Upcoming show: Anthrax and Testament!

It's not too far away! On the 26th of January (9 days away!!!) is thrash legends Anthrax at the Midland in Kansas City! Even better: Testament and Death Angel are opening! Don't come to this show unless you're ready to thrash - old-school style!

October preview: Anthrax/Testament/Death Angel

A crazy thrash tour is hitting the Cotillion in Wichita on October 18th! Legendary bands Anthrax, Testament, and Death Angel will be there to rip your face off! Insane line-up.

American Carnage -- Bonner Springs, KS -- August 23rd, 2010

Every band on the bill last night had played Kansas City within the last year, but by the bands performances and the crowd reaction, you'd think it was the first time in twenty years.

Testament opened the show while it was still light out, but they whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Chuck Billy is the only guy, metal or otherwise, that can get away with looking so cool playing a mic stand like a guitar. Alex Skolnick also played for the crowd and showed off just what an incredible guitar player he is. I wasn't sure he was playing with Testament on this tour, but I was so glad to see him up there on that stage shredding. It was great to hear songs like "Dog Faced Gods" and "Practice What You Preach", but "D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)" still reigns as one of the best Testament songs ever recorded! They need to come back and headline very soon. 9/10

Setlist:

For The Glory Of...
More Than Meets The Eye
Dog Faced Gods
The New Order
Trial By Fire
Practice What You Preach
D.N.R (Do Not Resuscitate)
3 Days In Darkness
The Formation of Damnation

After a near-perfect concert at the Beaumont club last December, everyone was salivating for more Megadeth. The only let-down of the show were Dave Mustaine's vocals on some of the songs. Don't be afraid to let the beast out, Dave! Other than that, the music was spot-on and it was so much fun singing along with all of Rust In Peace. Chris Broderick was probably the most talented guitar player on that stage last night, and it showed during one of my favorite guitar solo's of all time for the song "Tornado Of Souls." He hit each note perfectly. Highlight of the set was Five Magics. It sounds fantastic live. They also brought out Vic Rattlehead to rouse the crowd during Dawn Patrol. Best Halloween costume ever! 9.5/10

Set:

Holy Wars... The Punishment Due
Hangar 18
Take No Prisoners
Five Magics
Poison Was The Cure
Lucretia
Tornado of Souls
Dawn Patrol
Rust In Peace...Polaris
---------------------------------
Trust
Head Crusher
A Tout Le Monde
Symphony of Destruction
Peace Sells
Holy Wars (reprise)

During Slayer's set at Mayhem Fest last year, the soundboard got fried which resulted in horrendous sound for the band and ultimately gave us a ruined set. Karma was in full swing tonight, because Slayer sounded spot-on through their whole performance. I was on the left side of the stage, but I could still hear all of Kerry's guitars, as well as Jeff's. Tom came over and played to our side as well, a few times. The pits were huge and vicious the entire time Slayer was on stage. Every song, even the World Painted Blood openers, sounded loud and clear on stage. The best songs were the cuts off of Seasons In The Abyss that I thought I'd never hear live, such as "Hallowed Point", "Skeletons Of Society" and even "Temptation." Throwing in "Aggressive Perfector" at the end of "Raining Blood" was the best surprise I've ever gotten. My neck was sore, blood was on the ground, people are still screaming as they walk to their cars. Yep, Slayer played. 10/10

World Painted Blood
Hate Worldwide
War Ensemble
Blood Red
Spirit In Black
Expendable Youth
Dead Skin Mask
Hallowed Point
Skeletons of Society
Tempation
Born of Fire
Seasons In The Abyss
-----------------------
South of Heaven
Raining Blood
Aggressive Perfector
Angel of Death

A great deal got even sweeter.

Slayer and Megadeth are playing at Sandstone in August with Testament.

Just announced today: Slayer will be performing all of "Seasons in the Abyss" and Megadeth will be performing all of "Rust In Peace".

Woah.

American Carnage rescheduled!

American Carnage has been rescheduled, and will be hitting Sandstone on August 23rd. The line-up is Slayer, Megadeth, and Testament. Locals might open the show?

Awesome.

