It’s not every day you get to see a live bill with not one, but two legends of your favorite genre on the same night. However, that is exactly what happened when your intrepid reporter Keefy went to see DESTRUCTION and HEATHEN in Boston recently. In another feat of awesomeness by Ammonia Booking, the best local talent wranglers for metal clubs in Boston put on this show which also features WARBEAST. Playing in the aptly named club called Church, a packed house of faithful thrash worshipers we were all sermonized and saved by no less than the holiest of evil healers. The metal flowed and the metal was good my brothers and sisters. Rejoice and never repent!
PANZERBASTARD have come for your soul.
Once again I was blessed to see a bevy of excellent quality opening bands on the same bill as national headliners. Boston is just overflowing with quality acts right now and so even local shows have a more epic flavor than I can ever remember. Tonight the early crowd was treated to blistering sets by RAZORMAZE and PANZERBASTARD. RAZORMAZE is a neo-thrash prospect with great chops and a great sense of dynamics. PANZERBASTARD is one part MOTORHEAD and two parts evil death thrash. Like CELTIC FROST (whom they covered) on crack. I’ll be looking forward to seeing both again soon as they always put on a good show in this deep and competitive scene.
WARBEAST feels the flow of metal!
WARBEAST was the first of the touring bands tonight and they were excellent. Formerly known as the TEXAS METAL ALLIANCE and made up of members of RIGOR MORTIS, GAMMACIDE and DEMONSEED the proper lineage is there. They play their own brand of old-school thrash, but based on the players in the band wouldn’t dare tag a “neo” anything on their style. Of course leading the madness is vocalist Bruce Corbitt (RIGOR MORTIS) and his dominating stage presence. Rocking his custom microphone holder he led the band through tracks off of their Philip Anselmo produced debut Krush the Enemy (Housecore Records). They got the crowd lathered up and moshing hard. Songs like “Stalker”, “Unleashed” and new song “It” were really killer live. “It” in particular was great with a killer solo by Scott Shelby. The closed strong with “Birth of a Psycho” and thanked Boston for making their first northeast show memorable.
HEATHEN puts on a killer show.
Next up was the band I was most excited to see, HEATHEN. This was not only their first ever show in Boston it would be my first time seeing them too. Much like seeing FORBIDDEN for the first time last fall after thinking I might never get to see them, HEATHEN had me on the same trip. As an underrated first wave of Bay Area Thrash band, these guys have been on the comeback trail of late. With last years’ excellent The Evolution of Chaos (Mascot Records) album under their belts they have been touring regularly and reintroducing fans to their many anthems and new jams as well. The room really filled up right before they went on confirming my suspicion that my local metal brethren would represent to the fullest. The lights dimmed and the intro for “Dying Season” came on and the place went wild. Hitting the stage with a vengeance, the band was just killing the song live as a really great pit broke out up front. Much like the last album, the song kind of sums up what has always been great about HEATHEN and brings it into a modern light. Singer David White demonstrated that he still has a golden set of pipes and an awesome level of stage presence. Fans and guitar geeks were camped out on Lee Altus’s (EXODUS) side of the stage watching every second of his fretboard acrobatics. In fact the interplay and harmonizing between Atlus and Kragen Lam (PROTOTYPE) was standout all night. “Control by Chaos” was next and was an equally great old-school sounding banger with more insane guitar work. Yet another recent song came next in with “Arrows of Agony” which continued the assault. The band sounded really tight overall despite the lineup changes for the tour. Returning Jason VieBrooks was filling in for Jon Torres on bass and was really solid. He played on some of their best albums so he fit right in. I need to single out Jon Dette (SLAYER/TESTAMENT) who is filling in on this tour for Darren Minter. He was an absolute beast behind the kit and best drummer of the night. In between songs people were calling out for requests of older songs which was cool. Finally a classic nugget was tossed out in the form of “Open The Grave”. Starting off with a hellish scream from White, the track is just a balls out thrashterpiece. Epic performances of “Hypnotized” and “No Stone Unturned” were astounding the crowd ate it up. Closing out with the 1-2 punch of “Fade Away” and the mandatory classic “Death By Hanging” they left me and everyone else in the venue speechless. I hope they can come back for a headline tour before too long.
DESTRUCTION!
