The Taste of Chaos festival was put together by the same guys that do the Van's Warped Tour. This was a new package that brings punk, hardcore, and metal together under one roof. The big question is "did it work?" My answer: sort of. I admit, a lot of this new hardcore punk stiff is not me, I'm the metal guy. I was supposed to have seen this tour when it passed through Poughkeepsie, NY, but due to circumstances beyond my control I could not make it. This DVD puts me in the action and shows me what I missed. The band I was really looking forward to seeing was Killswitch Engage, whose End of Heartache album is fantastic. Anyway, on to the disk.
The concert footage was filmed early in the tour at Asbury Park, NJ. The disk mixes in interview clips with the bands in between each of the performances. The interviews allow the bands to give some of their thoughts on the tour and the crowds. The bands come across as genuinely excited about being on this big package tour, playing different venues with friends, new and old, and playing front of huge sold out crowds.
The performances are kicked off with a pair from the lone metal act on the bill, Killswitch Engage. I loved the pair of songs from them, High energy and heavy riffs are the order of the day, and the delivery is noticeably different than the bands that are yet to come. Their interviews talk about how different it is playing this type of crowd than their usual metal shows. They are followed by Underoath. Their energy on stage was commendable, but the music just didn't do it for me. Sadly, it didn't bode well for me and the the bands that lay ahead.
The third band was My Chemical Romance. I had never heard these guys, but have heard a lot about these guys about how good they are. I liked the dramatic presence they had on stage, they made me think of The Cure, if they had gotten into distorted dissonance. Not bad. They were followed by Unearth. They have this hardcore sound that was pretty good, guitar work was heavy, reminiscent of Slayer. Not my favorite of the night, but better than a lot.
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