The Beginning

The day had arrived in a rather peculiar way for me. This was a day I had anticipated since last March...but now,in early April,it was upon me again. You know what I mean...the thoughts of how geat every band you want to see is going to plaster you to your seat with nothing put pure energy and primal power. I dreamed of seeing the bands I wanted to see,imagined playlists of songs I wanted to hear,and thought about how kick ass the whole weekend would be. So why did it start peculiar like I said above? Well...I normally don't wake up because I have to make a monster piss.

It was seven forty-five in the morning,and considering that I went to sleep sometime around three that morning,I was not in the most joyous of moods. The knowledge that I wouldn't be getting much sleep in the motel room didn't help matters any. I got dressed,went into the living room to watch SportsCenter (gotta keep up on those NHL scores) and wait...wait for the moment we would leave the shitty,non-metalhead friendly town of Bloomfield NJ and make the three day pilgrimage to Asbury Park,New Jersey for this long awaited event. It would surley be something great...at least thats how I built it up in my own small,small mind.

Finally,around nine in the morning,we all started communicating via the telephone to plan out the morning before we left for Asbury Park. An hour and a half later,Anthony was walking up the hill to my home,Rich and Tim were just pulling up,and we all greeted each other with handshakes and other salutations as we went off to feast on breakfast at the International House Of Pancakes. We pulled up...and we went in for the traditional Metalfest breakfast (what a bunch of losers we are). The conversation around breakfast was centered around old-school wrestling (we are all big wrestling fans) and midgets (making bad midget jokes,telling bad midget stories,and even the waitress chimed in with some comments,the six of us having a good laugh). At one point,we were laughing so damn hard that I almost couldn't breathe (my brother kept shoveling food into his mouth,despite laughing).

We left the IHOP and we (Rich,Anthony,and I) went over to Rich's house (he forgot some things. He also went to take a dump) while Tim and my brother left to han out for the rest of the day (they couldn't go due to work). Anthony and I played around with the lights in Rich's car and made bad jokes while Rich dropped his friends off at the pool,and we were off...but NOT to the hotel. We wound up at Anthony's house (apparently HE forgot stuff as well. What ever happened to BEING READY!) where he called his friend Shannon. Five minutes later,we went off to her house (oh joy!).

We pulled up and went inside for a while. After about twenty minutes,I decided to go outside,despite the light rain,and have a cigarette. I lit up around three of them before they were ready (about twenty minutes later),and then we were off to pick up Anthony and Shannon's frind Christy (again...oh joy. I think she hates me for some reason...actually,I think BOTH of them hate me,but thats another story for another time.) who was just getting some stuff done. We left for th center of town for them to pick up clove cigarettes and a cooler for alcohol (in the CVS drug store,Rich kept accidentally knocking down displays with Easter candy. It was pretty damn funny,to tell you the truth.) and finally,at three in the afternoon (the earliest we could have checked into the hotel anyway), we hit the Garden State Parkway for the only reason we got together on this rather murky day...HEAVY FUCKING METAL!

On The Highway and At The Hotel

We left for the Garden State Parkway,and originally,the girls were going to follow us down to the hotel (I don't know if Anthony gave them directions or not...but I guess he did.) and then we would check in and hang out for a while. Well,after paying the toll to get on the Parkway,we almost immediatley lost them someplace behind us. Eventually,after the traffic cleared up (which surprised me...I didn't think at three in the afternoon on a shitty day the highway would be almost bumper to bumper,but it was.) and we saw them a little bit behind us...no big deal...until we hit the first toll plaza.

For those of you who don't live in New Jersey,you might not know the horror of the GSP...because there is a toll almost every mile. It is very fucking annoying after awhile,but oh well...thats how this shitty state makes its money. Anyway,we leave the toll plaza and what do we see ahead of us but Shannons car. I thought they were behind us,but I guess Anthony did give them directions after all. The ride down was rather boring,but luckily the radio was on,and the show (Opie And Anthony-like Howard Stern but MUCH funnier. Great funny shit.Highly Reccomended.) was fucking hilarious. Laughing all the way down to Tinton Falls,where we eventually pulled into the parking lot of the hotel (after pulling into the parking lot for commuters to catch buses) and we thought that Shannon and Christy would be there when we got there (I mean,they were ahead of us,right?). Surpirse,surprise...they weren't. In fact,they didn't get there for almost another half hour (no big deal,but Anthony was trying to call Christy's cell phone which she had turned off to save the battery). They pulled into the wrong parking lot...like we did when we arrived at first. I walked through the saprse bushes and greeted them...and then they got into the right parking lot and we checked in to the rooms (why didn't WE do that? The girls had reserved the rooms on a credit card,so we couldn't have gone up even if we wanted to.).

We got up to the room,and while Anthony and Rich carfully placed their clothes in drawers,I threw my bag of clothing into the closet along with my jacket. I went over to a large,comfortable chair and started flipping throught the TV stations looking for something,ANYTHING,to be on while they packed their clothes into the drawers underneath the television. Our room had some kind of thing where we could have played Nintendo (we didn't because it costs extra money and Nintendo sucks anyway. Playstation ALL THE FUCKING WAY.) and a porn channel (which no-one ordered because of the cost and the fact that no-one wanted to watch someone else flog their dolphin. Thats just common courtesy,damnit!).

