go to a kick ass metal show? Right? That’s what I thought! And in theory it sounded so easy to pull off. Reality had a slightly different plan. Don’t worry, I did make it out to the show. The only thing is, I missed all the opening bands and only caught two live performances (My deepest apologies to The Devil Wears Prada as they are a favorite of mine). After anxiously waiting for my escape from the family festivities ( and don’t get me wrong, I love all my family and had a blast celebrating with them. What am I, a monster?) I made my way to the venue and took a chance on a sliver of space that barely passed as a parking spot. As I walked away from my car and prayed to the rock gods that it wouldn't get towed, I was once again surrounded by the familiar sights, sounds (and smells) of the live rock show experience.
As a veteran rock show attendee I easily made my way passed the security and was able to catch one of my favorite songs by a favorite band that I had not yet seen up to this point.
Killswitch Engage is an American metalcore band from Westfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1999 after the disbanding of Overcast and Aftershock. Killswitch Engage's current lineup consists of vocalist Jesse Leach, guitarists Joel Stroetzel and Adam Dutkiewicz, bassist
Mike D'Antonio, and drummer Justin Foley. The band has released seven studio albums and
one DVD. Their latest album, Incarnate, was released on March 11, 2016. The song I was able
to catch was one of the first songs of theirs that I had heard: My last serenade off of their
sophomore full length Alive or Just Breathing. The band was in fine form with a lot of energy and a great live set up with some really cool light fixtures that spun and changed color and of course flashed with the rhythm and tempo of the kick drums. The band was lively and moved around the stage and interacted really well with the crowd. They ripped through many of their strongest songs from all their major releases and didn’t focus only on tracks from their most recent album. Even songs that I personally wasn’t too familiar with, they came across clear and are such well written metal songs that it’s easy to grab onto the hook and headband along with them. At the end of their hour-ish set, they invited Anthrax vocalist to take lead vocals on their great cover of Dio’s Holy Diver. They wasted no time on stage and kept the songs coming at a hard and heavy pace and did an excellent job performing their brand of modern heavy metal and I look forward to seeing them again for sure!
After the typical wait as the bands swap equipment the house lights go out and crowd cheers because we know the main act is about the hit the stage. They do and they rip into their first song. If you aren’t already in know Anthrax is one of the pioneering bands in the thrash metal genre, and not known for slow and subtle music. It was intense pretty much the entire show and the band kept their energy up. Everyone was in fine form especially original members Joey Belladonna, Bassist Frankie Bello , and guitarist Scott Ian. Drummer Charlie Benante sounded possessed on the drums and proved why he is a highly respected drummer and musician in the metal world. What did take me for a pleasant surprise was the addition of lead guitarist Jon Donais (formerly of Shadows Fall, another great band that I enjoy). I've seen Shadows Fall before and listened to them many times and knew he was a killer guitarist, but he was just way on top of his game and made even the most shredderiffic (not a word) solos seem totally natural. All together they sounded tight and heavy as hell, which is exactly what you’d want from a legendary band like Anthrax. Formed in 1981 on the East Coast, these elder statesmen of metal continue to prove why they are one of the Big Four (alongside Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth) and why they still have many more faces to melt and have no reason to stop! Be sure to check them out of tour in your area !
anthrax.com/tour/
The Arbiter