VYNDYKATOR, OCTOBER 31, K-OCTAVE

LIVE AT A’S ROCK N’ SPORTS CLUB

Let’s get one thing cleared, before I start this review: after I saw VYNDYKATOR for the first time at Club Luxx in Brooklyn, I hungered for A LOT MORE! This band sweeps me back to the day when metal was passionate, played from the heart, and gave the feeling of total awe. Round two of VYNDYKATOR did NOT repeat the previous statement. The second performance of this incredible band not only awed the whole audience; it displayed to everyone that excellence has exceeded itself.

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR TOAL VYNDYKATION…THE CALL TO METAL HAS BEEN ANSWERED AND NO ONE CAN IGNOR ITS PRESENCE…

PREPARE FOR VYNDYKATOR!!!

Okay, the evening started out with a GREAT band with a lot of potential: K-OCTAVE. Signed to Hellion Records, K-OCTAVE took the limited amount of stage space they had and utilized it to their advantage. Their strong points lied within their drummer and guitarist, whom both had amazing stage presence and superior talent. The vocalist was very suitable for this style of powermetal: straight ahead, throat clenching music. I felt his voice could have used a bit more diversity, as this band seemed just a little generic, however, still managed to gain everyone’s attention and stir up the crowd. If you spot this band playing in your area, GO SEE THEM. If you spot their CD, BUY IT. They are an act NOT to be missed.

Next up was the classic metal band, OCTOBER 31. The last time I saw this band was at the New Jersey Metal Meltdown IV, after yet another great performance with VYNDYKATOR at Club Luxx. Opting to return to their original sound, O31 canned their current vocalist (who also sings for TWISTED TOWER DIRE), and resurrected King Fowley as their fromt man. It was a shear pleasure to watch King sing as their vocalist again, as I had never experienced their music with King at the forefront of things. In all his glory, without the sight-hindering presence of a drum-set in front of him, King blasted through a lot of O31’s old and recent material. Crazy head-banging and the lml sign were abundant during the set. A nice crowd warmer for the still hungry and cold audience waiting for their own vyndykation….

The stage is cleared…the amps are stacked…something special is about to occur. Something unique has already spawned itself from the depths of the underground, and is on a one way path towards its goal. The sound is checked, and everything is in place. Tonight, the gear seen behind the axemen of VYNDYKATOR belonged to Jim Mooney. Those metallic, heart-stopping amps have the classic, original ATTACKER logo etched in silver on them. Indeed, there is magic in the air.

The opening guitar moans of doom and eerie atmosphere. The forth coming “Heaven Sent from Hell” album will be played in its entirety once again this night. Ablaze their glory, the Vyndykatees easily entice the crowd with their musicianship. Enter the vocalist, clad in classic denim and leather, proudly wearing a DIAMOND HEAD shirt. The UDO-ish vocals command every note. This front man directs EVERYONE’s attention to the proper guitarist during his respective solo. As a working unit, VYNDYKATOR keeps everyone affixed on the stage, where the night belonged them. Five men dedicated to their music furthered their excellence that night with a MUCH BETTER sound quality than the first time around, some very minor technical difficulties, and a commanding voice to lead the crowd with their every move and note. “Rot in the Chamber” was thoroughly enjoyed, as it was the first time I heard it. Every song was a treat to the ears. The set ended with the classic ATTACKER song, “(Call On) The Attacker”, which ALWAYS goes over quite well with the crowd.

Over all, this was a KILLER show…something that can ALWAYS be expected of VYNDYKATOR. Catch this band live…buy their CD when it comes out. Keep your eyes peeled…the VYNDYKATOR has arrived in your town, and there is no escape!

For more info, visit the OFFICIALL VYNDYKATOR website

or read a little about their vocalist, Bob Mitchell under the INTERVIEWS section.

RELATED BAND

ALCHEMY X interview and demo review under the INTERVIEWS and REVIEWS sections

CHECK IT OUT!!!

Diamond Head Signing at Vyagra Records April 4th & N.J. Metal-fest w/ Diamond Head, Saxon, and Manowar headlining: Asbury Park, N.J. April 5-6th

On the first day of metal...

April 4th, Thursday... Rushing around at the last minute before leaving (Bristol-area PA) to meet one of my favorite bands can be a real bitch when all you feel is metallic anticipation!

But anyway, we (that'd be me and my metal companion Jennifer) leave her house an hour after what was planned, hop in the car, and blast some Diamond Head ("Diamond Nights"---great CD!) on the way.

Upon arriving at Vyagra music, somewhere near Allentown, PA, I must have looked like a child entering Toys 'R Us, but I tried to maintain my cool. As we walked in, I recognized my N.Y.-based sister-in-metal (not blood-sister), Jaqui, the huge Diamond Head fan she is. Chris O' Brien and Anthony Deluca of Unstoppable Force come in, and we speak for a few minutes.

ENTER BRIAN FUCKING TATLER! After pointing to him and muttering something like, "dude! you are God!!!", he replies with a modest "no-style" headshake. I made my way over to him to express my appreciation of his playing and how he's a major influence on mine's, and for Diamond Head being Diamond Head, and most importantly, being Diamond Head IN THE UNITED STATES!

