Tonight - ANTHRAX, EXODUS, HIGH ON FIRE, MUNICIPAL WASTE, HOLY GRAIL in Minneapolis

Exodus performing January 30, 2010 at The Rock in Maplewood. Click to see more pictures from this show (14).

The only show happening tonight is a big one - the Metal Alliance Tour featuring thrash gods Anthrax and Exodus alongside High On Fire, Municipal Waste, and Holy Grail at First Avenue in Minneapolis. Tickets are still available for $30 at the door, and it's an 18+ show that starts early at 6:30 (according to the First Avenue website). Jon Donais of Shadows Fall is filling in on second guitar for Anthrax following the departure of Rob Caggiano for Volbeat in January.

High On Fire performing October 5, 2010 at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis. Click to see more pictures from this show (24).

RELATED CONTENT: I've posted a slew of recent material related to this concert: audio downloads of Anthrax in 1991 on the Clash Of The Titans tour, former Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz's new band Red Lamb in St. Paul on March 24, 2013, and Exodus (with Paul Baloff) on July 23, 1997, reviews of the new Anthrax, Holy Grail, and Red Lamb album and March 24 concert (with pictures), and, in the From The Vault series, Anthrax, S.O.D., and Armored Saint.

Album Review - ANTHRAX

Anthrax – Anthems EP

Megaforce, 2013

8/10

Since this is a stopgap all-covers EP I won’t get into a detailed song-by-song analysis. Anthrax has a high bar to pass on this type of release; their Attack Of The Killer B’s EP from 1991 is one of the best covers-type of releases done by a metal band. Despite only six covers, their quality is surprisingly hit or miss. Boston’s “Smokin’” is way at the top with an impressive organ and guitar solo, while “Keep On Runnin’” by Journey featuring amazing vocals by Joey Belladonna. The rendition of Rush’s “Anthem” also has some great singing that apes Geddy Lee, and I love that Anthrax decided to not track rhythm guitars during the solos to keep the feel of a power trio. “Big Eyes” (Cheap Trick) and “Jailbreak” (Thin Lizzy) are adequate, if unremarkable, but the weak chorus of “T.N.T.” by AC/DC makes this the worst of the lot. Rounding the EP out are the album version of Anthrax’s “Crawl” (from their latest album Worship Music) and remixed version with lots of keyboards and strings. My rating of 8 is on the high end of what I was considering, but the great covers of “Smokin’” and “Keep On Runnin’” justify it. At the end of the day, Anthems serves it purpose of being a quality Anthrax release, one that is fun and enjoyable.

Anthrax performs Thursday, April 4 at First Avenue in Minneapolis with support from Exodus, High On Fire, Municipal Waste, and Holy Grail.

RELATED CONTENT: Here's some other recent Anthrax-related posts: audio downloads of Anthrax in 1991 on the Clash Of The Titans tour and former Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz's new band Red Lamb in St. Paul on March 24, 2013, reviews of the Red Lamb album and March 24 concert (with pictures), and, in the From The Vault series, Anthrax, S.O.D., and Armored Saint.

From The Vault - ANTHRAX

I've seen Anthrax a few times throughout the years, and here's a few recollections from those concerts. The first time seeing them was in support of Persistence Of Time on the Clash Of The Titans tour, a triple-headlinging show with Megadeth and Slayer with support from Alice In Chains at the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on June 8, 1991. The Facelift album was just starting to take off, yet Alice In Chains opened with the unreleased (at the time) song "Would?" that would later appear on Dirt. Following their 30 minute set, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer each got about 50 minutes to floor the crowd. Shows of this type were rare in Iowa at the time, so this concert wasn't missed by metal fans in Iowa. You can download the audio of Anthrax's show here.

Following the shock of vocalist Joey Belladonna being replaced with Armored Saint's John Bush, Anthrax embarked on bigger headlining shows in support of Sound Of White Noise. I caught the band at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio during the summer of 1993. This and the Cedar Rapids concert in 1991 were the best shows I've seen Anthrax play, and at this show they played a good part of Sound Of White Noise along with all the favorites from the previous albums with Joey.

