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Heavy metal bands rock through the rain at Mayhem Festival
by James R. Chesna | Contributing Writer
Monday August 11, 2008, 11:35 AM


CLARKSTON, Michigan -- A Michigan hard rock fan summer tradition almost came to an end this year when the traveling heavy metal horror show known as Ozzfest was reduced to a single date in Dallas on Saturday.

But thanks to the folks behind the annual punk and emo festival known as the Vans Warped Tour, those who prefer their music at volumes forceful enough to drop a rhinoceros at 50 paces got their fill Saturday during the Mayhem Festival at DTE Energy Music Theatre.

The torch is being carried by a pair of Ozzfest veterans. Metal fans are known for their loyalty and resilience, and both were tested this weekend when thunderstorms moved though the area for much of the day, leaving a sold-out crowd sloppy-wet for the majority of the nearly nine-hour endurance event.

Die-hard fans who toughed it out were treated to acts such as the Detroit-bred Christian metal-core act Walls of Jericho, fiery Aussie rockers Airbourne, teenage classic-metal-tinged Black Tide and hard-core The Red Chord.

As the rain gave way to some sunshine, the United Nations of hard rock, DragonForce (whose members hail from all points of Eurasia) took the main stage.

Sometimes sounding like a metallic Journey on steroids, DragonForce plants its collective tongue firmly in cheek, zooming all over the stage whilst mock-tripping and elbowing bandmates and mugging self-deprecatingly to the crowd.

Led by singer ZP Theart and twin lead guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman, the band stormed through epic early works including "Valley of the Damned" before closing out with "Through the Fire and Flames."

All of which led to co-headliners Disturbed, which took the stage at about 8:30 led by charismatic frontman David Draiman, who was wheeled out Hannibal Lecter-style on a dolly wearing a straightjacket. As Draiman's shackles were removed, the band charged into the opening riffs of "Perfect Insanity," one of several new tunes from the band's latest, "Indestructible."

The band was electric and powerfully consistent, and Draiman's commander's bark of a voice was at its rapid-fire, staccato best on fan favorites including "Down with the Sickness" and the new "Indestructible," a salute to the troops.

Just before 10 p.m., the amphitheater's capacity crowd had been thinned somewhat by the time the brutally intense, Iowa-based Slipknot took the stage to close the show.

Percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan proved most animated, pounding away on his beer keg drum platform, which rose and fell on a mechanized lift that rotated full circle while plumes of flame shot toward the lighting rig.

A newly shorn and sweaty Corey Taylor prowled the stage, screaming unholy terror on unearthed early songs such as "Prosthetics" and the new single "Psychosocial" from the upcoming "All Hope Is Gone."

Slipknot is best ingested in doses, so having to share the spotlight with Disturbed in a twin 60-minute set worked in the band's favor.

One cannot deny that the band possesses talent -- performing precise metal histrionics with a nine-member group wearing bondage-style masks is no simple task -- but it fares much better when some melody creeps in, evidenced by the kinetic response that more streamlined cuts such as "Duality" received.

But whether fans were at the theater for the 'Knot or the newcomers, during this sluggish economy where cash is more selectively spent, they got what they paid for, albeit after a good soaking.