For the next two or three hours, I mingle with various fans, people I know, and of course, Brian Tatler and Sean Harris. I spoke very little and very briefly with the other members, Floyd, Eddie, and Karl, but I caught up a bit with them in the following days, more on that later though. I gotta say, hands down, of all the musicians whom I admire and listen to, these guys were the nicest, funniest, and most down-to-earth individuals I've come across. They didn't treat me as some petty fan. Very sincere, honest, and respectful. I spoke to Brian about guitar technique, players, bands, and his view-points on what's been going on in the music industry lately and about various styles. Sean's conversation with me was a bit more well-rounded, speaking with me and Jaqui about the movies "The Lord Of The Rings" and "Time Machine", amongst other topics such as H.P. Lovecraft's literature, lyrics, etc.

On the second day of metal...

Heading out to KFC from Jennifer's house, we munched on some burlacious (" Stoned Age" moment there) food, and blasted my copy of Holocaust's "The Nightcomers", and later, Iron Maiden's "Brave New World", and made our way. We found the Convention Center in Asbury Park, then took off to find a local hotel for an hour or two, and settled on this place called "The Crystal Inn" or something like that. Fine room, I admit, but the people who work there had me ready to bust some holes in the wall. We walked to the rear entrance of the building, and I met Debbie of Mazur Productions, a nice, young, blonde woman who was cool enough to let Jennifer in, on account of her being my "photographer", which technically she was. So we slipped on our press bracelets and made our way inside, familiarizing ourselves with the venue while the earliest of band's made their noise. Then we took off to get camera film and drinks and snacks that would last us the next 2-3 days.

We arrived back at the venue, and ran into quite a few people over the next 2 days, such as "Mezzadurus" of Bloodstorm, a long-time friend of Jennifer's, who she hasn't seen in ages. Spencer former bandmate of Mezzadurus back in their Goreaphobia days, and now part of Metal War Productions was also there and he was very cool and down-to-earth as well. Various 'zine people, including the friendly yet metal-as-fuck, Dale Roy of Canadian Assault. Vincent Cecolini of Metal Maniacs. Matt Kirshner of God-knows-how-many 'zines, more familiarly with Illiterature though. Alex from the AOL Metal Chat's ex-girlfriend (that'd be the chick decked out in spikes 'n studs) . People from Pit Magazine... Various band members... God I can't even remember them all. But anyway, we stopped over the hotel across the street where Diamond Head were staying, and paid a visit to Anthony from Unstoppable Force. Hung in his hotel room for a half hour or so, and made our way back...

I caught snippets of live-ness from Gothic Knights, October 31, and a few faceless Death Metal bands in the meantime, but nothing really stood out too much to me until I was sitting around vendor-ville, talking to Jennifer and Diamond Head drummer Karl Wilcox, and heard Deceased playing. So I walked over, and wrecked my neck (that'd be my fault), fucked up my tooth 'n jaw due to the idiotic moshers. The highlight of their performance, at least for me, was their cover of Venom's "Black Metal" at the end. I caught a bit of Blitzkrieg and Witchfynde but wasn't really impressed at all. The vocalist in Blitzkrieg, Tony Liddle? Is that his name? I saw him wandering around the venue pretty much the whole time. Quiet guy he is. On the Nightfall stage, I saw a bit of The Crown, and they didn't really impress me either, not that they played bad, it just didnt do anything for me. We filmed the next band, which was D.R.I. and Jennifer did her talking and we may end up filming an interview with them, conducted by Chris O' Brien. Not sure yet though. I believe their set was about a half hour, and the only thing I can recall this moment is that they played "Five Year Plan". Nightmare were a Power Metal band from France. Way too polished, not my thing, but they showcased talent for sure. I was sitting around the Vendor-ville area during Virgin Steele's performance, so sorry for you Power Metal nuts. I made sure Jennifer had her camera ready again to film Saxon's performance, which was great, but since the schedule was running late, things got a bit hectic and Saxon ended up "stealing" some of Diamond Head's stage-time. Do you realize Diamond Head had to cancel 6 fucking songs!? But anyway, the bassist in Saxon had the most stage presence of the band, wildly headbanging most of the time, as the band played crowd favorites like "Crusader", "Princess Of The Night", "Denim And Leather", "20,000 Ft." and more. The new material from "The Killing Ground" is impressive as well, as it was the first time I've been exposed to it. Incredible sound.