By the time Stomp 442 came out in 1995 thrash metal was largely dead as grunge had taken over. This tour saw Anthrax returning to clubs such as this show at The Lone Star in Kansas City with Life Of Agony and Deftones. The club had recently moved from their location in the Westport area of Kansas City and didn't seem set up to handle a packed, rowdy crowd. During the Deftones' set a railing on an elevated area near the stage fell off and caused some chaos for a few minutes. While it was great seeing Anthrax in a small venue, clearly some of the magic was gone with the departure of guitarist Dan Spitz.

Anthrax later hit the road in early 1998 before Volume 8: The Threat Is Real was released, and this show at Roadhouse Ruby's in North Kansas City with Season To Risk was the last time I saw them with John Bush. Again, another good show but the band's declining fortunes were palpable.

It's hard to believe seven years have now passed since I last saw Anthrax at First Avenue in Minneapolis (on January 14, 2006) when they surprisingly revived the classic lineup with both Joey Belladonna and Dan Spitz. The band was completely rejuvenated and in high spirits for this one. At some dates on this tour Among The Living was performed in its entirety, but not this one. This show was another favorite because they played a large chunk of Among The Living alongside a number of older songs from Spreading The Disease that I'd never seen them play, like "A.I.R.", "Medusa", and "Aftershock" as well as "Metal Thrashing Mad" and "Madhouse".

Anthrax performs Thursday, April 4 at First Avenue in Minneapolis with support from Exodus, High On Fire, Municipal Waste, and Holy Grail.

RELATED CONTENT: Here's some other recent Anthrax-related posts: audio downloads of Anthrax in 1991 on the Clash Of The Titans tour and former Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz's new band Red Lamb in St. Paul on March 24, 2013, reviews of the Red Lamb album and March 24 concert (with pictures), pictures of S.O.D. in 1999 and 2000, and stories and pictures of former Anthrax vocalist John Bush with Armored Saint.

From The Vault - S.O.D.

Anthrax is in town this Thursday, so here are some pictures from the Anthrax side project Stormtroopers Of Death (S.O.D.) from 1999 and 2000. Featuring Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian and drummer Charlie Benante, former bassist Dan Lilker, and singer Billy Milano, 1985's Speak English Or Die quickly became a classic crossover album. Reports are that Speak English Or Die has sold more than an incredible one million copies worldwide. They did little touring since Anthrax had released Spreading The Disease around the same time, but they undertook two extensive American tours in 1999 and 2000 to promote their second album Bigger Than The Devil.

Click on the picture to see more photos of S.O.D. at the Whisky in 1999 (16).

I caught S.O.D. three times during this period, the first being the first of two shows at the Whisky A Go-Go in Hollywood on November 10, 1999 with Crowbar and Skinlab. I believe this show was sold out and the crowd's excitement was high. Their songs are short and they played most of their albums so I won't comment about each show's individual set list.

Click on the picture to see more photos of S.O.D. at the March Metal Meltdown in New Jersey in 2000 (17).

Near the start of the second leg of the tour in 2000 S.O.D. was featured at the March Metal Meltdown festival at the South Jersey Expo Center in Pennsauken, NJ on March 10, 2000. Dozens of killer bands played at this two-day festival including Sentenced, Immortal, Savage, Virgin Steele, Witchery, and Doro. The whole thing, however, was kind of a joke since the various stages were actually just separated from each other by curtains. Neither the fans or the bands were happy to find that bands were playing at the same time with only a curtain between the stages. Let's just say that it was a less than ideal concert experience for everyone.

Click on the photo to see more pictures of S.O.D. in San Diego in 2000 (13).

As the 2000 tour reached the West Coast, S.O.D. played at Brick By Brick in San Diego with Hate Eternal and December (I think Skinlab was also on the bill). I had 3 or 4 copies of the 7-inch "Seasoning The Obese" single to be signed by S.O.D. at this show for a planned magazine promotion; I'll be diplomatic and just say that Dan Lilker happily signed them all, Charlie and Scott were polite about only signing one because they thought I might auction them on eBay (of course, nothing of the sort was done), and Billy didn't sign any of them. Oh well, it was still an enjoyable show.

