Diamond Head playing in Kansas City in 2011 on a Tuesday night. Who would've thought? Not a huge crowd, but everyone who was there made so much noise and showed so much love that it looked like Diamond Head was having the time of their lives on-stage. And honestly, it was probably the best pure rock'n'roll/old-school heavy metal live performance I've ever seen.
Firstly, the venue. It's a place called Knucklehead's. It has an inside stage (also part of a bar/restaurant) but the show was on the outside stage. It's a pretty large stage with all the lights and stuff, but rows of tables/bleachers and even an upstairs deck where people could sit and watch. The sound was, in short, impeccable. I don't think I've ever even been to an inside professional concert venue where the sound was that good.
And speaking of the sound, not only were Diamond Head crystal clear in every instrument, there's just that tone that only they can replicate. It was straight out of the 70s/80s that I doubt anyone else could pull off. It made everything so much better.
Diamond Head was really energetic, especially Eddie on bass and, of course, Brian Tatler on guitar. Brian was flawless and was shredding the entire night. Their vocalist, Nick Tart, might've only been with the band for about seven years, but he was all over the stage headbanging with people and letting them sing into the mic. He even bent down to a guy in a wheel chair and kept high-fiving him. Their attitudes transcended to the audience, everyone was just drinking, singing, clapping, headbanging and smiling. The most positive metal crowd I've ever been a part of!
Diamond Head is definitely a band known for their classics (I mean, they're the songs that Metallica based their band off of!) but even the newer stuff was great! "Skin on Skin" was really heavy, and "Nothing To Lose" had a great groove. But everyone really kicked in as soon as the first classic of the night, "The Prince", started. It was chillingly good. They played all the songs from their album "Lightning To The Nations" except one, which is pretty much a dream come true. My neck is sore from how hard I was head-banging to the immortal "Am I Evil?" which every metal fan should know by heart.
No opening band, over early. Diamond Head came on at 8:15, were off by 9:30. Totally fine by me, they crammed every second with bad-assery and just pure, unadulterated METAL.
Diamond Head: 10/10
1. Play It Loud
2. Nothing To Lose
3. The Prince
4. Give It To Me
5. In The Heat Of The Night
6. Skin on Skin
7. From Heaven to Hell
8. It's Electric
9. Pray For Me
10. Sucking My Love
11. Helpless
12. Am I Evil?
----
13. Lightning To The Nations
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
October: still busy for metal
Just announced:
Creepsylvania's own GHOUL will bring their brand of Splatterthrash to the Aftershock in Merriam, KS on October 15th! Will Killbot make an appearance? Who knows! Opening will be Troglodyte!
Creepsylvania's own GHOUL will bring their brand of Splatterthrash to the Aftershock in Merriam, KS on October 15th! Will Killbot make an appearance? Who knows! Opening will be Troglodyte!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
October: Always busy for metal
A couple of shows have just been announced for October!
First up:
The Black Dahlia Murder will be returning, YET AGAIN, to Lawrence to slay us! They'll be headlining The Granada in Lawrence on the strength of their new album, Ritual. Opening for them is All Shall Perish and Cannabis Corpse. The Black Dahlia Murder always have the best live shows, so get ready to headbang!
================================================================
The next October show is quite a doozy:
WARBRINGER comes back to KC on their headlining tour for their new albums, Worlds Torn Asunder! It'll be at the Beaumont Club on October 30th (Halloween Eve!) with LaZarus A.D., Landmine Marathon, Diamond Plate, Vanlade and Meat Shank! Spoooooooooky!
First up:
The Black Dahlia Murder will be returning, YET AGAIN, to Lawrence to slay us! They'll be headlining The Granada in Lawrence on the strength of their new album, Ritual. Opening for them is All Shall Perish and Cannabis Corpse. The Black Dahlia Murder always have the best live shows, so get ready to headbang!
================================================================
The next October show is quite a doozy:
WARBRINGER comes back to KC on their headlining tour for their new albums, Worlds Torn Asunder! It'll be at the Beaumont Club on October 30th (Halloween Eve!) with LaZarus A.D., Landmine Marathon, Diamond Plate, Vanlade and Meat Shank! Spoooooooooky!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Prepare to accelerate your living!
One of my personal favorite live bands, SAVIOURS, will be returning to the heartland on September 2nd at the Jackpot Saloon in Lawrence. Opening the show will be another great band, Bison BC!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Exhumed -- Merriam, KS -- July 21st, 2011
Okay, so my only complaint about the night is that parking at the Aftershock completely sucks. Their lot isn't nearly big enough and we ended up parking 3 rows deep so the cars in the middle were SOL if they had to leave early. But aside from that, Aftershock's biggest show yet was absolutely awesome.
