Saint Vitus -- Merriam, KS -- March 28th, 2011

Whelp. Now that the show is over, I can confidently say that last night was the greatest night of my life and that life is not worth living now because I'll never relive last night ever again.

Although Helmet wasn't headlining this stop on the Metalliance tour, local band Apehanger opened the show to make everything even. They're pretty much one of the few local bands that I would classify as "doom" that are any good. In fact, they were pretty damn awesome. They at times reminded me of a Khanate-like sound, but much much much (much) faster. Good stuff.

The first of the touring bands was The Atlas Moth. I'd never heard them prior to this show, but they surprised me at how good they were. They definitely had a more psychadelic sound and a more black metal (at least in the vocals) sound. It was awesome! Only complaint I had was that I seriously doubt they need three guitarists, two would make the sound a lot clearer.

After them was Howl. It was my third time seeing the band, but the first with a new guitarist. The lead guitarist/vocalist was great, and this time was by far the best time I've seen them. Their new guitarist was awesome at soloing and even had to switch guitars halfway through the set! Lots of headbanging for them.

The thing about Red Fang was that I really dug their more groovy songs, but when they went over to the more sludgey type of metal, it wasn't as good. Still fun, though! Also incredibly loud. Too loud, actually. Couldn't hear the vocals for most of the songs. They ended their set with Prehistoric Dog and that was great. I really hope they slay everyone on Mayhem Fest!

Kylesa was great, although pissed off because they had lost a piece of their vocal equipment. It just made them play with that much more furious anger. They even used a theramin (!!!) and the dual drums came off awesome yet again. Running Red was amazing and the opener of Hollow Severer was heavy as hell, but my favorite will always be Scapegoat. Love it to death. Kylesa is awesome!

I had literally heard not one note of Crowbar until I saw them last night, but they might be the most surprisingly good band to me so far this year! I will be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of sludge metal, but Crowbar are the godfather's of the genre and are everything right with that type of music! Some of their songs had a fast punky beat to them too. Kirk was great and interacted with the crowd a lot, and the crowd went nuts. Such an awesome surprise!

And then came Saint Vitus. I can't even begin to articulate how amazing their performance was. Definitely in my top 5 performances ever. Probably the best performance I've ever seen. Wino is a legend. There's no other word to describe him. He was so into the performance. He would get right into the crowd and sing, give us all crazy eyes, stuff like that. He dove off the stage and crowd surfed during White Stallions and drank from a bottle of Jack on stage which he then let the crowd take swigs from. But for every unforgettable moment Wino gave to us as a vocalist, Dave Chandler gave to us an unforgettable moment as a guitarist. The solo's he played were all one of a kind and he looked like an absolute madman. During Mystic Lady, he looked like he was about to have a seizure from going so crazy on his guitar. He ran out in the crowd and kept rubbing the frets on people's heads during Born Too Late and even plucked at the strings with his teeth. The best guitarist performance I've ever seen, hands-down.

I know I'll never see Saint Vitus again like I did last night, and that really makes me upset. Damn.

Saint Vitus

Living Backwards
I Bleed Black
Clear Windowpane
Blessed Night (new)
White Stallions
Mystic Lady
Dying Inside
Born Too Late

Crowbar

Conquering
Lasting Dose
All I Had
New Dawn
Sever
Liquid Sky
I Have Failed
High Rate
Cemetery Angels

Kylesa

Hollow Severer
Unknown Awareness
Running Red
Scapegoat
Tired Climb
Distance Closing In
Don't Look Back
Said & Done

Red Fang

Reverse Thunder
Sharks
Wires (new)
Painted Parade (new)
Suicide (Dust cover)
Prehistoric Dog

Howl

Heavenless
Horns of Steel
...And The Gnawing
Ashereh / Jezebel

The Atlas Moth

Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence
(New Song)
...Leads to a Lifetime on Mercury

Saint Vitus: 11/10
Crowbar: 9/10
Kylesa: 8.5/10
Red Fang: 8/10
Howl: 8.5/10
The Atlas Moth: 8/10
Apehanger: 7.5/10

Get ready to stagedive straight into 1985!

One of the most legendary crossover thrash bands of all time, D.R.I. will be hitting the Oz Cafe in Wichita on May 23rd! THRAAAAASH!

Anatomy Is Destiny...In Kansas!

Gore metal titans EXHUMED will be bringing their amazing brand of Carcass-inspired death metal to the Aftershock in Merriam, KS on July 21st! Opening the show is everyone's favorites CEPHALIC CARNAGE, MACABRE, and WITHERED!

Time Machine: To The 1980's!

Two current bands who do a good job of emulating the best of 80's metal are stopping by the Riot Room! California's Holy Grail and Canada's Cauldron will be bringing back the glory days to Kansas City on May 9th!

Thrasho De Mayo!

At the Czar Bar on May 20th will be a celebration of thrash!

Nocturnal (from Germany)
Witchaven

It doesn't get that much better for underground thrash!

Coming Up: Scion Lab shows!

There's a couple of pretty good shows coming to the Scion Lab behind Crossroads KC/Grinder's in Kansas City!

First up:

Scale The Summit
Periphery
Fair To Midland

On March 22nd

Secondly:

Black Breath

On April 7th

Should both be awesome shows!

Weedeater -- Lawrence, KS -- March 3rd, 2011

As if there was any nagging doubt in the subconscious areas of my mind, Weedeater has brutally stomped my mind (and definitely my ears) with their utterly heaviest brand of metal in the world. It took place at the Jackpot saloon, a small bar with a modest stage and only room for (at extreme most) a few hundred people. The way the crowd was going throughout the entire show, you could have mistaken it for Wacken Open Air. Multiple stage divers and crowd surfers and violent headbanging made for an awesome time. Weedeater played some off their upcoming album "Jason...The Dragon" including the title track and the absolute crushing show-opener "Hammerhandle." If their last album enticed you, their newest will probably be your favorite album of the year. They also revisited all their other albums, including "Weedmonkey Junction" from their first album, "Buzz" from Sixteen Tons (aptly named album), and several off "God Luck And Good Speed," including the title track, "Wizard Fight," and an absolutely stellar and mind-blowing rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Gimme Back My Bullets." It was truly a performance to remember and the ringing of my ears will remind me of it for some time to come. The rest of the concerts I see this year will have some stiff competition.

Opening for Weedeater was Zoroaster, one of the loudest bands I've ever seen live. It actually started to work against them as their set went on, but their absolutely fantastic drummer made the band an absolute joy. Some songs were (a lot!) better than others and had a fantastic groove to them. They were a lot better than what I expected them to be.

The first band of the night was local band Masses who were apparently playing their first show since August of last year because their singer had a baby. I wouldn't necessarily say their brand of music was way out of place at this show, but it was certainly different. It was, however, refreshing to hear wonderful clean vocals go along with pop/post-rock/noise rock/whatever you want to call it. I'm looking forward to them again!

Weedeater (partial/out of order)

Calico
$20 Peanut
The Great Unfurling
Hammerhandle
Turkey Warlock
Jason...The Dragon
Monkey Junction
Potbelly (?)
God Luck And Good Speed
Wizard Fight
Gimme Back My Bullets (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)
Weed Monkey

Zoroaster set:

White Dwarf
Ancient Ones
D.N.R.
Bullwhip
Old World
Odyssey
Black Hole
Spirit Molecule

Weedeater: 10/10
Zoroaster: 8/10
Masses: 7.5/10