The Quest For Metal...and Cigarettes

After about an hour of settling in,we decided to hit the road for the Asbury Park Convention Center...and I forgot that I needed my fuel (i.e.-Cigarettes) to function,so when we pulled into the parking lot,I realized that I needed my little buddies. I went to the Howard Johnson resteraunt near the Convention Center and they didn't have any...but they told me of a bar down the road that did. We left for the bar,admiring the bombed out hovel of a shithole that Asbury Park is (my mom told me stories of it being beautiful at one time,but not now.). I went to the bar and asked if they had cigarettes. They had a fucking machine that ONLY TOOK SINGLE DOLAR BILLS. Luckily,Anthony was able to break a twenty dollar bill,and I got my cigarettes (Salem 100's in case you needed to know.) so now I was ready to enter the weekend of metal with everything I needed.

We walked up to the door and were frisked by security. No big deal...but these were no ordinary security guards...they were The Peacekeepers. The Peacekeepers are a bunch of thugs who bounce and do security at clubs in South/Central Jersey and I have seen them throw people down flights of stairs (Rich can attest to this) and I have seen them beat someone down who stood up to them (oh wow...I'm so so safe with idiots beating up drunks.). They fucking suck ass...but the guy frisked me and let me go. Then,I got frisked again and the moron who ripped my ticket gave me a small,almost microscopic stub for the next days re-entry. Fucking jerkoff.

METAL SUPREMACY!(part one)

We hit the floor of the Asbury Park Covention Center and we could already hear some horrible band playing on the Relapse Records stage (we arived around six o'clock,so The Esoteric were on stage...I think. These things ALWAYS have bands running late...so maybe it was Terricon. Oh Well...) while I went looking for some CD's in the vendor section (I didn't find what I was REALLY looking for all weekend,but I sangged some REALLY COOL SHIT before the weekend was over.). We split up upon entry,but Rich found me and we went to the Digital Metal.com Stage to hang out.

One band was exiting the stage,so we sat down,hung out,and mainly talked about some shit before a band named TAPPING THE VEIN came on-stage. They were just boring (at least to me),and after about four or five songs,I left and went to the other various stages for a while...not realy paying attention to any of the bands playing...but just hanging out. Soon,I ran into Anthony,and we went back to the Digital Metal.com Stage to just bullshit about some bands we had seen (apparently,he just wandered around as well...he didn't know any bands that played while he was walking around.) and also just to sit down in the almost empty room. STAMPING GROUND was on stage as we entered,and they weren't bad...but the sound sucked (like most of the weekend as well as the other Metal Meltdowns of the past),and I hate listening to shit I can't possibly care about,so we left there as well.I went out to the Relapse Records Stage and watched a band named KALIBAS. Typical grind bullshit...as much as I like old NAPALM DEATH and S.O.B.,I can't stand listening to bands that do nothing but attempt to re-create "From Enslavement To Obliteration",but since there was no-where else to go,I stuck around,waiting for DECEASED to hit the stage.

DECEASED played and they kicked ass...despite the idiot sound guy not turning up the vocal mic high enough (it was audible...but it wasn't very good. Maybe it is because the Drums and the Vocal Mic are so close together that the sound guy knows it'll bleed over,possibly making the problem worse.) it was an enjoyable set...including The Premonition,The Triangle,Robotic Village,The Thirteen Frigtened Souls, and a devestating cover of "Tormentor" by the gods of all German Thrash Metal KREATOR. It was fucking amazing...and I sang almost every word (even though I was near the back...I don't GIVE a shit...I'll sing if I want to!). Another band I was semi-interested in seeing came on stage next...they were DEFILED,a black metal band from Japan. They played a few songs,and while they were alright,that's all the songs were.

At this point,I went to get a soda and I went over to the Snake Pit Metal Radio Stage and caught the last few songs by VINTERSONG. The songs were pretty damn good,and I might be cheking their CD's out some time in the future. I found Anthony and Rich and we hung out while we waited for PAIN to come on-stage. I waited a LONG time for PAIN to come on-stage (they took their sweet-ass time getting up there). Now,if everything on this stage was on time,I would have missed the band in favor of DECEASED...but since this event always has at least ONE STAGE that runs late,I wasn't surprised. I was glad it ran late too,because PAIN were fucking excellent. Awesome stage presence,a great vocallist,and a killer sound al complemented them,as they closed out their show with a cover of "Elanor Rigby" by The Beatles (god,I hate that fucking song...although this was at least interesting to listen to). Their show ended,and the crowd applauded them for a good long time...they really WERE great,and one of my favorite bands that played this year.

Next up was OPETH...a band I heard nothing but praise about,but I never really gave a shit about (mainly praise coming from people on the Metal Maniacs Message Board,so I didn't trust it at all.). While I stayed,Anthony and Rich left to watch SHADOWS FALL on the Digital Metal.com Stage. I didn't really like what I have heard from SHADOWS FALL so I didn't mind watching OPETH. At the end of their set,I didn't know if I should clap them for a great performance or boo them for ruining such beautiful music with horrible death metal vocals. I heard their songs were long,but each one was about seven or eight minutes in length and I wasn't prepared for it. Overall...they were really,really good and I wouldn't mind picking up their stuff (any suggestions?) in the future.

I would have stuck around to watch AMORPHIS...but their new shit is a total disgrace to their first two killer albums (fucking rock stars!). Unfortunatley,Rich.,Anthony,and the girls went to watch them,so I hung out around the Relapse Stage and watched people packing their shit up...closing the vendor section for the night except for this guy from Germany (I think) and I had no place better to go,so I went to see what this fucker had for sale. The same shit he didn't move last year made its return,along with some Cradle of Filth t-shirts and other shit. Funny story-while I was looking at the CD's the guy had (which I couldn't see that good...it was dark and they had desk lamps shining on their wares,so light relflected off of most cd jewel cases),a girl was looking throught the t-shirts the guy had. She came across a RAZOR t-shirt and she asked him howmuch it was. "Thirty dollars" he said in his low,accented tone to which she replied "Well,I don't think I want to spend that kind of money on a t-shirt". He came back with something I found funny and scummy at the same time..."Well,I guess you're not true Razor fan then". I couldn't stop laughing...what a jackass scum-fucking piece of shit.