First band up was The Roman Holiday from Independence, and they were surprisingly good. I've seen them evolve and get better and better with each performance, and this was by far their best-sounding show. Too bad they weren't around 25 years ago, or they would be Cannibal Corpse. Can't wait to see them again at Hammerween II!
The only disappointing band of the night was Upon The Wake. It was their last ever show, but they were so disjointed and looked so nervous up on stage that it looked like it was their first show. Their vocalist ruled, though.
Troglodyte, fresh off their blistering (quite literally) set opening for Rob Zombie on Sunday, tore everyone in Aftershock a new face. They have a second guitarist now, and it only adds to their greatness. Caught (On Super 8) is still one of the best damn songs ever written. Long live Sasquatch Death Metal.
The band with the biggest crowd of the night, though, were hometown heroes Origin. It was the last date on their first US tour for "Entity" and they were welcomed home with insane style. The new vocalist, Jason (I got his automagraph!), was so awesome. He's every bit as good of a vocalist as James was, but his stage presence is so much better. He was physically pulling people out of the crowd to stagedive, and during The Aftermath, they had everyone on stage to headbang, and even some moshing and crowdsurfing! I haven't seen that since Suicidal Tendencies back in 2008. But I can't forget Paul, John and Mike. They all sounded fantastic and the sound itself was really clear for both the instruments and the vocals. It was really a legendary performance. It was all filmed and will be used for their music video for "Expulsion Of Fury!"
I'll admit, I wasn't entirely looking forward to Cephalic Carnage. Their last CD was really underwhelming to me, but they actually did a pretty good job. When they were straight-up grindcore, they were pretty fun. Whenever they tried to do anything else, it wasn't that great. There's some better bands that could've taken their place, but there's a LOT more worse bands that could've been there.
Exhumed was so good. Their brand of Carcass worship has more personality and original touches that probably makes them my favorite (at least live) death metal/grind/goregrind band. Matt sounded just like he does on record, and his solo's were spot-on, but Wes had some amazing solo's as well. The vocals were really clear, even for being right up next to the stage. "Casketkrusher" was so good it gave me chills, and ending the night on "The Matter Of Splatter" was just one of the highlights of my year. Hopefully they come back real, real soon!
Exhumed:
All Guts, No Glory
As Hammer To Anvil
Necrotize
Necromaniac
Casketkrusher
Through Cadaver Eyes
In The Name Of Gore
Slaughtercult
Torso
Limb From Limb
guitar solo
Forged In Fire, Formed In Flame
In My Human Slaughterhouse
Decrepit Crescendo
drum solo
Waxwork
-----------
The Matter Of Splatter
Cephalic Carnage:
Wraith
Warbot
Raped
?
Drums
Genital
Abraxas
Weed
Lucid
Origin included:
Expulsion of Fury
Wrath of Vishnu
Finite
Portal
Disease Called Man
The Aftermath
Purgatory
Swarm/Saligia
Possibly some more
Troglodyte:
Symphonies Of Sasquatch
Piece Of You
Mummified Yeti Hand
Fight For Your Life
Caught (on Super 8)
Bring Me The Head Of Bigfoot
Beaten And Eaten
Hit By The Hendersons
They Walk Among Us
The Only Good Hippie...Is A Dead Hippie
Exhumed: 9.5/10
Cephalic Carnage: 7/10
Origin: 9/10
Troglodyte: 8.5/10
Upon The Wake: 5/10
The Roman Holiday: 8/10
First band up was The Roman Holiday from Independence, and they were surprisingly good. I've seen them evolve and get better and better with each performance, and this was by far their best-sounding show. Too bad they weren't around 25 years ago, or they would be Cannibal Corpse. Can't wait to see them again at Hammerween II!
The only disappointing band of the night was Upon The Wake. It was their last ever show, but they were so disjointed and looked so nervous up on stage that it looked like it was their first show. Their vocalist ruled, though.
Troglodyte, fresh off their blistering (quite literally) set opening for Rob Zombie on Sunday, tore everyone in Aftershock a new face. They have a second guitarist now, and it only adds to their greatness. Caught (On Super 8) is still one of the best damn songs ever written. Long live Sasquatch Death Metal.
