Hypocrisy / Kataklysm at Cyclone, May 9th 2019

Almost twenty years ago I saw Bob Dylan in concert for the first time and he was the opening act. Well, not exactly, after all he played a full set with an encore, but he did play first. It was a double bill with Phil Lesh from The Grateful Dead and I remember the people still coming inside and finding their seats at the outdoor venue as Dylan’s band walked onstage in broad daylight. The surprised reactions were palpable. I had a very similar experience at this show.

After an Australian tour co-headlining with Kataklysm, Hypocrisy missed the first two dates of the Japan tour, one in Osaka and one in Nagoya, for unknown reasons. They were supposed to rejoin them at the first of two programmed Tokyo shows. In the back of my mind I was still nervous about the possibility of another cancellation.

It was my first time at the Shibuya venue Cyclone. It’s in the basement of a building next to a convenience store. The walls going down the stairs are covered in scribbles, as the club’s are plastered with show posters, some of them signed by the artists, it’s a nice atmosphere. The venue is the right size as well: small but not tiny. The turnout for this show was not that great, though. I would say that the place was maybe at a 40% capacity, if not less.

The first two bands played almost back to back, it was one of the quickest setups between sets that I’ve ever seen. First it was Tempest Rising with their take on groove metal combining growls with mostly clean vocals choruses. Five minutes after finishing their set Alchemy took the stage with a more traditional brutal death metal sound. Both are young Australian bands and did a good job pumping up the crowd.

Instead of a curtain there was a screen with a slideshow with ads for upcoming shows obscuring the view of the stage. I was upfront on the side so I could kind of see a bit. At one point I saw Peter Tägtgren adjusting the snare mic but didn’t think much of it, I assumed that Kataklysm was coming next. The lights went down and AC/DC’s Rock and Roll Train played through the PA system in its entirety. And then the opening synth riff of Fractured Millennium swept through the room igniting shocked responses, including mine. Most people thought Hypocrisy was going to close the show but they defied expectations. If there was some kind of behind the scenes issue regarding the previous two no-shows you couldn’t tell by their demeanor on stage. Deliver they did. 

I think that melodic death metal is sometimes interpreted as soft death metal. In Hypocrisy’s case -as with many other bands- that is not the correct interpretation by any means. If anything the songwriting craft ups the ante in terms of complexity. I always thought of Hypocrisy of sort of the Steely Dan of metal. The chord progressions in stuff like the aforementioned Fractured Millennium always reminds me of the Dan’s Haitian Divorce. Their songs in general have that musical tension building that makes them unique. The setlist was a display of it. Ranging from the hardcore death metal early days of Penetralia to classics like Eraser and the closer Roswell 47, including the atmospheric The Final Chapter. Along with Tägtgren’s incredible shrieks and growls, those were 65 minutes of fun amazing music.

This time, unlike the Dylan show from two decades ago, I didn’t make the mistake of leaving the place on a high. You see, at that time I left after Dylan finished his set, crossing paths on my way to the parking lot with Deadheads that were vocally critical about this decision. I think they were right, I regret not staying, it would’ve been cool to see some Grateful Dead associated act live. This time I stayed and I’m glad I did. Kataklysm sounded a lot better live than they do on records. I always thought that the vocals sometimes resemble a bit too much Tomas Lindberg’s. In concert Maurizio Iacono’s vocals are filled with personality and are really powerful. My man can preach on stage too. Between songs he talked about being an outsider and his words translated to the club’s atmosphere. Sparsely attended, that’s a fact, but in the pit you could see people from all ages, men, women, different nationalities. Iacono was not just being corny, he was speaking the truth about the magic that sometimes happens at metal shows. The band played as if they were playing for thousands and with The Road to Devastation closed a night of -in the words of your average Deadhead- truly awesome vibes.

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