The Thing That Shouldn't Have Been

After AMORPHIS ended their ste (the girls liked it,Anthony hated it,and Rich didn't give a shit about them),we decided to leave. Outside,Anthony and the girls ran into a firend of theirs named Pete. I couldn't give a shit less,but they wanted to go to a room party this idiot was throwing,so I went along (not that I could have fought it...I didn't drive down there,Rich did,and he wanted to go.). We entered the hotel that was right across the street from Covention Hall,and it was filled with drunken metalheads. After a few minutes (after finding out the bar was closing) ,we went up to this kids room. For some reason,Sharron doesn't like elevators and perfers to take stairs from floor to floor in hotels and shit,so she got onto an elevator with Christy,Anthony,and Rich before I could get on (I wouldn't have fit anyway...it was crammed with the four of them in it.)...so I found the stairs. Before I climbed,though,I asked myself a question...would I have a better time wasting it with shitheads who I really hate...or should I hang outside and smoke,collect my thoughts,and have a great time alone. Eventually,I didn't want to hear Anthony and Rich moaning like little girls telling me I'm ruining their time,so I went upstairs. I wondered where everyone was because when I arrived,Shanon was the only one I recognized. She informed me that they went back down in the elevator,looing for me. Maybe I should have gone outside. Anyway,they came back up and they went to this kids room while I sat on a couch in the hallway of the hotel...staring into space. A few of his friends got beer from their hotel room and started drinking...I sat. Then,some stupid cunt started getting REALLY loud,shouting "I don't care,I want my fucking pot you asshole". Some large guy came out with som other kid who looked like a runt holding this bitchs shit. The large guy looked at me and said something really stupid (something like "You look like trouble" or some kind of dumb crap".). I was ready to get the fuck up and knock this fucker out when his bitch came out,still shouting about weed and heroin and coke and all other kinds of shit. Then,some idiot got out of an elevator and threw a smoke bomb or poder or something,but all I saw was a huge white cloud behind the guy and the runt. When the hotel security guard came up to the room,I took it as a cue to leave,and with Anthony and Rich in tow,we made our exit using the stairwell. We leave the hotel,nd who is standing there near an SUV complaining about frugs other than the stupid drunk whore we just saw upstairs. We went to the car and left for the hotel...it was now three in the morning.

Day Two...It Won't Die!

We went back up to the room. Anthony went to the shower,Rich and I went to look for a resteraunt. The woman at the front desk told us about a White Castle resteraunt down Route 35. Rich and I asked Anthony what he wanted,and we left for the reseraunt. After about a total of forty-five minutes,we had the food back at the hotel (we made a huge order) and we all started chowing down before everyone went to sleep around five in the morning. I actually fell asleep around five-thirty or six in the morning and woke up around ten...out I went for a cigarette. I got back and Rich had just woken up,and I started chugging a Coke I had placed in the ice bucket the night before. At around eleven-fifteen,we were on the road again for the breakfast buffet Anthony's aunt had told him about. We went in and there was noone at the register,so we grabbed ourselves a table and began to eat. The manager came over and we straightened out our bill with the resteraunt and everything like that (we ain't crooks or anything like that.). Before we left,I REALLY had to take a shit...and man,did I ever SHIT! It felt really good to get that out of my system,but I could tell that I was sick...I felt it in my huge gut. We went to the Metalfest for day two after I shit.

METAL SUPREMACY! (part two)

At around one in the afternoon,we re-entered the building for Metalfest-Day Two. Before we re-entered,Anthony lost a war of worlds to a little black kid who was standing close to the parking lot in the way to the Convention Center. I thought it was pretty funny...and he will NEVER live it down. But anyway,we got in and I went back to the table the German guy was at...and I bought a cd from the guy...hoping thatwhile I browsed,another dumb-ass comment would come spewing from his lips...no suck luck this time.

I moved over to the table that was selling the new IMAPLER album...mainly because my brother wanted me to pick that up for him (as well as ANY ELECTRIC WIZARD and CATHEDRAL(new one only) albums I could find. He gave me money,so it wasn't a big deal.)...and I knew they were going to be doing a meet and greet,so I figured "Shit...I'll get this signed for him"...and I did. I have to say that they were great guys and I looked forward to seeing their set,as I like their new stuff MUCH,MUCH more than their 80's stuff. They were really cool guys,and I figured their set would definetly be worth it.

I ran into Anthony shortly afterwards,and we hung out for a while. In the meantime,I could hear the band HATRED on the Relapse stage,and they sounded really cool. Old-school death metal with ALOT of early thrash influences...only the sound sucked,and I departed with Anthony to watch the band play. When their set ended,I moved back into line for the CATHEDRAL/BERSERKER signing. They had their new album for sale,so I grabbed it and got it signed for my brother(I'm not a REALLY big CATHEDRAL fan,but my brother almost killed himself when he found out they were playing. He RAEALLY wanted to come along,but his damn job had gim tied down.) while BERSERKER sat there with their fans geting shit signed. Every time I hear the name BERSERKER,I think of the film CLERKS with the huys cousin singing "My Love For You Is Like A Truck,BERSERKER. Would You Like Some Making Fuck,BERSERKER". I laughed in the line the whole time,repeating that in my head. The fact that they looked like idiots did nothing to stop my occasional outbursts of laughter. It was realy damn funny.