Anthrax performs Thursday, April 4 at First Avenue in Minneapolis with support from Exodus, High On Fire, Municipal Waste, and Holy Grail.

RELATED CONTENT: Here's some other recent Anthrax-related posts: audio downloads of Anthrax in 1991 on the Clash Of The Titans tour and former Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz's new band Red Lamb in St. Paul on March 24, 2013, reviews of the Red Lamb album and March 24 concert (with pictures), and stories and pictures of former Anthrax vocalist John Bush with Armored Saint.

RED LAMB - March 24, 2013

Shame on you if you missed this recent show by Red Lamb, the new band from former Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz. Not only did they play newly the entire debut album, but Red Lamb performed some awesome versions of some classic Anthrax tunes such as "Only", "Caught In A Mosh", "I Am The Law", "Be All, End All", and "Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)". You can read my full review of the show with tons of pictures here. Red Lamb's version of "Caught In A Mosh" was a show-stealer; the double-bass drumming during the chorus helps make this the best performance of the song I've ever heard.

The download link is here. As always, please share, but share the link to this post rather than the direct Mediafire link. Enjoy!

Red Lamb

Decrypting The Puzzle Box

March 24, 2013

St. Paul, MN, Station 4

mp3@192 kbps, 117 MB zip file (artwork included)

1. It’s A Small World/Watchman (6:45)

2. Runaway Train (5:52)

3. Be All, End All (6:44)

4. One Shell (In The Chamber) (4:35)

5. Keep Pushing Me (4:42)

6. Standby Passenger (4:12)

7. Only (5:34)

8. Angels Of War (4:42)

9. Caught In A Mosh (5:19)

10. The Cage (5:50)

11. Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.) (5:27)

12. Puzzle Box (6:45)

13. Don’t Threaten To Love Me (4:22)

14. Temptation (4:58)

15. I Am The Law (8:17)

Total time: 84:04

RELATED CONTENT: Since both Red Lamb and Anthrax are playing show within two weeks of each other, there's been a lot of Anthrax related stuff posted lately. Click on the links to check out reviews of the Red Lamb album (7/10) and concert on March 24, 2013, some old concert memories and pictures from Armored Saint, and an audio download of Anthrax from 1991 on the Clash Of The Titans tour.

In Concert This Week - March 29, 2013

The crush of concerts continues over the next week, so pick and choose wisely!

Tomorrow, Friday, March 29, industrial/dance band I:Scintilla plays Ground Zero in Minneapolis with Gabriel And The Apocalypse, Go Fight, and Goodnight Criminals.

Saturday, March 30 is a big night starting with As I Lay Dying, The Devil Wears Prada, For Today, and The Chariot at First Avenue in Minneapolis. The same night pop-punk band Sum 41 plays Mill City Nights in Minneapolis with Hollerado. Also on Saturday, Station 4 in St. Paul has local shock masters Impaler with Mordwolf, Mastiff, and Compassion Dies.

Sunday, March 31 may be Easter, but there’s still some great live music to be heard. Rapcore crew (hed)p.e. returns to Station 4 in St. Paul with Nuisance, Strate-Jak-It, and Angry Room. Local industrial metal band Screaming Mechanical Brain plays the What’s Up Lounge in Mankato with Milwaukee’s Candy Machine Guns and Evasive Maneuver. Also on Easter Sunday, you can catch Apocalypse Theatre and their Revolution Circus show at G.B. Leighton’s Pickle Park in Fridley.

Candy Machine Guns stick around the area for another show on Tuesday, April 2 at G.B. Leighton’s Pickle Park in Fridley.

Candy Machine Guns performing March 24, 2013 at Station 4 in St. Paul.

Denmark’s Volbeat return for another sold-out show, this time at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis on Wednesday, April 3 with support from Danko Jones and Spoken. Swedish sleeze rockers Crashdiet play the same night at G.B. Leighton’s Pickle Park in Fridley with Crucified Barbara and Snakeskyn Whiskey. Wednesday is also the start of the weekly, month-long residency for sludge band Witchden at Cause Spirits & Soundbar in Minneapolis with openers Vulgaari and Buzzard.

