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Sunday, June 13, 2010

Hammerlord -- Lawrence, KS -- June 12th, 2010

My first legal 21+ show! At the Replay Lounge, which has a patio that had some DJ spinning all night, so there were lots of really hot girls that kept coming into the bar to use the bathroom who were probably scared to death by the bands playing. Made me chuckle.

The first band was Koktopus. It was my 2nd time seeing them, the first time leaving me a bit underwhelmed. They did much, much better this time around. Half of their set sounded like a better version of Pantera, while the other half was blistering thrash/death. A couple of covers, including Venom's "Witching Hour", went over pretty well with the crowd. They started off the show very well.

I've seen Wrath & Ruin three times now, and every time they've had a different configuration and a different sound. The first time I saw them it was a keyboard player who did vocals, a guitarist and a drummer. The second time was the same thing, except they had a bassist. Now, they had the same set-up, but no vocals. This time, however, they played a brand of crushing drone/doom that was some of the heaviest stuff I've heard. Very eerie, very awesome stuff.

Hometown heroes Hammerlord destroyed the place. Almost literally. For such a small venue, there was quite a bit of moshing going on. They played lots of cuts from their new album which stacks up right alongside their first album. In fact, I'd even say it's better. Off the walls thrash with some of the bests solo's you're guaranteed to hear anywhere. Each member of Hammerlord is hemorrhaging talent with their respective instruments. Unfortunately, the band lost track of time and they had to cut their set short, but it was just enough to leave everyone wanting more. A lot more.

Set (cut songs*):

Creating Destruction
Dead City Radio
Storm The Castle
Lordess
Hammerlord
Thunderers*
Tombstone Piledriver
The Anomaly Rue*
Demon Fever*
Metalization*
Wolves At Wars End

Listen to Hammerlord's new CD "Wolves At Wars End" here if you want to thrash your balls off: http://hammerlord.bandcamp.com/album/wolves-at-wars-end

Hammerlord: 9/10
Wrath & Ruin: 8/10
Koktopus: 7.5/10

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