DESTRUCTION is always a great live act. One of the best and most powerful power trios in all of music and great showmen as well. I always had them ranked neck and neck with KREATOR among the German thrashers and just ahead of SODOM. They are always high on energy and many people in the club tonight were there solely to see their favorite Teutonic thrash kings. I had the misfortune being outside the clue interviewing HEATHEN when DESTRUCTION started their set, but I wrapped things up quickly and made my way inside. As I got inside hears the strains of “Armeggedonizer” and the band was just killing. Everybody was just going nuts for them, many heads knew all of the words and there was a lot of action in the pit. The band sounded in fine form, especially the legendary frontman Schmeir on bass and vocals. “ Hate Is My Fuel” off of the excellent recent Day of Reckoning (Nuclear Blast) came next and there was an insanely brutal circle pit lasting for the entire song. Older jams like “Eternal Ban” and “Life Without Sense” followed and they were really perfect renditions. Guitarist Mike Sifringer is one of the most consistent and enduring axe men in all of metal. His leads are fluid like the some of the classic rock guys a generation before him, but his attack and technique are brilliant. Schmeir took some time out to rap to the crowd between songs and spent some time complaining about the sound on stage, but I couldn’t tell there was anything wrong. Come to think of it he complained about the sound the last time I saw them too. Anyway he introduced “Devolution” with a shoutout to President Obama for taking out the recently deceased Osama Bin Laden which was quite funny. “Devolution is a sick modern track, especially for its drum work by drummer Vaaver Dramowicz and another top notch solo from Sifringer. At one point Schmeir was taking requests from the crowd and they played “Thrash Til Death” and “Death Trap” on command which was amazing. The entire ending of the set was a throwback to their earliest days with hits like “Beastial Invasion”, “Beyond Eternity” and “Release from Agony”. For “Release…” they were joined by Kragen Lum on second guitar. As the ended the night with “Total Desaster” they once again they proved to be at the upper echelon of thrash. This band has stood the test of time and their music truly is part of the DNA of metal history.
Mike Sifringer demonstrates a German slow burn....
Special thanks go out to Church, Robin and Ammonia Booking, Liz at Earsplit PR and Return to the Pit for the photography.
As we near the end of one of the best years in recent heavy music releases, I wanted to make sure I uncovered every important band or record to review that came across my greedy ears. Music is my life, but sometimes things try to interfere with my goal of reviewing as much tune-age as I possibly can. One album that almost slipped by me is the full length debut of ARSON ANTHEM. A bastard child made of hardcore, deathmetal, crust and doom; ARSON ANTHEM is an underground super-group of sorts. The band consists of Mike Williams on vocals (EYEHATEGOD/OUTLAW ORDER), Hank III on drums (ASSJACK/HANK III/SUPERJOINT RITUAL), Philip H. Anselmo on guitar (who needs no introduction), and their mutual friend Colin Yeo on bass.
Recorded at Nodferatu’s Lair at Phil’s house and released on his own Housecore label Insecurity Notoriety is a snarling, feral spin on old-school hardcore punk with cool twists and turns tossed in for good measure. Not claiming to be strictly punk like so many pretenders, but exuding the raw feelings and chaos of the music they cut their teeth on this album is true in spirit. Surely this group of talented guys could write music in several different styles of music and likely come away with gold. However, they really bottled the honest to goodness vibe of bands like BLACK FLAG, D.R.I., NEGATIVE APPROACH, POISON IDEA and MINOR THREAT and funneled it through their own deep mojo.
The songs are sharp bursts of furious anger and righteous dismay. Opening with the noisy and brusk “Naught”, it is everything I thought this album would be and it only lasted half a minute. And was an instrumental! Classic sounding punk guitars, trap-like snare sound and a decidedly on purpose lo-fi aesthetic.“Foul Pride” is next punctuated with fast riffs and Williams’ exasperated yelling. After a short, weird detour the song again pummels you dead. The end results are very impressive. “Isolation Militia” is unrelenting and harsh. The awesome gang vocals and intensity of the track reminded me of my favorite NYHC band ever, GORILLA BISCUITS. With most of the tracks coming in at under two minutes “More Than One War” is one of the longer tracks at just under three. The lyrics are a fairly collaborative effort between Phil and Mike. There a a bunch of really smart ones, but I must single out the HENRY ROLLINS-esque list-o-mania of “If You Heard This…”. Check out lyrics like “nicotine/gasoline/ ephedrine/submachine/thorazine/benzedrine/vaseline/libertine”. Awesome! Other standout cuts are the title track, “Crippled Life”, “Death of An Idiot”, “Co-Dependent and Busted” and the final, slow boil-over of “Teach The Gun (To Love The Bullet). Sometimes the wheel doesn’t need to be reinvented as much as it’s original design still demands your respect and honor. You may bow down now.