After that I saw King Fowley of DECEASED,and just about every other fucking band you can probably name, standing around and talking to people.I went up and thanked him for giving us the interview on the site as well as signing Bob Mitchell to his Battle Zone Records label. Anthony came over,and we all hung out for about five minutes. I told King about the band ANIHILATED and their problems with re-releasing their albums (no master tapes-only way to do it is to bootleg the fucking things. Damn...the industry sucks!),giving him SI's e-mail address and asking him to get in contact with him. I think he did...I won't say anything because I don't know what's going on with it...I don't think it is possible.

I probably killed about an hour just bullshitting with people,buying cd's,and handing out business cards for the website,hoping that people would visit us on the web (for those of you who have...thank you...we appreciate the support.). Iwent over to the Century Media/Nuclear Blast booth (it was one in the same) and got a few records (after driving the poor girl there nuts,looking for cd's she had to keep taking off the table.)After taking a few people on at once with their requests of albums,she came back to me and handed me sixty-four dollars as change...but I only gave her forty. I told her,gave back the sixty bucks,and then she whispered to me "thank you for being honest" as I walked away with my four bucks and a huge confidence boost (I don't do so good with the ladies...but you probably figured that out already.). I went over to the Snake Pit Radio Stage,where I would spend the rest of he dy except for cigarette time,checking out the bands. I arrived after more hanging out and promoting,and TEMPERED STEEL was on stage.

TEMPERED STEEL played the Meltdown last year and I found them to be somewhat mediocre. Their songs weren't that good, their presence lacked, and overall, like I said above, it was rather mediocre. While they were better this year (mainly they played better songs), they still had no presence and they were just average. Their songs however lifted them above many other bands that played that day. Alright,but it isn't too bad. Anthony handed their singer our business card after their set and asked for an interview which we have goten...but we are waiting for them to get back to us. TEMPERED STEEL,IF YOU ARE READING THIS,ONTACT ANTHONY ABOUT THE INTERVIEW. THANK YOU!

IMPLAER are a band who are kind of like OVERKILL and THE RAMONES...if something works,stick with it. Their horror/sci-fi gimmick is WAY better than their early,semi-glam looking totally horrible early material,and this show would prove WHY IMPLAER has to be seen as well as heard. What do they SOUND like? Take some basic metal/punk music and throw in lyrics that THE MISFITS would probably write and you should have a really good idea. Well,their stage show started with them dragging out a dead Bill Lindsey (their vocallist) and bringing him back to life,setting up their opening song "Somehow I Live Again" from their new album. From there,a half hour of schlocky gore and kick-ass music that satisfied pretty much everyone in the audience (I came back close to the end of their set. I was getting autographs from PRIMAL FEAR while the band played. Even worse,some shitty band that was on the Relapse stage sucked a dick. SHIT!).

The next band up was named GUARDIANS OF THE FLAME. From their name alone,I had an idea of what they would sound like (Guardians Of The Flame is the name of an early VIRGIN STEELE record). Their singer was sick,so they had someone fill in for him,and he was reading the lyrics while he was singing them...too bad,because the songs were really good and with their regular vocallist,I could only imagine how they could have killed. The band featured the original bassist of VIRGIN STEELE as well as JACK STARR of VIRGIN STEELE and BURNING STARR on guitar. Their vocallist did the best he could,and that is comendable. They were good,but they could have been great.

The next band,RED RIGHT HAND,I missed for some reason ( I think I went to get a candy bar and a drink or some shit like that. I probably had a smoke or two as well.) From what I heard,they were alright,but nothing special. Onto the next band...EINHERJER play what they call "Viking Metal" or "Norse Metal" or some other stupid name like that. Whatever the fuck you classify them as,they are absolutley amazing live. I have heard an album called "Odin Owns Ye All",and while it wasn't bad I wasn't too thriled with it either...average. If you feel the same way,see them live...they are well worth the price. So what if I didn't know what the songs were named or even how to pronounce the damn name...their stage presence was awesome. They OWNED the crowd...a hard feat for ANY FUCKING BAND...and if it was based on performance and presence alone,I would rate them above IRON MAIDEN for on-stage energy and making the fans care about you. Just fucking awesome...one of the top five performances of the event this year.

Next was the band Anthony REALLY wanted to see. Don't get me wrong,I like PRIMAL FEAR alot,despite their JUDAS PRIEST similarities (others would say plagurisms) they are a great band in their own right. They came out on stage,and the place went nuts. They played a ton of songs from their new album,as well as hitting some tracks from their first two albums (Pimal Fear and Jaws of Death). While they were great on stage,they couldn't touch EINHERJER who owned everyone who watched. PRIMAL FEAR kicked alot of ass...and they will for years to come (hopefully).

Next up was the band I really wanted to see...EXCITER. I have been an EXCITER fan since I was around fourteen or fifteen years old,and I have alway wanted to see them live...and this was my fucking chance. Before they even hit the stage,stuff was going on in the crowd. King Fowley sure does know how to make a fucking enterance,,as he came down to the front row,anticipating EXCITER and knowing how kick asz they were going to be. He referred to Anthony and I as his "Unstoppable Force buddies" as we shok hands,and then more people came down to the front of the stage. Someone had brought some beers into the Covention Hall, and all I could do was laugh while King started downing Budweisers. The security woman started giving him cap about sneaking it in,so he downed the fucking thing and handed he can to her. I couldn't help but laugh.

