700 or 800 people there at this point. Madball were loud, intense and the moved around a lot. The crowd liked them, and it seemed this was the perfect band to warm up the crowd with. Between songs I could not understand what the vocalist was saying; the sound was pretty choppy and muddy for most of Madball, but seemed to improve towards the end of the set. I can say that I did enjoy their all too short 30 minute set.

Thankfully the following band only got 30 minutes because sadly I saw "Devil Driver" last year at Ozzfest. I cannot stand the singer. The rest of the band are good and the music is even tolerable but the vocals suck!! Did not care for him or Coal Chamber either. I am not into that style of metal at all. I stood there watching kids eat this shit up and wondered if they needed to have their ears cleaned out. It grew tiresome hearing the singer for Devil Driver tell the crowd to "Make Some Fuckin' Noise". He did that several times during their set. I was glad when that was over; I was starting to get a mild migraine. Could it get any worse? Yep.

The following band called: A Life Once Lost" were a nightmare. They had horrible sound that was all over the place. I would rather listen to nails scraping down a chalkboard.

Next up were "All That Remains", and all I can say about them is they were better than Devil Driver, they were "ok". They also moved around a lot and had some melodic guitar parts to their songs. The vocals sounded weak and not tuned right. This band had the sound that is just the staple of today's youth, the "Chuga, Chuga". Same shit, different band.

After eating my first ham sandwich that I smuggled in I went over to watch a band that I really wanted to see. "Terror" a sort of new hardcore band that has made quite a name for themselves in a short amount of time. They were awesome and intense and also energetic. The crowd went fucking insane and fans started breaking one of the rules of the venue "NO CROWD SURFING", what were the others? NO SLAM DANCING, NO MOSHING, NO STAGE DIVING". Terror really tore shit up. At one point between songs the singer asked the crowd to make a hardcore fist and raise it up high, and then he shouted something like "Seattle Hardcore in the House" and then they tore into a blistering and brutal number. You cannot go wrong with "Madball" and "Terror" on this bill. Both those bands had great sets at SOTU and I enjoyed watching them in action. I suggest checking into Terror if you like hardcore at all, pretty sick shit.

"High on Fire" played next. These guys have been noticed lately since the release of their recent "Blessed Black Wings" album. I was really looking forward to their set. They did not disappoint. High on Fire are a brutal three piece, that plays death metal with a little sludge here and a little grind there. Very unique and heavy. They played most from the new album and one track from the first one. High on Fire had great sound and were having a good time on stage. It's a shame that during most of their set only a few hundred fans actually watched them.

"Strapping Young Lad" played next and clearly were going to be a high point for me. Bassist Byron Stroud, who is now a member of Fear Factory, had prior commitment with that band on tour, so John of Devil Driver stepped in as a temporary replacement. The blue and grey SYL backdrop went up and moment's later sheer chaos ensued. It was great to finally hear some extreme fucking metal! SYL sounded tight, they are always a pleasure to watch on stage. Devin owned the crowd and proved that he is a certified nut bar. I love this guy. He is funny and very intelligent. SYL stuck with a set list that drew mostly from the new album "Alien", but we did get "Oh my Fucking God" from City which is one of my all time favorite SYL songs. Between songs Devin made comments about who was going to "touch or suck" his dick. And before they ripped into the last song Devin screamed "Welcome to A and W, my name is Devin, may I take your stinking order please". It was awesome. SYL just make you feel good when you see them play like. The only negative was the short 30 minute set time. Hope they come back to Seattle for a visit real soon. Thank SYL!! HAIL THE SKULLET!!

The next band on the agenda were "Throwdown" which I re-coined "Throwup" because that is what I wanted to do after 20 seconds into their set. In fact, I couldn't even take pictures from the photo pit. I had to get as far away from these guys as possible. So I went and grabbed another one of my contraband ham sandwiches. Throwdown gave me a massive headache, and I did not care for them at all. These guys are hardcore? Please.

I saw "Everytime I Die" at Ozzfest last summer and here at SOTU they had not improved much since then. I don't know how on earth these types of bands are getting signed. I honestly don't. To me all it sounded like was a bunch of screaming and yelling with "Chuga, Chuga" here and "Chuga, Chuga" there.

Saving the worst for last we have "Norma Jean" onstage. I had heard bad things about these guys earlier that day. They came out in "vintage" rock and metal shirts with girl's designer jeans and their hair styled "just so" and they bopped around dancing and prancing, I don't see where they actually PLAYED a single note. They were so bad that I forgot what they sounded like. The fat singer is pathetic and couldn't sing his way out of a paper bag. At that point I was ready to beat up someone for their lunch money so I could get a godamned beer. I just was amazed that the kids there seemed to love Norma Jean. I must be getting old. These bands had their fingernails painted, wore eyeliner…it was most distressing to see.