If that isn’t enough, then Thursday, April 4 has one what should be one of the biggest thrash shows of the year with Anthrax, Exodus, High On Fire, Municipal Waste, and Holy Grail at First Avenue in Minneapolis.

Concert Review - RED LAMB and CANDY MACHINE GUNS

Red Lamb and Candy Machine Guns

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Station 4, St. Paul, MN

Former Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz has been largely quiet since his last stint with Anthrax in 2007, but he returned with Red Lamb, unleashing their debut album last year (reviewed here, 7/10). This, the band’s first tour, billed Anarchy for Autism, is a benefit for autism. Thankfully the light rail construction right outside Station 4 appears to be completed, and the venue now sports a cool new sign.

Click on the photo to see more pictures of Candy Machine Guns (17).

Milwaukee’s Candy Machine Guns has been on tour with Red Lamb for a couple weeks, and they were already underway when I got there. The 30 minutes of their set I saw was quite impressive. Candy Machine Guns play a very heavy style of modern-sounding metal that is a full-on assault of the senses. Singer Hobbes Caltous is at his best when screaming, and the band charged through many of the songs off their debut album Here We Come. They have a two other area shows coming up, and they’re well worth checking out.

Click on any of the pictures to see more photos of Red Lamb (49).

It was highly disappointing that only about 50 people turned out for Red Lamb, but if it bothered the band they didn’t show it. A tape of “It’s A Small World” served as the introduction before the band took over with “Watchman”. It was immediately apparent that the band was playing tight, and seemed out to prove that Red Lamb isn’t simply a fun side project. Following “Runaway Train”, “Be All, End All” was the first Anthrax classic broken out. This, along with the other Anthrax songs played, actually sounded great with only one guitarist and allowed Dan’s solos to figure more prominently.

Back to Red Lamb material, the band stormed through “One Shell (In The Chamber)”, “Keep Pushing Me”, and “Standby Passenger”. An awesome version of “Only” came next, and vocalist Don Chaffin really proved his versatility and incredible voice with this one. This seemed to bring new energy to the crowd, and the band responded with a firey version of “Angels Of War”. Red Lamb’s version of “Caught In A Mosh” simply has to be heard to believed – drummer Kevan Roy juiced up the chorus with some intense double-bass that brought new life to the Anthrax standard. I’d love to have a studio recording of this version from Red Lamb. “The Cage” was another highlight before “Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)” brought another outsized response from the sparse crowd.

Dan had been a bit reserved on stage up to this point, but he gave a heartfelt introduction to “Puzzle Box”, talking about the challenges he and his wife have in raising twin boys with autism and explaining his hope that the metal community can be supportive of raising awareness and support for the disease. “Puzzle Box” was  clearly a crowd favorite, followed up with “Don’t Threaten To Love Me” and “Temptation”. “I Am The Law” closed the show, unfortunately halted mid-song when Dan’s guitar malfunctioned. The band handled it gracefully and with humor, and Dan had a smile on his face and took it in stride as his showed the band where to pick it up again at the fast guitar break before the solos.

In all, Red Lamb delivered an inspired, nearly 90 minute set where they ran through nearly the entire debut album (only “Warpaint” and, disappointingly, “Get Up” were missing) and five Anthrax classics. Vocalist Don Chaffin is an amazing front man, and his range and talents were impressive in the live setting. The whole band is incredibly talented and their show gave me new admiration for the album. Hopefully this tour is only the beginning of more tours and recorded output from Red Lamb.

Dan Spitz returns to the band's sponsored bus to promote autism awareness.

Candy Machine Guns return to perform two other area shows: Sunday, March 31 at the What’s Up Lounge in Mankato with Screaming Mechanical Brain and Evasive Maneuver, and Tuesday, April 2 at G.B. Leighton’s Pickle Park in Fridley.

RELATED CONTENT: Check out my review of the debut album from Red Lamb. There's also an audio download of Anthrax in 1991 on the Clash Of The Titans tour. In my From The Vault series, you can read about past experiences and view of photos of former Anthrax vocalist John Bush in Armored Saint, with more to come from the legendary Anthrax side project S.O.D.