Me and Jennifer made our way down to the front row so we could have a good camera spot for Diamond Head's performance. Diamond Head came on only about 20 minutes later, and opened with "Unleash Hell", then right into "Wild On The Streets", a track originally penned on their 1993 album "Death And Progress". The sound was crystal clear and a lot heavier than I'd have imagined Diamond Head to sound in a live setting. Vocalist Sean Harris was all around the stage throughout the entire set, coming up front past the low monitors, to the back of the stage, the sides, and always moving. I considered Brian Tatler to be very calm, but according to the band, he was a lot more active than usual (well duh, for once this wasn't an acoustic performance!). For you curious guitarists, Brian was armed with his Gibson Les Paul (no Flying V! Why not!?). The band then started to play some clean, mellow version of "Lightning To The Nations", then burst into the opening riff with more power than I've ever seen at a concert before. Instead of singing "London! New York!", Sean changed the words to "All the way from England! To New York!", which was pretty clever, although we were in Jersey. I think I actually heard more bands mutter "hey New York!" or "hey Philly!" more then Jersey. That song was definetly a highlite, along with "Helpless" and "Run". "Am I Evil?" I thought was a bit of a letdown, as the band had the intro pre-recorded, but the rest of it was full of power as expected. This was their closer. I never realized just how powerful of a song "Run" was until this day. "Helpless" had me break out of my still-mode to thrash against the rail, nearly tearing it off, wrecking my neck to the point where the people working there had to stop me. That'd be a pretty hefty fine for tearing off the rail, hah! And I can't afford that. They also played "The Prince", dedicated to my friend Jaqui, along with "Truckin' ", "Borrowed Time", "To The Devil His Due" "It's Electric" which was re-worked quite a bit on the chorus, to the point where the new line was "I'm a rock 'n roll staaaaaar..." , damn was that all? I didn't realize their schedule was that messed up. 6 songs knocked off! 6!!! Rediculous. They should have told all the other bands to take one song off their setlist to make it fair for everybody, but unfortanetly, a deserving band that's been around making Godly music for like 20 years, and has never played the States has to suffer. That's Koshick for you. After D.H.'s performance, security gave us a hard time while we were trying to speak to Steve, their manager and we were forced out before getting our final words in but our new British friends "Mick" Mike and his wife Julie led us back to the hotel room where they and the rest of the Diamond Head camp were partying. Diamond Head soon followed over and immediately we all began discussing the gig and other various topics. Sean seemed a bit tense considering their gig got cut up badly, due to bad timing, and you can't blame him. I just think Saxon, who played right before D.H., should have done the noble thing and given D.H. their time. Saxon have played the States many times before, and I'm pretty sure they played their full-set, whereas D.H. had it cut down two seperate times, and you have to remember, this was their first appearance in the States. All in all, I'm just glad that they have brought lightning to the nations (sorry, couldn't resist). We ended up leaving the hotel room very late that night, to go back to ours and catch some sleep.

On the 3rd day of metal...

Waking up around late morning and moping around in a tired slump, we had the stupid foreigner bitch from the hotel harassing us, telling us we have to leave right then, after I just told her our time is not up yet, and that Jennifer is in the shower and I wasn't yet dressed. I will boycott this fucking hotel when I go to the Convention Center from now on due to that dirty little bitch.

Sorry 'bout my hateful little rant... I think we ran out to a few stores or something, but we got to the Convention Center sometime during the early afternoon, as we weren't dying to see many of the bands from this day anyway. God I couldn't even stress how much half of these bands were like the same fucking band, same fucking show, over and over again, just with new faces, haha! BOOOORRRIIIINNNGGG.....

Hell, we even fell asleep at the Digital Metal stage during one or two band's performance. I should start tape recording lil snippets of my thoughts at shows, because I'm trying to remember each band. This review is done with nothing but pure memory! How professional of me, hah! I really wish Black Fate didn't go on so early because they seemed interesting, after meeting one of the members the day before, right before D.R.I. went on. Sucks that I missed this dude's band. I remember Havoc Hate sticking out quite a bit, and I still have to listen to the CD. They were fronted by a man who looked in his 50's (from where I was, it looked like he had short grey hair), but they were furious onstage. Sort of like oldschool/classic stuff, but with more aggression, like Accept. Impaler were more into theatrics, it seemed. They would appeal to fans of Gwar, Misfits, Alice Cooper etc. They had some Lizard Man dude onstage wrestling with the singer and some scientist dude. Odd band. Lots of blood. Very Rock 'N Roll-based speedy shit though. I vaguely remember Beyond The Embrace. From my recollection, they started off sounding more like Trad./Power Metal but ended up sound rather Death Metal-ish. I think? We ended up looking for D.H. all day, but eventually we found them and hung out some more, and went to some fancy Italian restaurant. Man did I feel out of place, decked out in denim, leather, spikes, studs, bullets, and my trusty "Welcome To Hell" t-shirt. But I dealt with it and did the logical thing, went with what I knew and ordered a pepperoni pizza! The others all had fancy shit, all these odd Italian names... At desert, I conducted an interview with Sean, which will make Unstoppable Force soon enough. We made it back to the show, and Manowar were onstage, and at first, they wouldn't even let us in! Not just me and Jenn, but fucking Diamond Head! Like, "he-fucking-llo, this band headlined last nite". But finally they let us in, I think our crowd of like 10 spent just seconds in there before deciding, "fuck it, let's just hit vendorville", which was a disgrace by now, trash all over. Dick Delicious were on at this time, or so I believe... Not one band had a banner onstage! Sean bought some Led Zeppelin box set or something there, and we all ended up back at the hotel, where we watched the footage that Jennifer and I (well partially) filmed of their gig the night before. Then me and Sean ended up filming the second half of the interview. Now Sean's answers were just fine, but the quality was just down the tube. I was toying with the idea of Unstoppable Force video magazine, featuring that interview, but I'm just not camera material and I was half-asleep so the interview footage didn't turn out so well, plus it's hard to hear what we are saying. So I'm probably going to just copy it down and type it up for the site. Also, I met up with Karl Wilcox 2 weeks after and it was a very cool time. I was planning on asking him for an interview that night, but by the time I was ready to get the camera, he seemed a bit sleepy, so maybe another time.

The weekend of the Metal-fest was definetly the most memorable expierience of my life. I spent it with a great friend (Jennifer), made new ones in Diamond Head and their friends, and I got a chance to meet a few online friends and people from the scene.

