Saw Bobbie, Dave, Sako + Greg, Neil + Michelle (and their brood), Matt, Zachary, Ray, and Heavy Metal Chris! Great company!
When we got in line we heard what I thought was the last song of Sons of Eddie- ('Iron Maiden'), and by the time we entered the main room, the PA was blasting some DIO. OH WELL. Talk about a short set, allegedly coming on at 7:30, and stopping at ~7:45... I can't really say much except that I recognized the song that was playing.
There were about 90 or so people there at the high point (during King Giant's set), and about half that during A Sound of Thunder's set. Note that a number of people were in the alchemy room during each set, so the numbers may be slightly modified. Not a bad turnout tho!
Blood corps had a bunch of shirts, King Giant had some stuff, but I didn't see their merch table until the end of the show, so I just remember what looked like some box with a King Giant/Heineken logo (maybe it was a display shirt?), but I think they had shirts at least. A Sound of Thunder of course had their new album ($60 box/10 regular), other albums, patches, shirts.
Blood Corps's sound check was IMO a bit too loud, and they went on with a bang. They had a clean/harsh vocalist, 2 guitarists, bassist, and a drummer. Something about them seemed off. I think it was the indecision about song styles. Some songs were very Godsmack vocally, and generic Octane-riffs, ones that were almost metalcore (but not quite), and a couple were straightforward metal. And then there were a couple slower/ballads that just fell flat. Their set also went on IMO way too long. They were another one of those bands that needed to make a decision on which direction their songs should go and/or work more on the craft. One song they brought someone one stage to help with vocals....and I thought that their guest had way more of a stage presence than any one else on stage I'm not sure if they could have kept that energy level for the entire set, but hey I was impressed. I felt that the underwhelming songs and the long set length made me a bit...bored. I think Nina used to be in this band...
A Sound of Thunder finally came on close to 11 (uggh). Thanks to the setlist preview I got- I was able to chant for the excellent opener "Queen of Hell!" Nina, Josh, Chris, and Jesse sounded great overall, but of course there were a few issues. Jesse's mic on "My Disease" was a bit off (he sang the Blaze Bayley parts), which detracted from that song a bit. There were also some minor mic issues during the first couple songs as well. Typical Empire sound system for the first song, as usual.
During "Out of the Darkness" we had a 3 person mini pit- yes it was kind of weak, but still a bit fun. During 'I Will Not Break," Nina had the young fans who were there (about 4 or 5) come on stage and ROCK OUT MAN. That must have been pretty fun for them!
The setlist had 9 out of 11 of the songs on their new album "Time's Arrow"- AND a NEW song! For an album release show, that's pretty great. This is not without its issues, as not everyone had heard the new album by the time of the show (still more listening than the Arsis album release show- which was the day of the album release!)- I personally only was able to give the album a couple listens before this show. This was the first long set that I've seen A Sound of Thunder have, since their album release for their previous effort- "Out of the Darkness" in March of 2012, so it was a treat to hear a lengthy set from these hometown heroes!
Photos:
Photo of setlist
A Sound of Thunder
Next Show: Killswitch Engage @ The Fillmore, Silver Spring BROTHER
Setlists:
Sons of Eddie (ended ~ 7:45)
- Iron Maiden
Blood Corps (8:17- 9:04)
- ?
- ?
- Drawn together
- Anthem
- Evolution
- Penetrate Your Mind
- Dreamscape
- ?
- 10 years ago
- Breakdown
- ?
- ?
- Rockstar Mafia
King Giant (9:35- 10:25)
- ?
- Steward's Prayer
- Potter's Field
- Tale of Matthias
- Mississippi River
- ?
- ? (one of these was Appomattox)
- Six O' Clock Swill
- 13 to 1
- Seasons of Suffering
A Sound of Thunder (10:47- 12:27)
- Queen of Hell
- Time's Arrow
- I Will not break
- Out of the Darkness/ Just Another Fool
- Wastelands
- I'll Walk With You
- Broken Bridge
- Power Play
- The Day I Die
- guitar solo/medley including Zero/Hero, Balls to the Wall, ?, Victim of Changes, ?)
- Drum solo
- Master of Pain
- My Disease
- Reign of the Hawklords
- Blood Vomit
- A Sound of Thunder
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