Bay Area Thrash Metal Month 2008

SF Bay Area Thrash Metal Month - Feb24-Mar 2008

Just by some total fluke Feb24-Mar 30 2008 in SF was Bay Area Thrash Metal Month. Check out this lineup.

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Exodus - Slim's - Feb 24/08

Of course you HAVE to start off Bay Area thrash month with the greatest thrash band of ALL TIME!!! It was my first time seeing Tom back on the kit since his return. He still totally rips!!! Of course! He hasn't lost a damn thing. The Hunting beat returns!!! Gary's line was "you can call him Tom or "The Best Drummer in Thrash Metal!!!". Well "THE thrash beat" is pretty much all his. Some of Baloff's cremains were on stage for the encore. Seriously! Gary is donating them to become part of a metal bar in Brazil. That'll be nice vacation for Paul. I'm still take it or leave it with the new guy but he is starting to settle in. He sure knows the bay area are his toughest critics and the "i'm from NY but this is my second home now" did nothing to win anyone over. Some old school locals beyhind me weren't haven't any of it though. The perfectly timed "you fucking suck!!!!" gang shouts in the audience participation parts of Blacklist were absolutely hilarious.

/ Iconoclasm / Funeral Hymn / And Then There None / Children of a Worthless God / Pirahna / Deathamphetamine / Blacklist / Gary's long welcome back intro / A Lesson in Violence / Strike of the Beast / Shovel Headed Kill Machine /
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War Is My Shepherd / Bonded By Blood /

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Fucking around: You're In Love(Ratt), Motorbreath, Phantom of the Opera, Burn, Walk / Toxic Waltz

'Don't tell me Winnepeg Canada are tougher than you!" - Gary Holt

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Forbidden - Slim's - Feb 29/08

I was really stoked for this one. THROUGH EYES OF GLASS!!!!! The recently reunited thrashers did some small town warm up gigs during the week but the two Slim's shows opening for Death Angel were the real deal reunion shows. The original "Forbidden Evil" album lineup minus Bostaph plus Gene Hoglan. Russ' range is a little narrower but hey, he's a guy would could stand to lose a little of the high end right? (just a little). It's good to see Gene back to playing some real metal for a change. He stayed mostly true to the original Bostaph parts with just a touch of Hoglan thrown in. Alvelais ripped but his gtr coulda used a little more on the fader.

/ March Into Fire / Out of Body, Out of Mind / Feel No Pain / Twisted Into Form / Off the Edge / Through Eyes of Glass / Hypnotized By The Rhythm / One Foot in Hell / Phat / Step by Step / Infinite / Chalice of Blood /

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Death Angel - Slim's - Feb 29/08

This was the original CD release show until the announced a 2nd show on the Thursday night after this one sold out. A full set of Forbidden's full-on metal stylings made this set just a little too rock. I think they ripped harder at the Slim's show that they opened for Destruction. I guess that had to prove their metal more that night or something. Tons from the new album here of course.

/ Lord of Hate / Evil Priest / The One Who Waits / Dethroned / Carnival Justice / Voracious Souls / Soulless / Worlds Collide / Kill As One / Seemingly Endless Time / God vs God / Devil Incarnate / Thrashers / Steal The Crown / 3rd Floor / Bored / Thicker Than Blood / Sonic Beatdown /
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Resurrection / Machine / UltraV intro / Thrown to the Wolves

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Sadus - The Independant - Mar 30/08

If you're a fan of the last album (like me) then this was your show. Check out that setlist. They followed up Viscious Rumours and Laaz Rockit (who were lame until "Mad Dog" Zetro got on stage to sing his fav tune and showed their Seinfeld-esque singer how to fucken attack a stage) so something darker was certainly welcome. They ripped it! Steve even had the minimoog out for NoMore. I need was more gtr where i was (in front of Darren) but everytime he stepped away from mic there was some excellent bleed through. This was my first time seeing them. They need to play more bay area gigs.