Special Thanks: Jennifer Glover, Jaqui, Chris 'O Brien, Anthony Deluca, Sean and Vicki Harris, Brian Tatler, Floyd Brennan, Karl Wilcox, Eddie ("Man I Feel Like A Woman!") Moohan, Steve ("Death to false met-ul!") and Julie Guard, "Mick" Mike and Julie, John and his friend (sorry bro, couldn't think of your name, met so many!) from Vyagra music, Kai (that how you spell it?), Debbie from Mazur, those two bandmates from N.J. who went with us to the Italian Restaurant, that British dude who's name I never caught, but he sat next to me and Sean at the Restaurant, Chris Gamble aka Mezzadurus of Bloodstorm/Goreaphobia/Absu, Spencer of Goreaphobia (and the reunited Crucifier???) and Metal War Prod., and everybody else whom was very cool to me at the shows/signing. Good luck to all!

P.S.- - - I just wanted to point out something very wrong that I saw happen on the second night of the show. There was this vendor all the way in the back where they had piles of various bandshirts and patches. This kid of Middle Eastern descent who spoke perfect English was looking through the shirts, not being suspicious at all, and the vendor guy goes, "I'm sorry but you're going to have to leave." "WHAT? WHY SIR, I'M JUST LOOKING AT THE SHIRTS? I WANNA BUY ONE" "Don't worry about it, this is not a licensed store, I don't have to sell to you if I don't wish to. Now please leave or I will have security escort you away from my tables."

Now this kid didn't have a turbin on, or speak with an accent, he didn't have any Anthrax, except maybe for the band's albums. He was treated unjustly purely based on his racial descent, which I find extremely wrong. Should the vendor man be refused service from a Native American man just because European invaders conquered this once peaceful nation and turned it into a living hell? People in our country have to open their eyes, hearts, and minds and realize that our war is not with the Middle East. Our war is with terrorists and their supporters. I hope one day the mindless mass will awaken from this blatant ignorance, selfishness, and lack of individuality.

SLAYER W/ HATEBREED & DIECAST

HOUSE OF BLUES, ORLANDO FL. 5-10-02

Review by Will Jordan

This was another concert that I was suppose to see several months earlier ( in January), but the date had been pushed waaaaaay the fuck back for various reasons. Let's see, I ordered my ticket about a month or so in advance, so I waited pretty close to half a year for this show.

Needless to say, I had waited a rather long time for this to happen and I was really stoked that this was finally going to happen, and to make things even better, there was this widespread rumour that In Flames would perform that night as well. I was happy enough to see Slayer, but In Flames too!?! This was going to be awesome.

The morning of the show, Jesse, Tenacious ( or Brendan as we sometimes call him) and myself left my house and had some breakfast at Cracker Barrell at around 10:00 or so. I kicked Tenacious' ass at checkers, Jesse bought an accordian, frightened the customers, and screamed a lot, and then we hit the road.

It was a pretty long drive, being that Orlando is a few hours away from St. Petersburg. We pretty much passed the time by frightening other drivers and listening to music, and I think our playlist that day was NOFX,Emperor,Exodus,The Crown and Tenacious D, so the trip didnt seem too long. for some odd reason that day, I had to shit....A lot... so we pulled over at a rest stop where I relieved myself while Jesse played the accordian and screamed a lot. About thirty minutes later, I had to shit again, so we pulled over, and Jesse played the accordian and screamed a lot...again. Crazy Hebrew. So, ever frequent bowell movements and shrieking Hebrews aside, we arrived at the hotel, which was only about a 15 minute drive away from the venue.

The venue was located in this place called the Disney Village( or was it Villa?), which is like a shopping/entertainment kind of place. It's kind of wierd having Slayer perform in a place that is associated with Disney.

We still had a good couple of hours before the show started, so we checked out the Guitar Gallery store ( if you ever have a chance, check this place out) and the Virgin Megastore. After we finished shopping ( I myself bought Superheat by The Gathering and a copy of Metal Maniacs) we went back to the hotel.

We got some pizzas, ate, and left for the show. I looked at the sign by the entrance and it said " Slayer with special guests Hatebreed and Diecast". No In Flames. So much for that. When we got in line, we saw some old trendwhore with a Sevendust shirt on and some other geezer with a mullet and a Disturbed shirt.Ha! What a fucking asshole, and I thought drag queens looked kind of gay.

By the time we'd gotten inside, we missed close to half of Diecast's set, which kind of disapointed me, because I actually like them quite a lot. People call bands like Shadows Fall and Diecast "metalcore", where as Shadows Fall is more metal than hardcore, Diecast is a little more hardcore than metal, so I think the term "metalcore" would fit them more than say Shadows Fall. Perhaps technically proficient hardcore, I dunno. Good band. They tore it up onstage, and I regret missing most of their set.

Then Hatebreed came on. Boring. They were ok I guess, and some of their songs had some really cool breakdowns, but thats the best I can really say about them. Maybe I would have enjoyed them more if I werent so pissed about not seeing In Flames. They were alright, but not particularly interesting. The main problem with having Hatebreed open was all the hardcore kids. I dont have a problem with all hardcore kids, but a lot of them really bug the hell outa me. They prance around in the pit like a bunch of angry twinks with their baggy pants and their wifebeaters, trying to act like hard asses. They just strike me as very gay...and annoying. I could probably punk one of their stomachs and start my own sperm bank.

