One Foot in the Grave, the Other One in the Trash

2009 was a great year for Denmark's Artillery, as they would release a successful, 'second reunion' album with new vocalist Søren Nico Adamsen, and step past the early criticism that this choice had manifest. In addition, also through their deal with Metal Mind, they released a live DVD + CD called One Foot in the Grave, the Other One in the Trash, a play on their (admittedly generic) 90s reaper mascot and their cult 'Trash' songs. I'm reviewing here the audio component of this package, which has the same set list as the DVD, recorded at the Metalmania Festival 2008, in Katowice, Poland. As with the new studio album, When Death Comes, the band's great rhythm section of Carsten Nielsen and Peter Thorslund is back in place here. So, 4/5 of the By Inheritance lineup.

But that one omission is felt rather strongly in this set, because while Adamsen is a decent match for the new studio fare, he sounds incredibly lackluster over the band's older material. The set does a good job of drawing on all the band's past sources, from classics like "Terror Squad", "The Challenge", "Time Has Come", and "Out of the Sky" to the By Inheritance material: "Beneath the Clay (R.I.P.)", "Khomaniac" and "By Inheritance", but sadly the vocals make them feel like a mere cover band, as he approaches them without the enthusiasm that Flemming Ronsdorf once owned in excess. He puts a little more energy behind the By Inheritance selections, granted, and his more aggressive vocals are far better than the sullen, generic wailing he inhabits for most of the lines, but really you could have grabbed any random power metal singer and gotten equal or better results. He also sounds pretty cheesy on "Cybermind", the one track the band have included from B.A.C.K. One has to question the wisdom of the track list. Surely, all of the rabid Artillery fans at the gig wanted to hear classic material, but why was nothing included from the forthcoming album, where Adamsen soars? Had they just not written any of it by this point? Could Rønsdorf not have just come out for the one gig?

Sadly, this is crippling to the performance, too difficult to overcome. The rest of the band possess the adequate energy to pull off the set without stumbling, and its curious to finally hear these two amazing guitarists perform their busy material on a stage. The bass and drums sound good, but the guitars themselves are often a little difficult to pull out of the mix, and this only lends to the leeching enthusiasm I feel from the vocals. With the DVD, you obviously get the added perk of seeing the band flail about on stage, but as its Artillery and they've got a lot of complexity, they're understandably not tornadoes of energy. Ultimately, I feel the package is pretty weak and easily passed upon, whereas When Death Comes deserves an immediate purchase, with the band in fine form (including Adamsen). Buy that. Skip this.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

I'm the type of person who almost always prefers studio material to live recordings. The amount of metal DVD's that made me go "wow, I might watch this again in stead of listening to the album" is very, very slim. 'One foot in the grave, the other one in the trash' belongs to the exception department. This is quality stuff indeed, and should appeal to every Artillery fan. The main question on everybody's mind is, of course; what about the new vocalist? Just like all of the sane people I know, I was extremely skeptical towards Søren, and was quite honestly convinced nobody could ever replace Flemming.

He proved us all wrong. Ok, his performance here does not match the insane ability or range of the old singer. Then again, what would you except? If we isolate that one aspect of being a frontman, the odds of surpassing Flemming are basically zero. However, it simply doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, because Søren is better for Artillery on all the other levels. First of all, he has a great stage presence and knows how to entertain a crowd. Second, his vocals are awesome and are indeed worthy of this mighty band. And third, he seems to be very motivated and committed, quite to the contrary of Flemming (at least if I can believe some of the rumours). All of this leads us to the conclusion that he has more than earned his place among these legendary thrashers.

The rest of the band delivers an awesome concert as well. We already knew these guys were insanely technically skilled, and yet I have no choice but to be amazed whenever I watch the DVD. Your basic Artillery treat, I guess: inhumane riffs, solo's and songs. They proved they are extremely talented back in the 80s, and with this release they prove they still have it. Keeping this in mind, I expect nothing but good from the upcoming 2009 album. What is also remarkable is that not a single members conforms with the typical thrash clichés or outfit. They don't need very long hair, they don't need patch jackets or sleeveless shirts. Of course we all realized by now these guys don't need to follow any “standards”, they ARE the standard. Props to them for being themselves and not caring about fashion trends!

As for the setlist, we are mainly treated by the more older material. The amount of songs per album is as follows: 6 songs of Fear of Tomorrow, 3 songs of Terror Squad, 3 songs of By Inheritance and 1 of BACK. Not quite how I would have balanced the songs per album, though I'm not complaining. Something that does slightly bother me, however, is the speeding up of some songs. I have no idea why they chose to do this, because I very much prefer the original tempo (maybe only because I'm used to it). Another thing that is not perfect is the sound of the guitars. They are quite unclear at times, a bit too bassy for my liking and way too low in the mix. I am assuming this is not the fault of the band members themselves, but rather of the PA guys. As a result of this, I'm inclined to say that guitar sound on the albums is a lot better.

Keep in mind this is only a minor complaint, because overall the sound is quite good. The drums and bass sound right about perfect and the mix as a whole is great, yet not optimal. Having read all of the above, it should be no surprise to you that a big portion of the crowd is having a great time and showing their support. On the other hand, this was not a headlining concert, meaning that you can't expect the entire place to go berserk. Naturally, some parts of the congregation are not always making insane amounts of noise. Metal Mind Productions did a stellar performance for the camera-work, extra footage (interviews, pictures, etc.), lay-out and package. Regarding the product as a whole, I recommend this to every Artillery fan out there, even though it is not perfect. Based on the DVD, the new album has a great chance of kicking large amounts of ass, so keep yourselves updated!