Meanwhile,EXCITER played their set and they didn't let me down...unlike "The Dark Command". The set consisted mainly of their older classic material,including "Stand Up And Shout","Violence and Force", and "I Am The Beast". While it wasn't the original line-up,it was still EXCITER goddamnit...and I enjoyed their fucking set. Yeah,their new stuff isn't nearly as good as their classic stuff...it doesn't matter to me...I saw EXCITER. I was so goddamn tired,and feeling ill,that I went towards the back of the stage to watch the rest of the bands that played. Now,all I have to see is DIAMOND HEAD and I could die a very happy man. Next up...RAVEN!

I have seen RAVEN a few times over the past year,and while they were great,the soundmen at the clubs didn't know how to make the band sound. Fortunatley,the soundguy at the Snake Pit Radio Stage kicked ass,and eery band that played there sounded awesome. While RAVEN played,I spoke between songs with Bill Lindsey of IMPALER,complimenting them on the parts of their set that I saw (and I informed him that some of the "gore" they used was hanging over the guradrail at the front of the stage. He thought it was funny,and he informed me that they should be hitting New Jersey to tour sometime around the summer. We bullshitted for a good while,and when we didn't speak,RAVEN kicked ass on the entire audience. Their great sound and greater songs made this the best set of RAVEN songs that I have ever seen. They played classic material and newer songs,all of them made their performance memorable.

HOLOCAUST,another NWOBHM band,was playing next. In preperation for their newer stuff from "The Courage To Be"(An excellent record. If you like NWOBHM,get it now!) I listened to tape Anthony made me for a good long time. Well,Anthony was lost because they played NOTHING but older songs from "The Nightcomers" and various other songs. I loved it...and sang along with most of the set while I sat in the middle of the theater. Goddamn it...why does every CANNIBAL CORPSE clone rip-off band get to play all over the U.S. while bands like HOLOCAUST,BLITZKRIEG,and GAMMA RAY play everywhere else but this fucking country. Shit!

ANVIL were next,and I have to say that I wasn't impressed at all with the set. I like the band ANVIL alot,but their performance this year I didn't feel was as good as previous years. The newer songs were alright,but after their third song I left and then after hearing the shit on the Relapse stage I re-entered to see the rest of ANVILs set. Lips was seriously pissed that their set time got cut short and he was ready to kill someone (at least thats how he looked to me).

I left the Snake Pit Stage because I can't fucking stand FLOTSAM AND JETSAM. They are one of the most boring bands I have ever heard in my life,and I thanked god that I wasn't trapped in the place to watch them. I went walking around again,and Anthony waited to get some shit signed by HOLOCAUST. I felt sick as a dog,but I wasn't going to leave. No fucking way. There was still metal to see...and shit I still had to look for. I went over to some vendor tables and went back to talk briefly with John from RAVEN about getting the interview to him. He really is a great guy,as he semi-choked Anthony and we shook hands and we generally talked for ten minutes before I told him I would get him the interview questions. After that,Anthony,Rich and I went walking around the covention center,looking for any CD's we might have passed up before leaving. One of the funniest moments was when some guys at the Relapse booth put each other through a wooden table-wrestling style. A small "ECW, ECW" chant filled the hall as we decided to leave due to Anthony and myself feeling sick.

Another fucking quest? (yeah...for BEER!)

We arrived back to the hotel around 1:45 on Sunday morning when Anthony noticed a red light blinking on the phone. He picked the phone up and it was the girls asking if we wanted anything to eat from a diner they happened to be at. Me and Rich asked for chiken fingers while Anthony opted for a burger. I decided to go walk over to a 7-11 store close to the hotel,and Rich decided to come along. We both hoped that they stoke alcohol (I really wanted a beer,while that wussy Anthony wanted wine coolers. Fucking wussy!). We walked over,and despite beer,we walked out with some soda and some bags of chips while I grabbed some cigarettes and beef jerky for myself.

We arrived back at the room and the food had arrived. I dug into my chicken fingers and a few minutes later,Anthony went to the girls room to hang out (and they tied him to chair and pushed him into the hallway while I was outside for a cigarette. DAMNIT! I miss alot of good shit,but a bad habit is a bad habit.) Meanwhile,Rich and I watched an old Saturay Night Live episode,and Rich got very annoying very quickly. Fortunatley,he went to sleep a little later and Anthony came back to the room to sleep around five-thirty in the morning. Considering I slept like shit the night before,I decided to stay up and sleep when I got home that afternoon.

Departure

They woke up at ten-thirty and we decided to leave the hotel around noon,when the girls were finally ready to leave. We were going to top for breakfast,but Rich and I weren't hungry,so we just drove home while they went to eat breakfast. Overall,It was a great weekend an I hope that next years event will be even better.

Chris O'Brien-UNSTOPPABLE FORCE Webzine.

Morbid Angel, Deicide, Zyklon, Exhumed December 16, 2001 Phila., PA @ The Trocadero Theatre

Soilent Green were supposed to take part in this show, but had to cancel due to a van accident they had. I've never heard their music, and never put any interest into hearing them...

The show started around 7:30-8:00, but I left my house around noon (I'm only an El (train) ride away), to meet a friend in my old neighborhood of Port Richmond, Steve. We call him "the faggot". We sat at his house for maybe an hour, talking with his older brother about metal, and listening to Iron Maiden and Halford. Decked out in all black, and Bathory (me) and Misfits (Steve) t-shirts, we headed out of his house around 2:30 to go to the infamous South St.

So we get to South St., check out Rock N Roll +, which is a store that houses underground metal, hardcore, and punk music. Damn, that store has been downhill lately, leaning more towards the latter two, than metal. But I picked up a Morbid Angel patch for 3 bucks, and we went to go look for food. We stopped at the Taco Bell/KFC, and enjoyed some freaky, funky, silly-good food. Then we stopped at Soho's so I can get bidis (Indian smokes). So we take a minute outside to check out the lovely females in tight leather, and Steve took a shit, and we headed to the Trocadero Theatre, which is like 15 mins. walk from where we were.

