I got there early to see Holy Grail, the band I was most excited about with their classic metal sound (with some twists). They were, as expected, great. So much energy and they sounded amazing. I briefly got in the pit for my favourite song- 'My Last Attack,' but was quickly pushed back out. They played a number of tracks from their solid new album 'Ride the Void.' I think the title track was my favourite. James Paul Luna sure can wail. I got a photo with him after their set. Too bad I wasn't wearing a White Wizzard shirt :/ Also of note was the initial HELLO SILVER SPRINGS was promptly corrected by someone in the audience, and JPL riffed a lil 'oh ok, singular' ... a nice change from the blatant s's from Chuck Billy.
The crowd was pretty great, the floor eventually got pretty packed. Several hundred people were in attendance
Holy Grail had CDs and a couple lame shirts. Shadows Fall had about the same merch they had the last shows. Municipal Waste had a bunch of shirts, and a SNUGGIE. Anthrax and Exodus had a ton of shirts (25-30) and a hoodie (45) and CDs. I didn't get anything.
Shadows Fall was on next, and I dunno what happened, but something about their set this time was off. I thought they sounded good, but maybe it was that their set was very similar to the last 2 times I saw them (Hatebreed and Killswitch shows) seemed kind of boring this time. I still think their Bob Marley cover is meh. Nothing sounded bad, and the crowd was pretty active, but I just didn't really feel their set this time.
Municipal Waste, who the crowd seemed to cheer loudly, was on next. I was not expecting great things from the couple of songs I had heard. It is kind of odd, cause I like Storm Troopers of Death and Lich King, who are thrashy silly bands with ridiculous lyrics. Municipal Waste seems in the same genre, so I figure if I had been more familiar with their songs I would have thought more of them. But as it was, I thought several songs started out good (Sadistic Magician), but then degenerated to a messy display. Don't get me wrong, they certainly brought the party to the majority of the crowd, who moshed, crowd surfed, and headbanged along. I need something less punky, but hey they were OK, but not someone I'd go out of my way to see.
Exodus, whom I had seen a couple times before years ago, were on. I recall their previous performances being...lackluster, which is a shame based on their albums, which range from classic thrash to very aggressive and heavy. This time, thankfully, they were pretty badass. The crowd went noticeably ape, and were very active. The vocals were a bit rough, but the rhythm section sounded particular good. For the 'Toxic Waltz' or 'Bonded By Blood,' James Paul Luna from Holy Grail came out and helped on vocals for the last part of the song, but his vocals were pretty buried. These guys def exceeded my expectations and I really enjoyed their set. Particularly 'Blacklist.' They toasted the guy from the Deftones (personally not a fan), as well which got a pretty big reaction.
Anthrax finally came on, and sounded maybe slightly less powerful than last time they played here, but still probably the best sounding of the night. I saw Charlie walk with some coffee as I was getting to the area, but somehow didn't think of to hassle him for a photo. Joey still has his mullet and Scott seemed to have recovered from his food poisoning, so that was good. Everything sounded good, and I think it was nice to hear some of the odd songs off of 'Among...' For 'In the End' (my second favourite after 'I am the Law'), there were 2 backdrops/flags- 1 of Dio, 1 of Dimebag. Pretty emotional. However, I was disappointed that they dropped the SOD cover that was on other dates. I knew they would play at least 1 cover from their covers EP, but the AC/DC one was def the safest/most boring they could have picked. Not that it didn't sound amazing- because it did. After it, Joey sang one line of Priest's 'The Ripper!' But why so many covers? '...Time' (meh song IMO), 'Antisocial', and 'TNT'... And of course I thought their 'I'm the Man' rapsong was particularly horrible, easily the worst song of the night- from any band. I don't know why they needed to play that song (only half of it it seemed, tho).
A pretty fun show, overall. Totally recommended if you like thrash :3 This show prepared me, and a number of people I saw at this show, for PAGANFEST THE NEXT DAAAYYYY
Photos:
Holy Grail
Me with James Paul Luna of Holy Grail
Shadows Fall
I drew on the wall
Exodus
Exodus II
Anthrax
Anthrax II
Anthrax III
Setlists
Holy Grail (~6- :625)
- Dark Passenger
- Bleeding Stone
- Ride the Void
- Crosswinds
- My Last Attack
- Fight to Kill
Shadows Fall (I think this is accurate, from a recent show thru Setlist.fm)
- The Light That Blinds
- The Idiot Box
- Weight of the World
- King of Nothing
- The Power of I and I
- Divide and Conquer
- War (Bob Marley Cover)
- Intro
- Unleash the Bastards
- The Thrashin' of the Christ
- Sadistic Magician
- You're Cut Off
- Authority Complex
- Beer Pressure
- Thrashing's My Business... And Business Is Good
- Terror Shark
- Headbanger Face Rip
- Mind Eraser
- The Art of Partying
- The Ballad of Leonard and Charles
- A Lesson in Violence
- War Is My Shepherd
- Fabulous Disaster
- Blacklist
- Bonded by Blood
- The Toxic Waltz
- Strike of the Beast
Anthrax
- Among the Living
- Caught in a Mosh
- I Am the Law
- Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)
- A Skeleton in the Closet
- Hymn 1
- In the End
- T.N.T. (AC/DC cover) (w/ short Back in Black" riff)
- Madhouse
- Indians
- One World
- A.D.I. / Horror of It All
- Got the Time (Joe Jackson cover)
- Imitation of Life
- Drum Solo
- I'm the Man (partial)
- Antisocial (Trust cover)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thoughts? Gripes? Additions? Hate? Leave a comment!