So after what seemed like an eternity, Hatebreed left the stage, so the three of us made our way closer to the front. The show was sold out, so the place was very crowded, and it was surprisingl hot and hard to breathe.

So after another rediculously long wait, the curtain was lifted, the lights dimmed, but Slayer wasnt onstage yet. I guess they wanted the crowd to see how awesome the stage looked ( it WAS pretty awesome), who knows. Soon after the intro music stopped, Slayer took the stage!!!!They opened up with " God Hates Us All", and the entire place just broke into turmoil. I was really close to the stage, but I could not breathe, and when I say that, I dont mean it was just hard to breathe, I actually could not breathe. Since I couldnt breathe, and I was tired of being hit by asshole crowd surfers that I couldn't hit back quick enough, I forced my way into the pit. my leg still hurt from the accident, not to mention playing a game of football that monday, but I decided it was more important for me to have a chance of breathing than to take care of my leg, seeing as the pit was the only place where you actually had some room to move and space to breathe ( other than upstairs, but that would have been boring). PLus, this gave me an excuse to hurt some hardcore kids.

Anyway, the show was a fucking blast. It was a somewhat predictable set list ( War Ensemble,Manditory Suicide,South of Heaven,Raining Blood,Angel of Death,Hell Awaits,Chemical Warfare,etc), but I could care less. They also did a song from "Diabolus In Musica" ( Stain of Mind) and some stuff from "God Hates Us All" ( Bloodline,Payback,God Send Death, and the title track), and they also played Die By The Sword and Postmortem, which was pretty cool because I didnt think they would play those( now if they'd only play Witching Hour).

Slayer ruled the stage as usual. Tom, Jeff and Kerry went all out, thrahsing and headbanging like fucking maniacs, which served to furhter fuel the intensity of the songs that night. And as if it werent good enough, Dave Lombardo was behind the drumkit!! Holy fucking shit, I had no idea he would be there!

In short, Slayer killed. After the show, we all went back to the hotel. More shitting, more accordian, and more screaming, then off to bed to get some rest before the trip home. Unforgettable, that's all I would really have to say about their performance that night. I saw Styx the next day, which was cool, but they cant touch Slayer. I'm looking forward to seeing them in the summer, WITH In Flames this time!

CANNIBAL CORPSE W/ DARK FUNERAL,PISSING RAZORS & INCANTATION

5-04-02 THE STATE THEATER, ST. PETERSBURG FL

Review by Will Jordan

I havent had this much fun at the State Theater since Megadeth played an acoustic set there. The last show I had seen prior to this was Anti-Flag, which was still fun, but I hadnt been to a metal show in a while, so I was looking forward to this. I arrived at the venue a little before the doors were supposed to open, around 7:30 or 8:00 I think, and there was this huge line like you wouldnt fucking believe.I had never seen a turn out like this for something so "underground", and it was pretty cool to see that many people supporting metal in my hometown. I took my place in line, and a few people were impressed by my Dark Angel shirt ( hell, even I'm impressed with it) and we passed the time talking about Gene Hoglan,Mexican food, and Fender Telecasters.

So I got inside and waited for Incantation to come on. During this time I just kind of glanced around and checked out some merch, and much to my surprise, there was a surprisingly large amount really hot death metal chics in attendance that night. Unfortunatly they were either dating rediculously hairy bald guys( ok, hairy with the exception of the receeding hairline) wearing Darkthrone shirts, or anorexic homely goth queers wearing eyeshadow and Slipknot shirts. Yeah, I dont get it either.

So after waiting a little while longer, the place went dark, some sort of intro music played, and Incantation made their way to the stage.Before they played, the band members all formed a little circle around Kyle's drumkit and did some sort of Satanic chant/prayer thingy. I've never really been one to rave excitedly about Incantation or anyhting, but I've always liked them. They make good music, and they've done it fairly consistently for a long time, and I respect them for that.Incantation played to a pretty big crowd, and were really fun to watch. I noticed that all the neck pickups on their guitars had been taken out.Maybe they just dont need them, or they were rather strapped for cash so they had to sell them, although I dont see why anyone would want to by a standard B.C Rich neck pickup. Who knows, I just thought it was a bit unusual. Anyways, Incantation were really energetic onstage and they got a good response from the crowd, and I think they ended their set with " Impending Diabolical Conquest".

Next was Pissing Razors. I didn't really know a whole lot about these guys, I remember hearing a little bit of one of their songs and thinking they were nu metal. Shit, there aint really much of anything thats nu metal about this band. I remember them comming onstage and hearing this really really fast riff, a bunch of loud ass blastbeats, and ultra low death metal vocals. So yeah, they arent nu metal. From what I remember, they were the only band onstage that didnt have a single person playing a B.C Rich of some sort. They played some cool sounding songs and were great on stage. Probably the least technical of all the bands that night, but still enjoyable.

Now on to Dark Funeral. I'm somewhat familiar with them, and I've usually liked most of what I've heard from them, so I was looking forward to seeing them perform. They hit the stage and went into " The Arrival of Satan;s Empire" and followed that with " An Apprentice of Satan", and then they played a song from their E.P entitled " Teach children to Worship Satan". Notice a certain theme here? Man thats a lot of Satan. I remember in one song their lead singer literally screamed out " satan satan satan satan SATAAAAAAAAAN!!!". The guy must have said the word "Satan" close to a hundred times that night. All that aside, I really enkoyed Dark Funeral's set, another exceptional live act.