Skipping Kansas: The best tour of all time

Megadeth (Performing Rust In Peace)
Testament (Performing The Legacy)
Exodus

March 01 - Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory
March 02 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory
March 03 - Medford, OR - Medford Armory
March 06 - Calgary, AB - Big Four (TESTAMENT w/ special guests)
March 07 - Edmonton, AB - Shaw Conference Centre (TESTAMENT w/ special guests)
March 08 - Saskatoon, SK - Prairieland Exhibition Hall
March 11 - Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theater
March 12 - Pittsburgh, PA - Palace Theater
March 13 - Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
March 15 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
March 16 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
March 18 - Scranton, PA - Scranton Cultural Center
March 19 - Norfolk, VA - The NorVa
March 21 - Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
March 22 - Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
March 23 - Memphis, TN - Minglewood Hall
March 25 - Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theater
March 26 - Austin, TX - Stubb’s Amphitheater
March 27 - Lubbock, TX - The Pavilion
March 28 - El Paso, TX - Club 101
March 30 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theater
March 31 - Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Palladium (TESTAMENT w/ special guests)

No words. This is the best tour ever.

American Carnage: Postponed

Slayer's bass player, Tom Araya, has to have back surgery, so the upcoming amazing tour of Slayer, Megadeth and Testament is now being re-scheduled for this summer. However, Megadeth is currently planning a US tour in March/April. No word yet about Testament.

Skipping Kansas: American Carnage

Jealous of the sweet Canadian Carnage tour featuring Slayer and Megadeth? Well don't...

They're coming here! With a better line-up! (well, not HERE here, but the States at least)

Slayer
Megadeth
Testament
(rumored)High On Fire

JANUARY
18 WaMu Theatre, Seattle, WA*
19 Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR (tickets sold via www.rosequarter.com)
21 Cow Palace, San Francisco, CA*
22 Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA * (tickets on sale 11/21)
23 Dodge Theatre, Phoenix, AZ**
25 Magness Arena, Denver, CO*
26 Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, NM*
27 El Paso Coliseum, El Paso, TX*
29 Verizon Wireless, Houston, TX**
31 Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, TN*

FEBRUARY
1 Gwinnett Arena, Duluth, GA*
2 Broadbent Arena, Louisville, KY* (tickets on sale 12/4)
4 Roy Wilkins Auditorium, Minneapolis, MN* (tickets on sale 12/4)
5 UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL* (tickets on sale 12/4)
6 Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI*
9 Chevrolet Theatre, Wallingford, CT**
11 Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ*
13 Susquehanna Center, Camden, NJ*
14 Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA*
16 Pavillon de la Jeunesse, Quebec City, QC (tickets sold via Billetech.com)
18 John Labatt Centre, London, ON (tickets on sale 11/27 via JohnLabattCentre.com)
19 Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON (tickets sold via Ticketmaster.ca)
20 Bell Centre, Montreal, QC (tickets sold via Admission.com)
22 Moncton Coliseum, Moncton, NB (tickets sold via MonctonColiseum.com)
23 Metro Centre, Halifax, NS (tickets sold via TicketAtlantic.com

*Tickets sold through Ticketmaster
**Tickets sold through Live Nation

American Waste Festival -- Kansas City, MO -- June 6th, 2009

This was, by far, one of the best things to happen to the metal community in and around Kansas City. I only hope that this fest comes back again and again and again, forever. Such a good time.

I got into the Beaumont's backyard just as Muzzle Loader was starting their set. This band reminded me of when I was in junior high, going to local band house shows. The only thing is that all those bands were generic metalcore/screamo. Same for Muzzle Loader. They should spend less time on thinking how they could jump and do stuff with their guitars to look cool and more time on writing some good music. They have potential, but they're gonna have to dig for it. 5/10

After them on the outside stage as well was Iseah. Again, another generic deathcore band. Nothing special at all. 5/10

The first band worth seeing today was Sicadis on the outside stage. The vocalist was funny, they had good stage presence, and even invited some guests on stage, most notably the vocalist for At the Left Hand of God. They are melodic death metal which at times was worse, but at other times was better. It all evened out and they were very enjoyable. If they took out every instance of clean vocals and kept the same death metal vocals, it'd be great. 7.5/10

One of the main reasons for me attending this wonderful fest was up next on the outside stage and the un-unholy time of 3:15 PM. It was my third time seeing Skeletonwitch and they continue to get better and better each time I see them. They played 3 songs off their new album, due out on October 14th called "Breathing The Fire", so sayeth Chance Garnett. The rest of their set was a brilliant look back through Beyond The Permafrost. On the title song of that album, me and everyone else up close to the stage got to shout the chorus along with Chance into his microphone. They were on fire throughout their entirely to short 30-minute set. But it was 30 minutes of unholy bliss. 10/10

Sacrifice For The Slaughtergod
Fire From The Sky
Limb From Limb
Remains Of The Defeated
Crushed Beyond Dust (new)
Upon Wings Of Black
Beyond The Permafrots
Blinding Black Rage (new)
Where The Light Has Failed (new)
Within My Blood