Upon getting there, at like 3:30, we see there are only maybe 6 other people in line. We didn't have tickets actually, and we were waiting for the doors to open so we can buy 'em. But the tickets didn't sell 'til the doors let open for the show.That kinda scared me... So we start talking to other metalheads, and I meet Eric Boyd of the "progressive thrashers" Treachery. He has a show in Lancaster on Dec. 29th. somewhere up there. Haha! This fat chick in a Kittie shirt was talking about Manson, hahahaha! And this fat dude that was with her, had a Corpse t-shirt on, and a Mudvayne hat, going "yeah man, my band is real oldschool death metal, in it's original form, like Deicide and stuff... so are any of you Manson fans?" L-O-fucking-L! So I yell out "oldschool? ever hear of Possessed?" "huh?". LOL!

I also wanted to take a moment to describe something funny here... The Asian restaurant across the st. said something like "Joseph Poon Asian Fusion Restaurant" but by the way it was written, and with the tour bus blocking half the sign, all I saw was "Poon Restaurant" hahahaha!

Anyway, I'd like to go on about more funny shit, like the wigger named "BECK!!!" not "Beck" he insisted, but "BECK!!!", and about people I've met there, and who I knew there, but I'll go on to the show...

Great thing about the whole show was that there was very little in-between-band-stage-set-up. Very fast roadies! Another thing---THESE WERE ALL ACTUALLY METAL BANDS THIS TIME!!! NO GAY OPENING MALL-CORE!!!

First up, Exhumed were pretty picky about what they labeled themselves... "We didn't come here to play death metal... or black metal... or thrash metal... we came here to play GORE- FUCKING- METAL!" Okay sir, but it just sounds like ultra fast death metal with black metal vocals to me. I started thrashing at first, for maybe 30 seconds or so, being the only one doing it, hah! But I just stopped after the motivation was killed, and watched the show. They didn't have too many solos, but they had some pretty cool badass ones when they'd pull them out. They have plenty of stage presence (minus the bassist, with the bad haircut, and overly-done metal-wear, who likes to throw up at the edge of the stage), and energy, but like the other 3 bands at this show, and 90% of extreme metal bands in the first place, they could use more diversity, other influences, and less death, gore, blood, slaughter-house---type lyrics.

Zyklon were pretty interesting, but it was really hard to hear what they were playing. It was mostly a rumbling noise, and the vocals were pretty clear, which were often-times death, and often--times black. I don't recall this band having any solos, and the only guitar parts you could hear clearly were the ones where Samoth (Emperor) and the other guitarist used what are called octave-chords. It had sort of a black metal feel, with the way the music moved, but a Florida-death metal feel, with the brutality.

Next up, were Deicide. Glenn Benton is a really nice, down to earth guy actually, even if he does slightly resemble a Satanic grizzly bear. He was mingling with the crowd a lot, throughout the day. These guys were the first to have a really good sound, and probably the clearest all day. I was up front the whole time, on the left side of the stage (would be right side if you are onstage looking out at the crowd). Guitarist Eric Hoffman kept giving these "madman, evil" looks at me, haha! I think these guys' songs actually stood out the most, catchy song titles, kickass leads etc. Great performance, although they should ditch that guitarist in the mask. That was gay and rather Slipknot-ish of him. Shame on him. Morbid Angel's set seemed to be like twice as long as Deicide's which was rather odd, considering Deicide were co-headliners. While I did thrash during Deicide's set, I thrashed uncontrollingly on certain Morbid Angel songs. Morb's sound was pretty good, although the rythem guitar got lost in the mix, on some lower chords. The lead guitar is what impressed me the most, especially Erik Rutan's leads (I was on his side). Trey played mostly rythem for some reason. His guitar was way too low though, about half as loud as Erik's.

Great show, overall, probably the only show I went to, that had more actual metalheads than any other show I've been to. People who knew who Anvil, Bathory, and Candlemass were. Cheers to the 29 year old woman in red who had all Candlemass albums and seen all those bands live! Cept for the glam ones, haha! For those of you other AOL metal chat regs, Buca029, and xNuclear Warx were the only regs i know of, that went.

Review by Erik Chrupalyk

Slayer (w/ American Head Charge, and Chimaira)-live at the Electric Factory -Philly, PA Nov. 15th, 2001

Upon getting there, scalpers told me the show was sold out, so I said "follow me to the front then, if worse comes to worse, I'll buy your ticket." So he does, and the sign says "sold out", so I buy the ticket... FOR $35! I get in line, my friend Jessica says, "yeah it said that when I got here too, but I just bought my ticket at the door for $22." Fuuuuuccckk me...

This was my 3rd time seeing Slayer, and the most disappointing. Performance was fine, although "Post-mortem" was a little offtime. Tom's stage presence was cool as usual, but the problems? The volume was way too low, to the point that you can hear me screaming "Witching Hour!", as I wanted to hear their cover of the classic Venom song which is available on the "Live Intrusion" home video. They didn't play it. Nor did they play their cover of G.B.H.'s "Sick Boy", which appears on a Japanese copy of "Undisputed Attitude". The other problem, was the setlist. The only pre-"Reign" songs were "Chemical Warfare", "Die By The Sword", "Hell Awaits"-which I thrashed to, and uh... is that it?