/ Out for Blood / Can't Bring Me Down / No More / Sick / Freedom / Sadus Attack / Lost It All / In Your Face / Eyes of Greed / Certain death (FAST!) /

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Testament - The Independant - Mar 30/08

SKOLNICK! SKOLNICK! SKOLNICK!
Same venue as last time but with Bostaph behind the kit. Things were a little looser this time than with the super sonic insaniac Barker at the helm. The band is still at the top of their form though which is so great to see. They're certainly more than ready for the Priest/Sabbath/Motorhead tour which was announced shortly after this show. Zetro made an appearance on stage this time (following some coaxing from Chuck). His total mad dog approach was in full effect this night. Get this guy back where he belongs. Please.

/ Over the Wall / Into the Pit / Apocalyptic City / Practice What You Preach / The New Order / Low / Trail of Tears / Henchmen Ride (new) / The Evil Has Landed (new) / Souls of Black / The Preacher /
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DN fucken R / Three Days in Darkness / Alone in the Dark (w/ Zetro) / Disciples of the Watch /

Mordred - Bottom of the Hill, SF, 4/12/07

A Mordred reunion with a set featuring both lineups (yeah the funk infused one too). The classic lineup were up first of course, and the chainmail and swords on the singer helped emphasize the fact that the original Mordred incarnation was ALL METAL. Guitarist Danny White was nailing everything but whoops, gtrst#2 was a little negligent a fewtimes on the gtr harmonies. Old school early 80s riffs galore from a Gibson V. Awesome.

The funk lineup only played 3 tunes (this was part of a larger bill of locals). Singer#2 (Scott) really sounds alot like John Bush now. Maybe he did in 1990 too but I've forgotten or maybe it was buried in the "whacca whacca" gtr lines. They played Johnny The Fox for all the TL fans. Someday I too will be into Phil Lynott. I just know it.

btw that's the actual setlist. i'm not THAT big a fan but it was laying there for the taking. I really have to dig out the first record. There were alot of bells ringing while watching the set but it's been a very long time since i've heard these tunes. This was a good way to boycott the band formerly known as The Haunted at Slim's this same night, but damn I would've liked to have sees DarkT again.

Megadeth/Sabbath - 4/24/07 - Shark Tank, SJ

MegaDave is running one damn fine tuned outfit these days. This show just smoked and was hands down the best Megadeth show I have ever seen. Mustaine stepped right outta 1983 for this gig. No puffy button down shirts tonight just lotsa headbanging and some seriously ripping guitars. The vocals were in fine form too which was a nice surprise. The tank was nicely populated (well the floor and first level anways) and most ppl right into the R.I.P and Peace Sells. It woulda been nice to hear Sleepwalker from the new record (that tune rules) it's more lively then WashingtonIsNext. Now while guitar tossings and fit throwings (see Gigantour'06 in Toronto) are nice to remind us that the pissed off Dave is still their under the reborn one, it was just great to hear the band total rip. Well except that White Lion bass player guy. I kept expecting to see him to do piruettes on stage and ruin the whole vibe.

setlist (not exactly in order and missed first 1 or two tunes):
...Take No Prisoners/Wake Up Dead/Hanger 18/Kick The Chair/Symphony/Tornado of Souls/Washington Is Next/Peace Sells/Holy Wars

Sabbath w/ Dio. Heaven&Hell (the song not the new lame $haron enforced moniker) was totally OTT in theatrics. Ronnie raised smoke up from below the stage. woah. Man some of their catalog though is just not stage worthy though. They shoulda busted out Symptom of the Universe or Children of the Grave to liven things up at several points. The encore Neon Knights was totally worth the admission price though. except for Captain Slow Poke Lazy Stroke behind the kit coating each tune in in 3 layers of molasses. damnit he wanted to drag every tune down to a standstill and only charlie watts coulda played fewer hihat hits.

missed openers Machine Head while the damn venue try to cram several thousand floor ticket holders through a single door in the back. WTFF!? No big loss though, while the new MH album makes some good strides to being a decent record, you still have to listen their horrible original (old?) new metal style on all the even #'d tracks. uggh. i got no time for that crap.