The best combination of metal and country since Century Media signed BOB WAYNE, check out this awesome video of EARTHRIDE playing with HANK WILLIAMS III (ASSJACK, SUPERJOINT RITUAL, ARSON ANTHEM) during a recent show in Lancaster, PA!
We all know the tragic story of DAMAGEPLAN and PANTERA. However, new video footage was recently dug up of DAMAGEPLAN rehearsing the classic “This Love” at Dimebag’s home in October 2004, just 2 months prior to his untimely death.
We’ve all been aware that this year marks the 20th anniversary of one of the greatest metal albums of all time. Now, ‘Cowboys From Hell’ will be available in a special “Ultimate Edition” beginning Nov 22. Check out this awesome video PHILIP ANSELMO (PANTERA, DOWN, SUPERJOINT RITUAL) did to explain just how awesome this package is!
PHIL ANSELMO, HANK WILLIAMS III and MIKE WILLIAMS have come together as ARSON ANTHEM. The result is a dirty, hardcore punk band that seem like the soundtrack for doing a lot of drugs in the bayou. The band is visceral, angry and a lot of fun – not to mention, their new album ‘Insecurity Notoriety’ is now available for streaming over at MySpace.
Check it out and stay tuned for ARSON ANTHEM to drop on October 12 via Anselmo’s Housecore Records!
ARSON ANTHEM TO RELEASE FIRST FULL-LENGTH LP, ENTITLED ‘INSECURITY NOTORIETY’, ON OCTOBER 12TH, 2010
HOUSECORE RECORDS hardcore punk act ARSON ANTHEM announce the October 12th, 2010 release of their brand new, first ever full-length release, entitled Insecurity Notoriety. ARSON ANTHEM is comprised of metal greats Philip H. Anselmo (Pantera, Down, Superjoint Ritual), Hank Williams III (Superjoint Ritual, Assjack), Mike IX Williams (Outlaw Order, Eyehategod), and Collin Yeo (Ponykiller).
Warbeast is a band that was formed from the ashes of RIGOR MORTIS and GAMMACIDE. They are about to release an album through PHIL ANSELMO’s HOUSECORE RECORDS, lead singer BRUCE CORBITT was nice enough to answer some questions regarding the band, their writing process working with Philip as he puts it, etc.
1. Why did you all decide to get together and form WARBEAST?
We originally just put this band together for a one-time benefit performance. But we released afterwards that the chemistry was there and that this band could be a full-time project. RIGOR MORTIS and GAMMACIDE just weren’t able to get together often enough after both bands started doing reunion shows back in 2005. So for Scott Shelby, Rick Perry and myself… this gave us a chance have a full-time project.
2. Would you consider yourself a DFW supergroup?
I think we have a solid lineup and I don’t believe there are any weak links in the band. A few of us are also veterans from some of DFW’s pioneering and legendary thrash bands. But to say that we are a supergroup would be a huge exaggeration.
3. How long did it take to write and record the album?
We wrote the songs over a 2-year period. We didn’t start out from day one with a plan to write 10 songs for a full-length album. We just wanted to jam together and keep busy because of RIGOR MORTIS and GAMMACIDE being like part-time bands for some of us. So we just played our old music from Rigor and Gammacide when were doing our first gigs. Then we worked on new originals to add to the set. Once we had 4 or 5 songs written… we decided to record a demo and see if any labels would be interested. Philip liked the demo and said he wanted to sign us. From that point on we concentrated on writing enough material for a entire album before we entered the studio.
The Music was recorded over a 10-day period. The vocals were done in about 5 days. Then we spent a really long time listening to it and taking notes for the mixes. We took our time with it and mixed it several times before we knew we had the right one. Nothing was rushed and I think you can tell when you hear the final product. (more…)
