Sunday, February 18, 2007

Unleashed - The Metro, Oakland, CA - 2/17/07


"Hell's Unleashed, yeah all insane
Freakin' hard so fuckin' wild
Join the madness or step aside"

Well we didn't get that one (and i lost my voice trying damnit!), but that was the rule of the night. Yes Warriors, it's hardly news but Johnny is fully possessed by Cronos circa 1983. "Do you want some more? .... Noooooo?" he says taunting the audience into a frenzy in a very effective and very Conrad Lant manner. Luckily he didn't get pissed that some ill informed dude kept yelling "Norway" all night. In fact, he was damn thrilled with the crowd's reaction. The "We're going home.......I AM home" comment pretty much explained that, along with the many fist_slammed_to_heart acknowledgements from Mr Hedlund. cheers!

Frederik fucken ripped. The 5150 was cranked up just right for every killer lead that he tore outta that Rhoads-knock-off V. I would've loved to have heard "Fly Raven Fly" (total killer Yngwie-strat tone lead) and "Burnt Alive" (complete with a beer bottle slide intro) for the leads alone (and BA is now my fav tune), but there were plenty of other great solos. "Blood of Lies", "Midvinterblot" and "In Victory..". gawd damn that dude can kill it.

There were alot of gaps between tunes (for bass tuning or beer drinking), that the crowd filled with song requests (and mistaken homeland shouts...uggh). "You gotta give an old man a chance to have a drink" was Johnny's eventual explanation. Crowd particpation (packed btw) was in full effect too. Cheese? oh yeah, but ahh whatever, take another drink of the $2 PBR and soak it up. Fucken good times!

Hedlund promised to return soon. Hope that's true. Check Midvinterblot if you haven't yet. Perfected old world metal.
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Intro
Blood of Lies (killer opener!)
In the Name of God
Never Ending Hate
I Don't Want To Be Born (yeah!...\m/Cronos\m/)
To Asgaard We Fly
Triumph of Genocide (major head banging!)
Midvinterblot
Execute Them All
In Victory or Defeat
Winterland
The Long Ships are Coming
Death Metal Victory
Into Glory Ride
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Legal Rapes
The Immortals
Before The Creation of Time (crowd choice from WNLD)
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Shadows in the Deep