Live Moments with Mat || Vengeful, Urban Aliens, Unexpect and Kataklysm -3/13 Montreal

Location: Club Soda in Montreal, on St-Laurent Street
Date: March 13th 2010, 1900 hours
Bands: Vengeful + Urban Aliens + Unexpect + Kataklysm
Goal: A lot of head banging

I missed the first two bands, Urban Aliens and Vengeful--I've already seen them and I wasn’t too impressed by either of them. You can decide your opinion by listening to their music (Urban Aliens here) and (Vengeful here) but I'm not going to talk about them.

Unexpect is an “avant-garde” metal band consisting of 7 members. I've never been a huge fan of this band, and every time I see them live I find myself wondering why they have so many fans. Don’t get me wrong--they put on a good show, but there’s always that one band everybody likes and you don’t. This is just how I feel about them, though the crowd's intensity during their performance was a sight to behold. Unexpect played songs from their latest album 'In A Flesh Aquarium' (2006) and also played some new songs that should be on their next album, expected to be released later this year. They are excellent musicians and play well along side each other; the lead vocalist (the only girl in the band) has some surprisingly strong growls for a woman. She reminds me a little bit, although to a lesser extent, of Angela Gossow from Arch Enemy. If you like the genre, I recommend seeing this band but if not, don't bother.

Kataklysm was the headliner for the show. They were the very first death metal band I ever saw, so it brought back some memory souvenirs of my first contact with a live death metal band. The crowd was pumped, everyone poised for their cathartic release of hate and anger. The set started with Maurizio Iacono saying how he missed playing in Montreal and was ready to give a kick ass show. They seemed pretty happy to play again in Montreal (their hometown) and started with the song 'Like Angels Weeping (The Dark)'. The mosh pit started immediately--and it never stopped. Iacono's intensity was at maximum during the whole performance. They played an hour and a half of pure kick ass metal. An epic moment of the show: a wall of death was called for and delivered when Kataklysm played 'Let Them Burn'. The band also played the song 'The Resurrected' just because a fan kept asking for it. They finished their performance strong with the song 'The Road to Devastation'. Kataklysm puts a nice intensity in their live performance and you can see that they like what they do.

Final words: My neck and body still hurt three days later from head banging and getting kicked whilst body surfing. Also, anyone who calls themselves a metal fan should see Kataklysm at least once in their lifetime.

External Links:
Unexpect (myspace)
Kataklysm (video)  **Must See**