And finally, on to Cannibal Corpse.I had seen them live before, and they fucking killed. It took their crew a pretty long time to set up and all,but once they were onstage and the first note was played, the entire place just fucking exploded.I had never seen a pit like this in quite some time. I didnt really go in it though, I had a cell phone on me, and my knee was still giving me problems from the car accident. I made my way close to the front of the stage, and I was one person away from the rail.They opened with "Devoured by Vermin" and played all kinds of great stuff like "Unleashing the Bloodthirsty", "Pounded into Dust", "The Pick Axe Murders(yes!!)" and "I Will Kill You" and other stuff. The night was near perfect, with the exception of this particular asshole stagediver. This guy would stagedive, and he'd always land right on my fucking head. I go to a metal show, and I usually expect stage diving to take place, and it's usually pretty small guys, which I can put up with if I have to,but this guy looked like John Candy in a Mortician shirt. The very last time he landed on top of me, he took a prety good chunk of my hair and almost snapped my neck. Well, I stopped caring about my knee long enough for me to tackle the guy and pound the shit out of him untill some other metalheads broke up the fight. I usually dont do things like that, but putting me in a position that endangers my life like that is not cool.

So after all of that happened, it was time to enjoy the show again. Very few bands can match the intensity of Cannibal Corpse on stage. I was right in fron of Alex Webtser, so I had a really good view of his fingers, and his bass playing is fucking amazing. It's rediculous what this guy can do, and while headbanging at high speeds at the same time. In between songs, he'd take off his wristbands and wring them out, and it'd look like some pregnant woman's water had broke on the stage. These guys go all out onstage. These guys are one of the better live acts I've seen, and they are also technically superior to most death metal bands. Watching their fingers when they'd riff and solo gave me a whole new respect for them. And the headbanging, man, just fucking crazy. The band was in a jovial mood that night, Alex Webster always had this shit eating grin on his face between songs, and he and Corpsegrinder would even talk and shared a joke or two with the audience. They also played " I Cum Blood", "Pit of Zombies", " Fucked with a Knife" and other awesome songs. I was hoping they would play their cover of "No Remorse" by Metallica, but that didnt happen. Oh well. After the show I had lost my voice, and was literally drenched in sweat, and I hadnt even moshed one bit. Man, what a great show. I'd see them again any day.

Judas Priest/Anthrax

Feb. 16th, 2002 Philly, PA

The Electric Factory

My day was spent moping around together, with my friend J. L. Glover, and we got there about 7:00, as the door was being opened. By the time we got in, most of the stage area was already crowded, but unlike the other shows I've been to, this one was spent shifting around from front to back. The Anthrax performance left a little to be desired, but then again, I'm a mild Anthrax fan. They had some new guitarist who looked like he belonged in Linkin Park, LOL!

The sound was very typical of shows I've been to before, at the Trocadero and The Electric Factory. Very bassy and muddy, and very little clarity. Of the few songs they played, I remember them doing "Anti-social", "Caught In A Mosh", "Got The Time", and some other song off of "Persistance Of Time", which I would remember, if not for the asshole whole stole my copy when I wasn't around, a year or two ago. I really didn't get too into this performance, I think there was just only one brief period when I did, and that was when I started headbanging wildly to "Got The Time". Then I looked up and the mosh pit formed around me... "Where the fuck is Jennifer?", I wondered. Caught up with her by the end of the song, closer to the stage, on Scott's side.

After their (half hour?) set, me and Jenn decided to go get a few drinks, and I got my two bottles of water, which cost me 5 fucking dollars! And she took off to the balcony to get a shot or two. Then we were approached by this big dude named John or Joe or something with a "J". He handed us his demo, for his band Vonkull, which you can find a review on. We began talking about the local scene etc., and he was telling me about how bands in Delaware always need guitarists. He was there with this 5 foot tall-ish guy, also in the band, but he was very quite, not saying much at all. We then took bathroom breaks, and while she was pissing, I was sitting on this bench, and some goth dude sat next to me. I had the most disgusted look on my face, I'm sure of that. Kinda like I wanted to kill him or something. I'll be damned if he wasn't the epitome of GAY, muahahahahaha! So I moved further away on the leather bench. After being approached by a few random metalheads for my "cool" shirt (the one I wear to every show, my Venom-Welcome To Hell one), we made our way up front to catch Priest as they came onstage.

They started off with "Metal Gods", and on through the night played very few familiar songs, and very few of the better ones. "Breakin' The Law". "The Green Manalishi". "Livin' After Midnight". "Headin' Out To The Highway". "Hellion/Electric Eye" (the one I was waiting for all fucking nite, as it happened to be their encore). "Turbo Love". "United". "Hellbent For Leather". "Desert Plains" (fuck yeah!). "Diamonds And Rust" (which Jennifer was waiting for, as was myself). Some song, I think it was called "Bloodstain" or "Bloodstained Mind" or something similar... I was actually suprised with Ripper's performance. Vocally, it was great, but I can't stand his stage presence for some reason. Now I've seen Halford and Judas Priest live, and I've noticed two things... Halford's band isn't as good or better than Judas Priest. Ripper Owens isn't as good or better than Rob Halford. Put 2 and 2 together, and what do you get??? A BETTER FUCKING LINE-UP OF THE METAL GODS!!!