The other bands didn't impress me either. Chimaira were just another mindless Drop-D band with boring screaming and no solos. And this pissed me off, the vocalist had the same Venom-Welcome To Hell T-shirt that I was wearing on. I guess that's his way of saying, "see guys? I'm a real metalhead". He wasn't. American Headcharge were this Russian-militant-obsessed band, from Minnesota. The vocalist sounds slightly like Sodom's Tom Angelripper, but the music was a cross between agressive metal, and nu-'metal'. And as you can probably guess by now, I didn't get into it.

Review by Erik Chrupalyk

Megadeth w/ Endo

Live at the Electric Factory

Oct. 13, 2001 Philadelphia, PA

Man I was really blown away at this show. The only other show that compares is the Iron Maiden/Halford/Queensryche show in Camden last year. I got to this show a few hours early, as usual, and there were already a few people in line for the show. So me and my friend Steve just hop in line, and talk a bit with eachother, and with others on topics from Megadeth/Metallica (obviously), to Jackyl, to Nirvana (lil argument went on, between a glam rocker and my punk friend who digs Nirv.), to Iron Maiden and so forth. So finally the people let us in, and the stage gets rushed as I take a piss. That's okay though, that's just why you bring a friend to save you a spot on the floor. I was on the Ellefson side through-out the show, but I wasn't far from Mustaine at all.

We had to sit through a listen of the new Ozzy album before the show even started, which really annoyed the hell out of me. Then this mall-'metal' shit band opens the show, called Endo. So fuckin' horrible that even the stupid poseur trendwhores boo'ed them offstage. "Aiight Philly! (you all sense this one coming, I actually predicted this, when they first came onstage) On da count 'a 3, I wanna see you all jump da fuck up! 1... 2... 3!" Nobody jumped... Fuckin' great!

Exit Endo... The lights come on, and from the speakers, a song that I was probably one of the only few who knew what it was... MD.45-"Hell's Motel". Who? That's Dave Mustaine's mid-90's side project, with Lee Ving (on vocals) of L.A. punk band, Fear, the current Mega-drummer Jimmy Degrasso, who wasn't in Megadeth at that point, and bassist Kelly Lemieux (I believe that's his name, anyway).

Lights dim; the sound of bells and rain and thunder fills the club... (insert opening riff to Black Sabbath's song of namesake, and some funny sounding announcement which seems to be based on terrorists taking over)

Enter Megadeth... They opened with the two bonus tracks on "The Megadeth Years", "Dread and the Fugitive Mind", and "Kill the King". The rest of the set was pretty damn oldschool though. Old and new, they played, "Hangar 18", "Return to the Hangar","Moto-psycho", "Mechanix" (Dave goes: "okay... there are two ways to hear this next one... my way, and THEIR way... but both are really MY way"), "Holy Wars... the Punishment Due", "Wake Up Dead", "In My Darkest Hour", "Tornado of Souls", "Peace Sells...", "A Tout Le Monde"-dedicated to those whose lives were destroyed on Sept. 11th, "Devil's Island", "The Conjuring", "1000 Times Goodbye", "Crush 'Em (BOO!)", "Ashes in your Mouth", "Trust", "She-wolf", "Train of Consequences", and if there were any more, I don't recall at this time. But the intensity was greater than I ever expected. They may not write like they used to, but Mustaine was thrashing like you wouldn't believe! I honestly didn't think he was so much into it like he used to be. Al and Jimmy really impressed me as well, moreso with their ability to keep up with Megadeth's high standards for playability. They really don't have much stage presence, but they definetly play as well as possible. I am really amazed at Mustaine though, for playing the stuff he was playing, on guitar alone, then he can actually sing over the stuff, and remember everything note-for-note, with all of those songs, and I'm probably actually missing a few. There wasn't any stage show, the band basically just spoke for themselves, along with the obvious help of the usual lighting.

After the show, I'm struggling to move gracefully to the back of the building, in the parking lot. After such intense headbanging, on the faster and older material, my neck was feeling like I had a bad case of whiplash, and now a few days later, I can still feel it. Very harsh show, I was literally deaf in my left ear, minus the hissing sound, all throughout Saturday nite (nite of the show), my ribs are bruised from being pushed onto the steel barrier and using all my weight on my body to hold myself up by my ribs just so i can thrash without getting in the way of the nice, cute girl behind me, my legs killing me from standing so much, and moving so much, and straying with the crowd to fight for my spot through-out the show. Definetly the best live expierience I ever had.

Finally, Al and Jimmy come out from the door at the back, and walk past everybody, not even paying any attention. Ellefson walks out with stuff in both hands, but stopping anyway just to talk to the fans and sign stuff (and yes, he was actually smiling! on both encounters with meeting the band, Elf was the most polite, and fan-loving). Then Mustaine walks out, looking like he just got fired, and dumped or something, all tired... He gets mobbed as you would expect. Everybody rushing to him to get stuff signed, the usual banter that people spew forth when meeting him, people telling him "you're God!" (I have to admit, I said, "Mustaine is God!" too). Dave replies moderately "no I'm not...". Then some fan runs up "man! fuck Metallica!", and I really don't think he realized how much that offends Dave (read Mustaine interviews from recent years). Dave just shook his head "no". So he signs a few things for annoying half-fans, and I push my way through to him, after he announces, "everybody can keep their pictures and stuff, I'm really tired, and wanna get on the bus". So I said, "wait... Dave... (he stops) What about this collaboration with Brian Tatler (Diamond Head guitarist, for those fags who don't know) I hear you speaking of recently...?" He replies: "oh...wow... uh... he's been sending me stuff, and I expect to get a few tapes sometime soon, so we'll see what happens man". Exit Mustaine...

