Bet You Didn't Expect These Guys To Play Breakdowns

We all remember that this whole blog stemmed from our hatred of all things HxC, right? It's been a while since we've talked about something that isn't actually news, but something has come to my attention recently, and I'd like to see what everyone else thinks about it. We all know bands like Suicide Silence, Emmure, The Acacia Strain and all those other bands are more or less obligated to play obscene amounts of breakdowns, it's pretty much their lifeblood. But what would happen if the bands we always stick by, the super heavy, super brutal tr00 bands, the ones we proudly name when we're discussing "real" metal, suddenly managed to sneak a breakdown past us? Would we all yell Cryptopsy and start gathering pitchforks and torches (for the record I actually like the new Cryptopsy), or would people generally be cool with it as long as it doesn't become a constant for that band? Well, that's what I aim to find out, so here's a few examples of songs that are by probably the last bands you would expect to include blatant breakdowns in their songs. Let it be known now that I don't dislike any of these bands, or even the songs that I'm about to show, I'm just remarking that they caught me totally off guard when I first heard them.

Behemoth- "The Reign ov Shemsu-Hor"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FfQHe3P4aM

(Breakdown starts at 2:09)

This is the one that caught me off guard the most. It's pretty much a proven scientific fact that Behemoth is one of the single heaviest death metal bands on the planet, a band that most would say shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as the word "breakdown", but this part sounds like it was ripped right out of an I Declare War song. Granted it's still heavy and beefy enough to make your balls shrivel, but a breakdown is a breakdown is a breakdown. And to think that this is on the same album as some of the songs that have made Behemoth famous, like "Demigod", "Conquer All" and "Slaves Shall Serve". Then again, I guess if you're going to play a breakdown you might as well play it like this, because as far as breakdowns go this is actually really good, and the rest of the song is just as fast and evil as any other Behemoth song.

Vital Remains- "Savior To None, Failure For All"




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pri9RYtUPo


(Breakdown starts at 2:40)

Alright, this one's a little easier to swallow. It's still very much a breakdown, but it doesn't last for very long, and Dave Suzuki plays his signature shredding leads over a good portion of it. This is something that I think deathcore bands could stand to learn a lot from: if you absolutely must play YET ANOTHER fucking breakdown, at least have the other guitarist doing something else over it, like a solo or a cool riff, don't just whore the chugga-chug chug over and over again with both guitars, it's fucking exhausting that way. In any case, I was once again extremely surprised to see a legit death metal band, one generally held in very high regard, suddenly busting out a breakdown, and once again on the very same album that made them famous. However, in this particular case I actually kind of like what the breakdown does for this song. With their lightning fast blast beats, tremolo picking and shredding solos, Vital Remains' brand of blackened death metal is pretty much America's answer to Behemoth, but this breakdown is something of a brief respite from the madness, and with songs that often exceed seven or eight minutes in length, that counts for a lot more than you might think.

Pantera- "Slaughtered"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZI24UQUvuo

(Breakdown is at the beginning of the song)

We all know that Pantera is famous for their constant grooves, the kind of riffs and beats that you just can't help but bob your head to. In fact, most people also know that Pantera has lots of songs with parts that could be considered breakdowns, most notably at the end of "Domination". But nobody seems to mention this song when they're talking about that, and this song is probably the best demonstration of it. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this band and this song, but there is no way that's not a breakdown. For the safety of the person I'm about to talk about I won't use any names, but I have one friend who is a devout Christian and is really big into the Christian metalcore/deathcore scene, and when I showed him this song he said, and I quote, "Oh man, I could totally two-step to this". There you have it, a self-proclaimed hardcore dancer agrees that this is a genuine, bona-fide, two-steppable breakdown, written by none other than Pantera. Do you need any more proof than that?

Fleshgod Apocalypse- "In Honour of Reason"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtDxvvYlxqQ

(Breakdown is at the beginning of the song... again)

Alright, seriously, defend it all you want, that is a fucking breakdown if ever there was one. The first time my friend ever played me this song, I was seriously getting ready to tell him to turn it off and put something else on, because I literally thought he was showing me the new Born of Osiris song or something. Fortunately the awesome kicked in about ten seconds later, and I've been in love with Fleshgod ever since. I'll admit, the pattern is insanely complicated and I have no idea how they managed to memorize and synchronize it (ooh nice rhyme, didn't see that one 'til after I typed it), but the fact is they're only playing the open E string the whole time, so it's a breakdown no matter how you slice it. Normally I would say it might make more sense to have something like that happen in the middle of the song, but in this case it works out nicely, because it's a bit of a fakeout. It's like they're getting it out of their system early, so that when it's over they can stop and yell "PSYCHE!" and then play awesome death metal for the rest of the time. Now that's something I'd like to see a band do at a show, if anyone's reading this who's in a band that regularly plays shows, you can have that idea for free. Send us a video or something if you do, it'll be a good laugh.

