Metal Injection Concert, at La Cite Jounieh on October 17th 2009.
Reviewers: Serj Panossian and Patrick Saad.
Venemy played their energetic show with full enthusiasm and spirit, as La Cite was divided into 2 parts, the front rows consisting of hardcore dancing people and the rest of the people enjoying the show from afar, which shows the local support of the bands out here. Although the sound was noisy, Venemy kept going with originals that appealed to the masses. – Patrick Saad The evening’s opening act, the songs were admittedly occasionally overpowered by the guitar work. But there was no stopping tracks, depending of course on how you look at it. But the thing that we noticed is that Venemy is one of the best death core bands in Lebanon, sadly they arnt getting any credit for there work. – Serj Panossian
Dethroned went next with their opening set including a dressed up bride who comes in and puts a crown of thorns on the vocalist’s head, which was quite the interesting thing to watch. Their set included numerous originals which fitted the Doom Metal criteria, capturing some headbangers in the front rows while some moved out to the backends of the place. They are good at what they do and thumbs up for that. – Patrick Saad
Amazing introduction when the dying bride marched towards Nour (vocalist) and brought the *a cry of mankind scene* ALIVE. Nours’ voice as usual was absolutely superb – clear and powerful, full of emotion. It’s a shame when some trouble makers subdued this evening; while Dethroned was playing, all the crowd took off to see what was going on – Dethroned really have never been ones for massive crowd interaction, but tonight they seem to be in an especially “no-nonsense” mood. – Serj Panossian
Element 26 showed up as a quartet, which kinda puts an big X on the position of a bassist in a band, nevertheless they did deliver their usual energetic set which pleased fans of thrash metal and the Lamb of God fans. I liked their originals, riff wise and vocals wise, but I always thought that they could spice things up a bit more, since their work resembles the exact criteria of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal. I was bumped to witness another tragedy at this time, which consisted of seeing 60 people attending the show, while a hundred metalhead were outside the venue, giving their kind of support by fighting in the parking lot. Memorable times! – Patrick Saad
Playing a set of selections from their most recent originals, with a nod or two towards some cover material, including the fan favorite, “Angel of death – Slayer,” Element 26 used their hard-edged riffs and even harder-edged vocals to cut a swath through the eager crowd.It was the 1st time I see Kamal (voc) playing guitars … pretty amazing setlist. Botom Line: The complexity of Element 26’ music appeals to people who like technical playing, but the arrangements are not so extreme that they fly over the average listener’s head. It’s a good balance.- Serj Panossian
I would say that Kimaera owned the night in terms of capturing multi-moods at the same time, since their set included atmospheric moods along with the agression and the emotional agony expressed by the leading man’s vocals. I personally admire their drummer for his creative style of playing, which sets the spotlight on him at times. I was surprised when they played an original which had pure death metal riffs and speedy drums, as Kimaera truly expanded into the atmospheric death metal zone for a while, which was the highlight of their set along with their song from Ebony Veiled, “Among the Dead” – Patrick Saad
With their ever so powerful stage presence did not disappoint. Another band that played a playlist consisting of just originals, Kimaera’s band members’ specific talents were blasted out through a sound-system not adequate for the range of their music. I very much enjoy their fusion of death/doom elements – Serj Panossian
Humanity Failed were last but not least, as the band executed one death metal song after the other with strength and spirit of a tight band. At 12:30, it’s no wonder that few people remained to watch the band, but that gave them a certain room to be a bit more relaxed and to enjoy the set with their friends chanting BloodBath, Hypocrisy and their cover of Anaal Natrakh. Waiting to see the band’s own work in the future, surely not to be missed. – Patrick Saad
Humanity Failed, a band that brings a great death metal! Instead of raw minimalism in music, Humanity Failed played with extreme intensity. The music is fast, heavy, and well executed … Special salute to its Vocalist *Etienne Chlala* – Serj Panossian
So the event wasn’t a total letdown, but the kind of support that the locals are giving nowadays makes you wonder just where the scene is heading in these next few years. But with ongoing efforts to organize worthy events, we might just expect big stuff from the bands who are getting more and more motivated to get out of the Cover zone and into the Originals zone. – Patrick Saad
I was kind of expecting more of this concert,the sound and lights were *OK*, but the security staff were BAD, I wouldn’t hire them for a million buck. The overall night was good, perfect standards on the bar; very well organized. I would like to thank The Trinity Corp. For letting us cover this event. – Serj Panossian