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

Testament - The Independant, 1/27/07, SF, CA

The Independant was sold out (~500 or so) for the return of several local metal acts. The show was opened by The Ruffians who have apparently been around the bay area since '83 and well...it sounds like they haven't learned a thing since. Yawn! stale cheese. The evenm more senior Vicious Rumours were next up with killer killer killer dueling leads and harmonies. New singer James Rivera (ex Helstar) was freakin incredible. There weren't any fake ironic metal bullshit falsetto screams here. This dude is the real thing in the grande Halford/Dickinson style. wow. nice surprise.

Testament were up next with their guitar genius and yet another drumming power house in tow. It was Nick Barker's night to shine as this was his first gig with the bay area thrash legends. The crowd reaction was a little luke warm to his announcement, but likely due to the older school crowd's ignorance of this dudes track record and abilities. Let's face it the drums were never the highlight of a Testament record, but Barker was expectedly solid and added slight Barker-isms to old Testament tunes. Just enough to keep the beat driving ahead and never stomp all over the tunes. The drumming highlight had to be DNR though with Nick doing his best Lombardo impersonation. The tempo was a up a little bit from the album version and just smoked. wow! He was sporting a Rush 2112 shirt, which must've been some Yin/Yang kinda statement. Skolnick was note perfect as usual. He whips out classic lead lines like they were microwaved butter. Completely effortless yet sooo accurate. Burnt Offerings was called out last minute by Chuck. It was obviously rehearsed but possibly not with Alex. He gave the nod though and of course killed some of the best lead playing from the debut album. Wicked set. No complaints. The crowd was kinda tame and only really whipped up a pit during....what else..."Into The Pit".

The Preacher
The New Order
The Haunting
Electric Crown
Trial By Fire
DNR (fucken firestorm!!!)
3 Days in Darkness
True Beleiver
Practice What You Preach
The Legacy
Into the Pit
Over the Wall
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Alone in the Dark
Disciples of the Watch
Burnt Offerings (dedicated to Zetro "he wrote this one" who was side stage)

Destruction/Death Angel - Slim's, SF, 1/23/07

DA were pretty stoked to see the packed hometown crowd at Slim's on a Tuesday night. They opened with what sounded like a part of a new song. It was pretty basic but built up in typical DA fashion. This was weaved straight into S.E.T. which totally ripped!!!. Cavestany's gtr sound and playing was bloody stellar. A few more thanks were exhanged to the audience for choosing the metal show with "roots that go deep down into the heart of this scene" (God Forbid/Mnemic/Arsis were in Oakland this night as well). Yeah, Osegueda was in fine form with his stage banter.

Some intro/new riff thing
Seemingly Endless Time
Evil Priest
Thicker Than Blood
Voracious Souls
5 steps to Freedom
3rd Floor
Devil Incarnate
Stagnant
Mistress of Pain
?? (All seems diff to me)
Thrown to the Wolves

Destruction took to the stage with a gawd awful guitar sound. Mike was pretty quick to start fucking with his amp after the first tune. He was playing a Krank amp which might be a new experiment for him. It improved somewhat but still sounded like an Electrolux played through a Big Muff. Damn roadies and soundman. Too much preset gtr wanking without any real "checking" during the sound check. Of course the sound issues ticked Schmier off quite a bit. They actually stopped the set at one point to chastize their soundman. Anyways, the crowd made the best of it of course. Schmier was stoked to be playing with DA in their hometown and that there was a real bay area style going on in front of the stage. Anyways, the band still ripped despite the sound problems and we got to hear Schmier say "I'M FUCKING PISSED OFF!". We wouldn't have any other way.

Curse of the Gods
Nailed to the Cross
Mad Butcher
Cracked Brain
The Defiance Will Remain
Antichrist/Sign of Fear/Release From Agony (medley)
Death Trap
Life Without Sense
>>Schmier gets pissed off at the soundman (rightfully so), Impromptu drum solo while guitar is fixed
Thrash til Death
Soul Collector
Bestial Invasion
Total Desaster
The Butcher Strikes Back (by audience request)