Hypocrisy, Scar Symmetry, Hate, Blackguard and Swashbuckle – Worcester MA

Review by: Brian Cross – Photos by: Diana Guay

After being forced to cancel their appearance on the Ensiferum tour last fall due to immigration problems, Sweden’s legendary Hypocrisy finally made it back to the Worcester Palladium on May 28, 2010. And they brought some friends along for the “Long Time, No Death” tour…

The night opened with everyone’s favorite pirate metalheads, Swashbuckle. It was their job to warm up the crowd, and they accomplished their mission using their trademark blend of thrash and humor. C’mon, how can you not love a band that dresses up as pirates, blasts the crowd with a wall of metal, and wraps everything up with ridiculous comments? Let’s not forget the band’s hilarious potshots at tourmates Blackguard, either. Of course, that didn’t stop Blackguard
vocalist Paul Ablaze from joining the band onstage for Swashbuckle’s new song “Raw Doggin’ at the Raw Bar,” which will appear on their new album “Crime Always Pays” due out later this year.

As you might’ve guessed, Blackguard were up next, marking their fifth performance at the Palladium. They never fail to deliver, even with all six bandmembers crammed on the Palladium’s tiny upstairs stage. Montreal’s finest extreme metal outfit played their hearts out, pulling fans away from the bar and into the circle pit. Blackguard is another band that’s perfect for warming up a throng of metalheads; they have a new album on the way, too, and the new track “Farewell” was a welcome part of their set list.

Switching gears a bit, fans got their blackened death metal fix when Hate hit the stage. Hailing from Poland, the corpsepainted death dealers tore up the venue with tracks off their latest album “Morphosis,” whipping the headbangers into a frenzy. Top that with some intense blastbeats and brutal riffing, and you ended up with one hell of a potent set. If these guys windmilled any harder, they would’ve created a hurricane.

Sweden’s Scar Symmetry was the final opening act. The band has quite a fanbase in New England, if the stage-rushing crowd was any indication. Not many bands can pull off having two vocalists, but Scar Symmetry found the proper balance between clean vocals and death growls. Their take on melodic death metal pleased their fans in attendance, and it’s a safe bet that they earned many new ones. In fact, it seemed that many members of the crowd came to the show just to see Scar Symmetry, even though they were just an opener.

After four impressive opening bands, it was time for the icing on the proverbial cake: Hypocrisy. The band’s been around for two decades, so they had a lot of ground to cover. Many songs were taken from their most recent effort, “A Taste of Extreme Divinity,” but past favorites like “God is a Lie” and “Let the Knife Do the Talking” managed to sneak into Hypocrisy’s performance. The band’s tightly integrated live performance has lost nothing over the years, with a death metal rhythmic assault that is tough to match. At the end of the night, Hypocrisy closed their set with a perfect encore: their popular alien conspiracy song “Roswell 47.”

A wide spectrum of extreme metal was represented when Hypocrisy and friends hit the Palladium, and it’s a safe assumption that they’ll all be back again soon to provide solid entertainment for their legions of fans.

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