Mind-blowing... best way to describe that show. Although I wonder... "did Dave notice I was wearing the same exact Venom shirt (Welcome to Hell, with original round-er logo) that he used to wear while in 'Tallica?"

MEGADETH RECORD RELEASE PARTY.5-11-01 ST.PETERSBURG FL-THE STATE THEATRE

I had been looking forward to this day for quite some time, this not only being a chance to see Megadeth, but also a chance to meet the band. Another thing which made this event particularly special was that it was free if you had a 98rock "rock card", or if you won tickets from the station. The first 98 people outside the venue with a rock card got in free, and could bring a guest. To make sure we'd definatly get in, me and my friends Ryan and Kyle arrived at the State Theatre at around 7:30 that morning.When we got there, we thought we were the first to arrive, but we saw two blankets outside the doors, so we didnt really know what to think. Several minutes later two men arrived and we talked with them for a while, and then the unfortunate happened...... the owners of the blankets arrived. We thought nothing of this at first, but we later found that this couple would be annoying beyond all comprehension( the woman in particular). They were the typical redneck morons, drinking a new can of Busch beer every half an hour or so( over a course of 14 hours), dumb hick voices,spewing lies and stupidity from the mouths which housed their rotting gums and what little teeth they had, and this woman claims to have seen Exodus at Raymond James Stadium 8 years ago. The only problem with this, was the fact that there was no Raymond James Stadium 8 years ago at all, and this is the playing field of the Tampa Bay Bucanneers( therefore its huge, a stadium,duh), and Exodus could never play a gig like that in America, much less Tampa FL. We put up with this woman for 14 hours, but as luck would have it,Dave Mustaine would save the day, I'll get into this later.

We played cards with the two men for a while,(spades if you must know, I lost) listened to some music( Metallica,Priest,Maiden,Slayer,Anthrax) and more people got inline at around 10:00 or so. At around noon, Ryan and Kyle went to see a movie that lasted till 2:00, so I stayed to keep our spots. around 12:20, the mission for bladder relief began....Mission complete. I then grabbed some hot dogs and the latest edition of Pit mag and returned to my post( my fellow Deth heads saved my spot, thanx!!) to pass the time and eat my lunch. Fast forward a few hours to about 5:40 or so when our friend Chris arrived. By that time, the line outside was pretty long. My dad would then arrive at 6:30, so untill then, we joked around about how funny it would be if we got Dave Mustaine to sign wierd pictures of people like Richard Nixon,Bob Dole, or the black guy from Miami Vice( dont know his name). It would be kinda funny if someone said " Dave!! could ya sign my picture of Nelson Mandela's colon?". Anyways, I digress. My dad arrived, and about a half an hour later, we all entered. We gpt right up to the front of the stage, and some guy stole two of Dave's pics, so someone from the crew told us that if we saw anyone trying to steal a pic, to" kick their fucking asses". Me and my friends prayed that the annoying woman( lets call her Shrivel Cunt) would try to steal a pic.

At 8:00 the new album ,"The World Needs a Hero" was played over the Pa system, and I couldnt hear them very well, but it was loud and heavy none the less. Must have been pretty heavy, people were moshing to it, even me and my comrades moshed a but. The sound wasnt all that great, and the band wasnt onstage, so we figuired why not. Plowed about 3 guys down, then got trucked into the air by some huge guy that looked like that Stone Cold Austin dude( I dunno what his name is, I hate wrestling) and damn near cracked my skull open.

After getting my share of battle scars, the album stopped at around 9:00 or so, and we were told that the band would come onstage in about 15 minutes.

And now, the moment I had waited 14 hours for, Megadeth took to the stage to perform their acoustic set!!! They started out with "Trust", which sounded amazing acoustically, as did the rest of the songs they played. Dave's vioce was great, the sound was great, and it sounded a lot better than what I had anticipated. After that, they played "Time: The Beginning" followed by "Use The Man" and "Almost Honest", and added an interesting twist to "Use The Man". By this point I was pretty close to lsing my voice. I was really impressed with how everything worked out, and especially Al Pitrelli's guitar playing.He sounded and played amazing on his Gibson Chet Atkins model, and handled the Marty Friedman solos extremely well.

Next the band would play " Dread and the Fugitive Mind",but before they played the song, Shrivel Cunt felt she had to put her two cents in , and Dave would save the day, telling her her to "shut the fuck up" and to "stick a cock in her mouth", thus silencing her for the remainder of the night!!!! As I forgot to mention earlier, Dave did a really cool thing by bringing up a young kid from the audience( about 10 years old or so) to sit next to Dave onstage, because he could barely see over the rail. Lets see you try and call him an asshole now! Back the "DATFM ",Al's solo was amazing, outoing the studio version of the song, which i didnt think even possible!!

Soon after they played a little bit of "Holy Wars/The Punishement Due" and began to play "She-Wolf" , which was simply awesome, not thinking they would play any songs with a lot of palm muting, Megadeth concquered with the aforementioned title. After that they played the intro to "Hangar 18" and played "Promises" from the as yet unreleased " The World Needs A Hero", followed by an amazing rendition of"Symphony of Destruction", and ended with "Moto-Psycho".

They played a great set and Dave was awesome with the crowd, joking aruond and explaining meaning behind the new songs, and was really charismatic. After the show ended, the meet and greet would start 15 minutes later. All the band members signed my pass, Dave was really nice, was were the rest of the band members, David Elleffson in particular was really friendly. Dave Mustaine even showed off his sense of humour by signing my friend Chris's driver's liscense, writing " arrest me" and then signed it! We all rode home with a truly unforgetable experience. I got to see my favorite band and meet my musical idol for free, and not too many people can say that.

-by Will Jordan