The band with the biggest crowd of the night, though, were hometown heroes Origin. It was the last date on their first US tour for "Entity" and they were welcomed home with insane style. The new vocalist, Jason (I got his automagraph!), was so awesome. He's every bit as good of a vocalist as James was, but his stage presence is so much better. He was physically pulling people out of the crowd to stagedive, and during The Aftermath, they had everyone on stage to headbang, and even some moshing and crowdsurfing! I haven't seen that since Suicidal Tendencies back in 2008. But I can't forget Paul, John and Mike. They all sounded fantastic and the sound itself was really clear for both the instruments and the vocals. It was really a legendary performance. It was all filmed and will be used for their music video for "Expulsion Of Fury!"
I'll admit, I wasn't entirely looking forward to Cephalic Carnage. Their last CD was really underwhelming to me, but they actually did a pretty good job. When they were straight-up grindcore, they were pretty fun. Whenever they tried to do anything else, it wasn't that great. There's some better bands that could've taken their place, but there's a LOT more worse bands that could've been there.
Exhumed was so good. Their brand of Carcass worship has more personality and original touches that probably makes them my favorite (at least live) death metal/grind/goregrind band. Matt sounded just like he does on record, and his solo's were spot-on, but Wes had some amazing solo's as well. The vocals were really clear, even for being right up next to the stage. "Casketkrusher" was so good it gave me chills, and ending the night on "The Matter Of Splatter" was just one of the highlights of my year. Hopefully they come back real, real soon!
Exhumed:
All Guts, No Glory
As Hammer To Anvil
Necrotize
Necromaniac
Casketkrusher
Through Cadaver Eyes
In The Name Of Gore
Slaughtercult
Torso
Limb From Limb
guitar solo
Forged In Fire, Formed In Flame
In My Human Slaughterhouse
Decrepit Crescendo
drum solo
Waxwork
-----------
The Matter Of Splatter
Cephalic Carnage:
Wraith
Warbot
Raped
?
Drums
Genital
Abraxas
Weed
Lucid
Origin included:
Expulsion of Fury
Wrath of Vishnu
Finite
Portal
Disease Called Man
The Aftermath
Purgatory
Swarm/Saligia
Possibly some more
Troglodyte:
Symphonies Of Sasquatch
Piece Of You
Mummified Yeti Hand
Fight For Your Life
Caught (on Super 8)
Bring Me The Head Of Bigfoot
Beaten And Eaten
Hit By The Hendersons
They Walk Among Us
The Only Good Hippie...Is A Dead Hippie
Exhumed: 9.5/10
Cephalic Carnage: 7/10
Origin: 9/10
Troglodyte: 8.5/10
Upon The Wake: 5/10
The Roman Holiday: 8/10
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
The rest of July!
Don't forget these awesome shows in the rest of this month!
July 7th
Beaumont Club
BURY YOUR DEAD (feat. original vocalist MATT BRUSO)
Evergreen Terrace
For The Fallen Dreams
In The Midst Of Lions
Genosha
----
July 11th
recordBar
LITURGY
Dope Body
----
July 16th
Sandstone Amphitheater
ROB ZOMBIE
As I Lay Dying
All That Remains
Escape The Fate
Hammerlord
----
July 18th
The Granada
SUICIDE SILENCE
UNEARTH
All Shall Perish
Red Fang
----
July 19th
Crossroads KC
CINDERELLA
Hammerlord
The Dead Girls
----
July 21st
Aftershock
EXHUMED
ORIGIN
Cephalic Carnage
Troglodyte
The Roman Holiday
----
Get out there and get moshing!
July 7th
Beaumont Club
BURY YOUR DEAD (feat. original vocalist MATT BRUSO)
Evergreen Terrace
For The Fallen Dreams
In The Midst Of Lions
Genosha
----
July 11th
recordBar
LITURGY
Dope Body
----
July 16th
Sandstone Amphitheater
ROB ZOMBIE
As I Lay Dying
All That Remains
Escape The Fate
Hammerlord
----
July 18th
The Granada
SUICIDE SILENCE
UNEARTH
All Shall Perish
Red Fang
----
July 19th
Crossroads KC
CINDERELLA
Hammerlord
The Dead Girls
----
July 21st
Aftershock
EXHUMED
ORIGIN
Cephalic Carnage
Troglodyte
The Roman Holiday
----
Get out there and get moshing!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Upcoming moshfest: Bury Your Dead
You might think Bury Your Dead coming to town wouldn't be anything special, but they just had their original vocalist, Mat Bruso, rejoin the band! Seriously, that's cause for celebration. Don't come to this show unless you want to mosh and have a fantastic time! They'll be at the Beaumont Club on July 7th. Opening are Evergreen Terrace (!!!), For The Fallen Dreams, In The Midst of Lions, and Genosha. Come and mosh!
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