Why the fuck were people moshing to Judas Priest by the way? I've argued with countless metalheads, and I still stand firmly behind 2 things: A) watching the show. and B) HEADBANGING! Which is extremely rare at metal shows anymore, for some odd reason. I sort of understood the moshing to Anthrax, not that I like moshing, but at least Anthrax are moshable. Anyway, Glenn Tipton stole the show. And the sound wasn't that bad, just a little muffled once the band got a bit grindy with the power chords.

VYNDYKATOR...The debut performance

Saturday, Feb 23, 2002 @ Club Luxx in Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY.

"CALL ON THE...VYNDYKATOR!!!!!!"

Indeed, it was a call to metal!!! Finally, after so much buzz,VYNDYKATOR made its debut performance in Club Luxx. What a night it was. Opening for VYN was none other than OCTOBER 31. However, due to getting REALLY LOST, I missed ALL of O31's set, but that's okay...VYN made up for it! Intensestage presence was abundant, despite the very tiny stage area. Minutes before VYND even hit the stage, people were filling every gap that peeked out in front of the stage. It was clearly evident that no one wanted to miss a single second of this performance. Mitchell & co. took to the stage, and I proudly raised my home-made VYNDYKATOR flag; full color and damn proud of it!!!! It seemed that most of the debut album, "Heaven Sent From Hell", set for release in June, was performed in its entirety!!!

Stopping only to hype the crowd and pass small WWF Wrestling jokes, Mitchell showed everyone that the long wait was well worth it. Clad in his denim, is leather, and his spikes, he commanded the stage, with fist- pounding, head banging music with all the energy to kill off the energizer bunny!!!

Despite a drum set that fell apart, John Capon continued his relentless assault on his set, prooving his nickname "The Human Drum Machine". Tight double bass and hard-hitting beats kept VYND constantly going...as well as the crowd.

Commanding the pounding bass lines was Steve Ratchen. With his Steve Harris-like playing, he certainly showed the crowd he was an important element of this band’s music. An impressive seven string bass was played with ease, something many musicians cannot even dream of doing. Certainly, this is a rare talent, executed by a rare left-handed bassist.

The duel guitar attack of Rob Oriani and Bill Pena assured everyone that heavy music and classic metal DO MIX...you just have to do it the right way. An impressive instrumental, "Flight of the Wombat" was an impressive display of musicianship, as well as being a nice breath of fresh air (when was the last time you heard a decent instrumental...or even an instrumental at all??). "Rot in the Chamber" was so FUCKING HEAVY, MY HEART ALMOST EXPLODED!!!!!!!! Guitar melodies and heavy bass/drums prevailed throughout this song, only enhanced by the screaming, almost UDO-like vocals of Mr. Mitchell. The set ended with the classic ATTACKER tune, "Call on the Attacker". God-damn!!!!!! That was KILLER!!!! If you weren't there, you missed out, BIG TIME!!!!!!!!!!

What really impressed me was the fact that no one had EVER heard this material before. It was played for the first time. Yet, EVERYONE was head-banging like there was no tomorrow!!!! It's amazing how people can say so much without saying a word at all. It's like I've said:"You know what to expect from a great band. You wind up receiving so much more..." WE CERTAINLY DID!!!!!!!!!!

Reviewed By: Anthony DeLuca

JUDAS PRIEST W/ ANTHRAX @ JANNUS LANDING.

FEB 2ND,2002.ST.PETERSBURG FL

This concert was originally supposed to take place on September 28th,2001,so I got my ticket almost a month before the original date, but we all know what happened to change it from September 28th to Feb 2nd. Iced Earth was also supposed to be on the bill, but after the tour got postponed, they joined Megadeth on tour ( and didn't come to FL...as you can imagine, I was far beyong pissed)and the rest is history. I had been looking forward to this show for nearly half a year, so I was expecting one hell of a show after waiting that long, and after paying $30.00 for my ticket. The doors didnt open untill 7:00, and Anthrax probably wouldnt play till around 8:00 or 8:30, but I was still quite eager to get there early. Me, my dad, and my friend Brendan all met up at the venue at around 7:00 or so, and there was a line all way around the corner. While in line I was talking to some guy about Hank Shermann ( he noticed my Mercyful Fate shirt), when all of a sudden my friend Brendan was confronted by some guy from a religious group called "Jews for Jesus", and for some reason, he kept on calling my friend Brian,lol.He would say wierd things like " would you give Jesus a high five if it would save your soul?" and things like that,lol.He also kept on saying "..Jesus, or as we Hebrew call him,Y'shua", in almost every sentence he said. If he were talking about how he accidentaly pissed on his foot in the dark, he would still find a way to incorporate Jesus, or as the Hebrew call him,Y'shua, somewhere in the sentence.

