Friday night was filled with Metal as the In Thrash We Trust Tour tore it’s way through Raleigh, NC…
On May 9, 2008, the In Thrash We Trust Tour rolled its way through the Volume 11 tavern in Raleigh, NC as Light This City, Soilent Green, Death Angel, and God Forbid put on an amazing show! This was one of the longest shows I’ve been to in a while, but I had a great time as the Metal kept rollin’ on into Saturday morning.
The first band to play was actually a local opener called Age of Despair. These guys played before the show was supposed to start, but they actually weren’t half bad! They had a very old school sound that combined sounds from bands like Pantera and Fireball Ministry, but overall, I enjoyed their set.
To get the regular show goin’, Light This City came onstage and tore the venue up! (Not literally) This was the second time I’ve seen these guys and they continue to amaze me. Their style is still not one I would normally jam to, but they put on a great show and vocalist Laura Nichol can wail! She was just as brutal as the first time I saw them, and I really wouldn’t mind going for round 3!
Keepin’ this show kickin’ was the third band of the overall night, Soilent Green. Having proudly played under the name of a 1970s horror flick (Soylent Green) and hailing from the land of Sludge metal (New Orleans, LA), SG absolutely annihilated the place with the killer line-up of Ben Falgoust (Goatwhore) on vocals, Brian Patton (EyeHateGod) playing guitar, Scott Crochet (Hostile Apostle) on bass, and Tommy Buckley (Crowbar) playing drums! As just mentioned, this band has quite an all-star line-up with every member being involved with some other band. Personally, I am also a fan of both Goatwhore and Crowbar, so I already love what Ben and Tommy do, but together with tis line-up, SG is a KILLER band! Their set consisted of some older songs together with some new songs off their newest album Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction, such as “Mental Acupuncture”, “Blessed in the Arms of Servitude”, and “For Lack of Perfect Words”. As a whole, the set was insane and these guys put on a great show. After their set and Death Angel’s set, I was able to get an interview with Brian. Some of the things we discussed were why they chose the name Soilent Green, some of the line-up changes they’ve had and influences on him and the band. Overall, with a great viewing experience and an interview (with some other discussions) under my belt for the evening, I had a really great experience with Soilent Green and I’d love to hang out with these guys again sometime.
After a great set from Soilent Green, it was time to get a lesson in Thrash with the masters, Death Angel. With this show being the first time in 18 years DA has played in North Carolina, an excellent show was to be expected and they delivered! Everybody in the band was absolutely incredible and vocalist Mark Osegueda put on a great show while showing off his, obvious, vocal skills. As a bit of a gift to this NC crowd, they actually played a couple of songs for the first time on this tour to go with some other older songs and some songs off their new album Killing Season including “Lord of Hate”, “Sonic Beatdown”, and “Buried Alive”. Overall, the entire set was awesome, and I was glad to finally get to see them live! After the whole show was over, I was able to get an interview with guitarist Ted Aguilar and bassist Dennis Pepa. Honestly, this was the longest interview I’ve had with the least amount of questions asked and it was a bit more personal than most I’ve done. These guys were really cool to hang out with and talk to while they were hitting me with some pretty interesting stuff like influences on them and bands they like to listen to and things like that. Also, these two had some really good advice for people starting bands. Overall, another great experience with these guys and would definitely jump at the chance to do this again. (And as a personal favor for them, make sure to hit their Myspace page at www.myspace.com/deathangel or their website at www.deathangel.com)
The last band to hit the stage for the night was God Forbid. What a way to end this show! before seeing them live, I had never heard a lot of their material, but I was absolutely impressed with these guys and their performance was insane!
As a whole, this show was absolutely awesome show to go to and I had an incredible time talking to the guys from the bands and I’d love to see any of these bands play again!
Brian Patton (Soilent Green) Interview
Ted Aguilar and Dennis Pepa (Death Angel) Interview
***WARNING: Comments made by band members in interviews may contain language normally censored in our reviews. Since the recording is live, we are not able to censor that material, so please be advised of that.***
All That Remains and Chimaira put on explosive show in Charlotte!