Right, you get the point. As I said in the beginning, I'm not trying to demean any of these bands at all, they're some of my all-time favorites, and one breakdown isn't going to change that, I just felt that these specific songs needed to be addressed. Leave your thoughts on all this in the comments below, Tweet about it, Facebook it, whatever the fuck you nerds do on the Interwebs these days. Make sure you make yourself a blogspot profile and follow Mosh Rebellion as well, don't forget that we're trying to bring the number of followers up to fifty so we can do a little something special for you guys and gals. Tell you what, if we can get it to thirty, we'll tell you what it is, and then we'll see if that's enough to put us over to fifty, in which case we'll actually go through with it. Sleep with one eye open, kiddies ;)

Metallica reference FTW
-The Baby Killer

Show Review: Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus, Vital Remains and Devourment- November 20th in Philadelphia, PA

Last Saturday, the most brutal tour of the year made its way to good old Philly. I had seen all the bands on the bill at least once in the past, but never together at one show, so I knew tonight was going to be something special, and believe me friends, it was. Despite getting hopelessly lost on the way to the train station (thanks to the jerkoff who stole my GPS over the summer), I still made it to the Trocadero in plenty of time, and you could literally feel the anticipation as soon as the doors opened.

After a brief sound check, Devourment took the stage to thunderous applause and started things off beautifully. They sounded beefy and clear, and their set was comprised of songs from all three of their full lengths, including "Serial Cocksucker", "Fucked To Death", "Choking On Bile", "Fed To the Pigs", and closing with the classic "Baby Killer". What caught my attention the most during their set was their stage presence. While everyone knows that Devourment's music is awesome and they play their songs very well live, they're not known to be too energetic onstage, but this was not the case here. Mike Majewski and the gang were all moving around headbanging, rocking out, smiling and having a grand old time feeding off of the energy from the crowd. Their bassist Chris Andrews even went so far as to dive into the crowd after the last song, adding to the high spirits.

Despite the incessant chanting of "One more song," Devourment then cleared off to make room for Rhode Island God-haters Vital Remains. At the last Summer Slaughter tour these guys had a painfully short set, so I was really excited to see what they could do with more time. Ironically enough they only played four songs this time, but since VR are pretty much the Dream Theater of death metal with their eight-minute songs, this didn't seem to bother anyone too much. The lead guitar was a little low in the mix so it was hard to hear the solos, but they still rumbled through "Icons of Evil", "Devoured Elysium", "Hammer Down the Nails" and "Dechristianize" like it was nobody's business. In all honesty, this was probably the weakest band of the night and they still killed it, which should give you an idea of how good the show was. I've heard a lot of people complain that Vital Remains isn't the same without Glenn Benton on vocals, but if last night is any indication, they're kicking ass and taking names just fine without him. Let me tell you something: if you want to see the true power of metal, go to a Vital Remains show and watch as hundreds of people go completely silent, bow their heads and hold their horns up high while the venue goes dark and "O Fortuna" blares over the PA, all while the band is onstage looking up at the sky with genuine hate in their eyes. It's scary.

Next on the roster was Dying Fetus, and this is where things really started to get interesting. Both of the previous bands were very well received, but as soon as these guys started playing it was a madhouse. Their setlist was pretty long since they were the main support, and they used this opportunity to play a surprisingly large number of very old songs, going all the way back to their first couple EP's; songs like "Vomiting the Decaying Embryo" and "Eviscerated Offspring" to name a few. However, they still played plenty of their newer, more well-known songs like "Killing On Adrenaline", "One Shot One Kill", "Your Treachery Will Die With You" and "Homicidal Retribution", and they closed as always with their 70-second claim to fame "Kill Your Mother Rape Your Dog". I've seen Dying Fetus twice before this, and I'm still amazed at how much chaos the crowd manages to bring in just over one minute. As with Devourment, these guys were also much more energetic than usual, which only contributed to the frenzy.

So after Dying Fetus walked off to extremely enthusiastic applause, after what seemed like hours the lights dimmed one more time, and when Cannibal Corpse walked onstage the applause sounded more like an arena than the tiny Trocadero. They wasted no time and dove right into a set that spanned their entire twenty-plus year career. For all the old school fans, there were classics like "A Skull Full of Maggots", "Gutted", "Staring Through the Eyes of the Dead" and "Devoured By Vermin", and for the younger, more recent inductees, there plenty of newer songs like "Evisceration Plague", "Priests of Sodom", "Shatter Their Bones", "The Time To Kill Is Now", "Make Them Suffer", "The Wretched Spawn" and more. They played for a solid hour and a half, and although it was exhausting, neither the band nor the crowd slowed down one bit. We all anxiously waited to hear what song they would play next, and Corpsegrinder's between-song bantering kept everyone laughing and ready to start the pit up again at a moment's notice. And speaking of pits, when they finally closed with the classic duo of "Hammer Smashed Face" and "Stripped Raped and Strangled", the pit literally enveloped the entire floor of the venue; the sight of close to (if not more than) a thousand people moshing their hearts out at once is something that simply cannot be put into words. See for yourself.


When all was said and done, we all left knowing that great memories had been made. Making new friends, reconnecting with old ones, seeing and meeting the bands that inspire you, smoking a fat one and/or pounding back a few gulps of the hard stuff with good people, and just forgetting all your troubles for a few hours; it's all in a day's work for metal. This is the kind of show where the whole world shrinks to nothing but you, the crowd and the band, and there's nothing but the euphoria of the moment and the anticipation of the rest of the show. This is what we live for, and this is what those trendy, attention-whoring idiots will never be able to take away from us, no matter how hard they try.

Defend the fucking faith brothers and sisters, I love you all.
-The Baby Killer