Finally Gwar were up for a 40 min set (They should have headlined IMHO). After a good amount of waiting for set up, Gwar blasted onto stage, wearing their usual stage get ups. The first song they had a tall monstrous pope on stage with them in a red costume instead of white. The costume had a swastika with the catholic cross over the top of it. They suddenly they chose to decapitate the monster pope on stage spraying blood into the crowd, all over the security guards (who wore rain gear) and also dousing the few photographers in the photo pit (where I was, but I ducked and dodged most of the three songs I was in the pit for). It was awesome. I have been in a lot of photo pits, but I must say that GWAR was the best. It was like being inside a haunted house at Halloween. They slaughtered numerous monsters during their set and easily won over the crowd. The most comical part of their set was when they brought out the oversized and cartoonish George Dubya Bush. Bush started masturbating with some help from the members of Gwar, He was beheaded as well and his blood streamed out into the crowd. Oderus the vocalist came out, ripped off his large protruding manhood, his intestines started falling out and blood went flying everywhere. A couple of members of Gwar picked up some of the intestines and were flinging them around and tossing them in the air. All of this took place as Gwar played the song "Bring Back the Bomb" from their latest album "War Party". Gwar played about 8 songs in total and a lot of blood, semen, bile and shit was spilled. What a great set!! The sound seemed to improve for Gwar compared to the previous bands of the day. When they left the stage, little pools were left in the place of the members of Gwar. Down in the photo pit was a foot and a half of oozing brown liquid. They had to call in a ½ dozen workers in to mop and sweep it all up. I felt sorry for those people, it looked like a lot of work.

Next up on my agenda was interviewing John Campbell, the bass player for Lamb of God, so I didn't get a chance to catch Poison the Well and also I missed the first part of Chimaira, all I remember of Chimaira were they were very nu metal sounding. Not my cup of tea, so I tried to tune them out, the guitar players seemed pretty good though.

Opeth were the only band from Europe on the bill. They were one of the main reasons if not the main reason that I attended the SOTU. I have seen them several times live, and they never let me down. This festival gave Opeth a lot of exposure. But there were a lot of fans of the band who also came just to see them. Up went the Opeth backdrop and the crowd went crazy and started chanting "Opeth" over and over. I guess in the middle of this tour drummer Martin Mendez got very ill and had to return to Sweden. Gene Hoglan (Strapping Young Lad) was recruited as a fill-in drummer. He practiced with the band on the set list and then was playing with Opeth for the remainder of the tour. Opeth had a 40 minute set, so you knew it would be three or four songs only. I was very happy that they played a song from Damnation "To Rid the Disease" which they had not played on the east coast dates of this tour. Also we were treated to a new song called "The Grand Conjuration" from the forth coming "Ghost Reveries" album. The new song was great live. The band were tight and had perfect sound. Mikael's clean vocals sounded great and his death vocals were ear splitting (even with ear plugs). Hoglan nailed the Opeth set. In between songs Mikael went on to introduce Gene and before he could say his name, the crowd were screaming "Gene". Mikael said he was an amazing drummer. Opeth ended their set with "Demon of the Fall" which Mikael said was about Satan. As they left the stage the crowd cheered for more and also again cheered out "Opeth!!" but the schedule was tight and they had to leave so the other headliners could finish off the festival.

Clutch were after Opeth and they doomed and tripped through a meaty 30 minute set. I have seen them a couple of times, but it had been awhile. They look like greasy rednecks and have this massive sound. Its almost like "What are they doing on the bill" as they really have nothing in coming with any other bands on the bill. Neither did Opeth I suppose. Clutch were great though. I caught myself tapping my toe and head bobbing to the grooves of their chunky, sludgy riffs. There were a few die hard fans of Clutch there and they were singing to every song. Most of the fans didn't watch Clutch though. They suck for not watching them, because Clutch killed at SOTU!!
I have seen LOG a few times before and it seems to me that they keep getting tighter, louder, faster and more popular. Here they are headlining the SOTU tour, last year they played Ozzfest and just a few years ago, were pretty much unknown within the metal scene. The band went on at the prompt time of 9:55 and got to play for 50-55 minutes; the longest set of any band at SOTU. LOG really moved around a lot on stage, causing me to grow tired from watching them all in action. Randy, the singer, was wearing a shirt from the Seattle band "The Accused" which was really cool. LOG played something from every album, but stayed mainly with the new album "As Palaces Burn". The crowd loved LOG and were singing right along with them.

Well it was a long day, but I had one hell of a good time at the SOTU! There were some bands that sucked, but for the most part it ruled just seeing Opeth, SYL and Gwar!!!
I hope they have a SOTU II next year!!
Scott Cameron