On March 5, 2008, Ferret Music band Chimaira supported Prosthetic Records band All That Remains in a KILLER show at Amos’ Southend in Charlotte, NC. Joining Chimaira in supporting ATR were Metal band Light This City and Black Tide. Honestly, this show was one of the most aggressive events I have ever witnessed!
The first band to warm up the stage was West Coast Metal machine, Light This City. This was my first experience seeing this band and I was impressed. They were HEAVY! Guitarists Ryan Hansen and Brian Forbes were on top of their games killin’ the six strings and throwin’ in some hair spins and much needed headbanging. Bringin’ up the incredible back bone for LTC were drummer Ben Murray and bassist Jon Frost! The last piece to this puzzle was the brutal screaming of vocalist Laura Nichol. With all the forces of this band are combined, LTC put on a great show and kicked this show off the right way!
The second band to play was definitely the odd band of the tour, but still definitely deserved to be there! This band…is Black Tide. To compare this band to anyone else, they’re like a young Dragonforce without all the sweep picking! As mentioned before, BT was the odd band of the tour because of their style, but they definitely had talent. Guitarists Alex Nunez and Gabriel Garcia helped lead the second wave of attack on Amos’ Southend with bassist Zachary Sandler and drummer/keyboardist Steven Spence. Vocals were shared pretty equally between Zach and Gabriel, but Alex had an input in it every now and again. Overall BT played a great set mostly constructed of original songs, but they also played Metallica’s first written song “Hit The Lights” that appeared on Kill ‘Em All and will be appearing on BT’s new album, Light From Above. These first two band were only setting up for what was to come next!
And what came next was none other than Cleveland’s own Metal task force, Chimaira! Honestly, Chimaira is one of the most aggressive and powerful bands I have EVER heard! If you listen to any of Chimaira’s albums, you’ll get a slight glimpse of their power, but none of the albums compare to their live show! With the combined efforts of guitarists Rob Arnold and Matt Devries with bassist Jon LaMarca, keyboardist/sampler Chris Spicuzza, and returning drummer Andols Herrick, Chimaira proceeded to nearly blow my eardrums with an incredible set consisting of new and old songs. To complete the formula, insanely aggressive vocalist Mark Hunter was leading this set through songs including but not limited to (probably my favorite Chimaira song) “The Flame”, “Resurrection”, and “Salvation”. Pre-show, I was able to get an interview with Matt Devries who had some pretty interesting things to say. When asked about his favorite song off of their latest record Resurrection, he replied with my same favorite song, “The Flame”. He mentioned it was his favorite because of its aggressiveness and that it was so fun to play, although “Six” was another top from the album because it shows the diversity of the band. Matt had also appeared on the Roadrunner United: The All Stars album and said he was honored to be able to have that opportunity to play/record with guys he’s looked up to before and to have time working with Joey Jordison on that album as well. Overall, with the interview and witnessing of their live set, Chimaira helped give me one of the most memorable concert experiences I have had with Rock In Review!
At last it was time for the final wave of attack, All That Remains! Hailing from Springfield, Massachusetts, this five-piece Metalcore band definitely put the perfect finishing touches on an incredible night! This being the third time I’ve seen ATR I kind of knew what to expect, but I was still surprised with the performance of a few of their older songs including the first song vocalist Philip Labonte ever wrote for ATR; I believe it was “Clarity”. At the time that song was released on their first album Behind Silence and Solitude, the only other original member in the band that remains in the band today was guitarist Oli Herbert! Now, joining Oli and Philip in the journey towards making the world a more Metal place are rhythm guitarist Mike Martin, bassist Jeanne Sagan, and their most recent drummer Jason Costa. Together, these five make up an incredible band who have impressed me 3 out of 3 times! As mentioned, on March 5th, ATR played new and old songs including “Not Alone”, This Calling”, “This Darkened Heart”, and for Guitar Hero fans…”Six”! As their encore song, Laura Nichol from Light This City joined Philip in performing the vocals for the closest song ATR has to a Death Metal song, “The Weak Willed”. This was the perfect end to a great show!
All in all, this concert was one for the books and I had a blast getting to experience it! Make sure to catch these bands on tour near you if possible!