So after our encounter with Jews for Jesus( or as the Hebrew call him,Y'shua), we finally got inside the venue, and took our positions about 3 or 4 feet away from the stage.While we were waiting for Anthrax to come on, they were playing Disturbed over the PA system, and I would see some people bobbing their heads and acting really tough while singing along to the song. From Kindergarten up till 8th grade, I was in a program called EH (emotionally handicapped) because it took very little to get me angry.Needless to say, these pickle puffers singing along to Disturbed werent making me any less angry.I managed to piss off a few of those people by saying " ya know, Disturbed's lead singer would sound a lot better if he didnt have a big queer dick in his mouth all the time".After that they didnt act so tough. Anyways, the lights dimmed, and the intro to "Among the Living" could be heard over the PA, and then Anthrax took the stage.Now, I have certain guidelines I follow as far as moshing is concerned.I only mosh to certain bands.For instance, I would mosh to Slayer or Lamg of God, but not Iron Maiden or Fates Warning.That being said, I took my place in the pit after a while.I wouldnt want to mosh for the entire show, I mean, I bought a ticket so I could SEE Anthrax, but the moshing is an added bonus.So I was enjoying the show, when I glanced at the pit and saw some guy wearing a Deicide shirt being a total jerkass.This guy thought he was so hard.I dont know if it was the fact that this guy looked extremely annoying, or if it was the Jordan blood in me(in my family, they say a Jordan never turns down a good ole fashioned pissing contest), but either way, I had to hurt this guy. So during "Fueled", I got in the pit and just blasted this guy to the ground.Sure, I knocked down a few other people, and I helped them get back up, but this shitbrick in the Deicide shirt was my main priority.I continued to abuse this prick untill he just decided to get out of the pit.I was totally focused on ruining this guy's night, which I like to think I did for the most part.Well, this guy will pop up in my story again later, but for now, back to Anthrax.Anthrax were fucking awesome.They did a mix of their old stuff like "Caught in a Mosh", "Antisocial","Got the Time", and "Among the Living", as well as their later work with John Bush like "Fueled","Only" and " Room for One More".They also performed a song called "Superhero", which is supposed to be the title track on their upcomming album, so it was definatly cool to hear some new Anthrax.Anthrax's set was great, with the exception of two things. 1:They didnt play anything from "Fistful of Metal", and 2: during the show, Scott announced to the crowd that Paul Baloff had died the previous night.As I learned later, Paul wasnt dead yet, but he suffered a massive stroke the day before, and they were going to pull the plug on him at midnight, shortly after the concert ended.So then Scott says somehting like " we arent going to be traditional by having a moment of silence for Paul, instead, were gonna have a moment of noise!".Upon hearing this, I started shouting for them to play "Piranha", seeing as I thought they would pay tribute to Paul by playing something off of "Bonded by Blood", but instead, they had to go and play "Bring the Noise". I dont know if it was the fact that I would never ever get to see Exodus w/Paul, or that Anthrax played "Bring the Noise", but I didnt enjoy the rest of the show as much as I would have under different circumstances.You try staying in a good modd when Scott Ian tells you that Paul Baloff just died.There wasnt much else I could think about for quite a while.But back to the concert, Anthrax ruled, and my voice was completely gone after their set had ended.The band was very energetic,the crowd was into them, and everyone had a really great time, in spite of the bad news.

So Anthrax's set ended, and me,Brendan, and my dad went to get some drinks and shirts.So after that, we all went back to our spots in front of the stage. So after what I guess was a half hour or more of offensively shitty songs over the PA (Creed and Disturbed),Priest hit the stage!They opened up with "Metal Gods", and played songs like "Beyond the Realms of Death" and "Electric Eye", and man did they kick ass.They did "Diamonds and Rust" from "Rocka Rolla" to ."Victim of Changes" was awesome as well.They played two new songs from "Demolition" like "Hell is Home" and "One on One", and "Blood Stained" and "Burn in Hell" from "Jugulator".They also performed "The Green Manalishi", "Heading Out to the Highway" and "Living After Midnight". They especially kicked ass on "Hell Bent For Leather" and "Painkiller". I heard they were gonna play two songs from Painkiller, so I was hoping for "Painkiller" and "Metal Meltdown".They PLayed the title track, but instead of "metal Meltdown" they played "A Touch of Evil"( they played the keyboard parts on guitar, which I thought was pretty cool).There were only two annoying things going on during Priest. 1: Some lard ass that looked like Meat Loaf kept on hitting me and Brendan in the face while he was headbanging.Come to think of it, that guy got on everyone's nerves.And 2: When Priest played "Turbo Lover", that Deicide guy found enough time to pull the cock out of his ass so he and his equally gay friend could try to mosh. I dont get it, why would you mosh to Priest?No one else was moshing.And if your going to mosh to Priest, wouldnt you want to do it to "Painkiller" or "Metal Meltdown"?These guys were moshing to Turbo Lover!!Of all the songs they played, they had to mosh to fucking Turbo Lover!What the hell!?!These guys deserve to die.You dont mosh to bands like Priest, especially when they are playing Turbo Lover!!Anyways, after these guys were dealt with, we went back to enjoying the concert till the very last second. Ripper Owens sounded great.When he screamed, it literally hurt your ears, and when he got into his super low registers, it made the ground shake. I shit you not.The band was energetic, pretty active onstage.Just think, these guys have been at it since about 1974 or so, and theyre still up there headbanging at every show!Both bands were truly awesome, both energetic and charismatic, and it was well worth the wait.Its not often that you get a bill of this magnitude here in the states.The place was packed, and a good time was had by all...except for the Deicide guy,lol.My voice is still a bit scratchy from that night.This is what it's all about, heavy fucking metal.Two legendary bands on the same bill.You cant beat that. No one in attendance that night will ever forget that show.If you get a chance to see either one of these bands, fucking do it!!I hope this is enough to convince people of how great these two bands are, so thanks for reading my incoherent rant, er, I mean, concert review....now go buy tickets!