The first band I saw inside the Beaumont club today was another band who I was really psyched to see: Hammerlord. I've said it before, I'm saying it now, and I'll say it forever more: They are the best band in and around the Kansas City area. And, as evidenced today, they have one of the most talented guitar players ever. The solos were mind-blowing. Every single part of the band clicked and they sounded outstanding. I will continue to support Hammerlord until they're as big as Testament themselves! 9/10

? (new)
Shut Your Eyes
Dead City Radio
Lordess
Thunderers

After Hammerlord, I went outside to see Troglodyte, but the schedule got mixed up. The Killer went on instead. This was, unfortunately, the worst band of the day. They sounded like generic "brocore" hardcore, and the mix was terrible. All I could hear were drums. No one in the band looked into it at all until about the last song. They just didn't sound good at all. 4/10

I decided to skip Snake Eater and watch The Esoteric reunion inside the club. I'm not really sure what kind of genre to put The Esoteric in, but they were heavy, and that's all that really matters. I think maybe they'd be called metalcore, back when it wasn't such a dirty word but actually, you know, good. Also elements of heavy metal thrown in. A good show all around. 8/10

Partial/Out of order setlist:

Until The Grave Gives Up The Ghost
Destroy, She Said

To close out the outside stage, Troglodyte battered everyone who was out there to witness their awesome brand of death metal/grindcore. They seemed really into it, especially the vocalist, and it came through. The mix was a bit iffy at time, but it hardly mattered to Trog. I wish they could've played for longer; it's always a pleasure to see them. 8/10

Partial/Out of order setlist:

Troglodyte Rises
Don't Go Into The Woods...
Skunk Ape Rape
We Eat Our Own
Die When You Die (GG Allin Cover)
Beaten And Eaten
They Walk Among Us

I walked back into the club to catch the last song from LaZarus A.D. Not enough to really give them a fair review, but I liked what I heard. I hope they come back soon.

I saw Unearth open for Slayer back in 2007. While they were slightly better this time around, they were still very, very bad. Every song was pretty much 50% generic breakdowns. It didn't really help that their guitarist is a huge tool as well. Some parts sounded halfway decent, but it just went back down the toilet with breakdown after breakdown. Not good at all. 5/10

Testament. Need I say more? They were near perfect. They are pretty much the epitome of a classic thrash band. I've seen Exodus, Metallica and Slayer and Testament blew them all out of the water. What kept this from being the perfect set is that I wished they would've played for longer. But what we got was fantastic. Alex Skolnick is a beast on the guitar and Chuck Billy is a fantastic frontman. They were loud, fast, and awesome. And they played Disciples of the Watch!

OBEY!
9.5/10

Not 100% on the setlist, if anyone wants to correct it, go ahead:

The Preacher
The New Order
Over The Wall
More Than Meets The Eye
The Persecuted Won't Forget
Burnt Offerings
True Believer (?)
Into The Pit
Disciples Of The Watch
encore:
D.N.R.
3 Days In Darkness
The Formation Of Damnation

Overall, this was an outstanding day of metal. Tomorrow, Coalesce is headlining, but I'm dead. Everyone else go. Let's hope this becomes a yearly thing in Kansas City.

Pick Testament's KC Setlist

Testament, headlining Day 1 of the American Waste festival, is letting fans choose their setlist over on their Myspace. Choices are:

A: "The Legacy" + Best Of
B: "The New Order" + Best Of
C: he Persecuted Won’t Forget, Practice What You Preach, Into the Pit, Dog Faced Gods, Raging Waters, More Than Meets The Eye, Demonic, True Believer, The Legacy, Over the Wall, The New Order, Souls of Black, First Strike Is Deadly, Disciples of the Watch, D.N.R., Three Days in Darkness, The Formation of Damnation

Whichever wins, you know it's going to be a great show. GO VOTE!

American Waste update: SKELETONWITCH!

Hundred Years War has dropped off the festival, but replacing them is none other than the mighty SKELETONWITCH! June 6th! Beaumont Club! Testament, too! BE THERE!

Kansas City FINALLY has a metal festival

Big poster here!

Two days, tons of bands.

Saturday, June 6th:

TESTAMENT
Unearth
Lazarus A.D.
The Esoteric
The Blinding Light
Hammerlord
Diskreet
Snake Eater
Troglodyte
Koktopus
and tons more

Sunday, June 7th:
COALESCE
Eyes Of The Betrayer
For Today
At The Left Hand Of God
Moire
Battlefields
Serated
The Cast Pattern
Continent Of Ash
and tons more

Beaumont Club! BE THERE!