LIVE REVIEWS

Metal Blade's 25th Anniversary Tour - As I Lay Dying, Job For a Cowboy, Lizzy Borden, Hatchet @ The Galaxy Theatre, Santa Ana, CA.

By: Gian Erguiza - January, 2008

Fucking Rain!!! Well, that’s how most of the night went. We kept getting stuck in traffic and spots of rain would not stop falling. We almost decided to turn around cause of the traffic and the rain beating down but as troopers for music, we kept on. Besides, who would want to miss Metal Blade’s 25th Anniversary Party anyways? Not us.

After all of the traffic and the rain, we finally got to our destination: The Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, CA. The bad part is, Job for a Cowboy is already onstage tearing it up meaning we just missed almost the whole show. Great.

It’s my first time seeing JFAC and I get a lot of mixed reviews from people and friends about this band’s live performance. I personally don’t listen to JFAC for my own reasons but I obviously know that there is much talent in this band, especially being the younger counterparts of most metal bands on the circuit. Anyhow, the dude’s voice sounded possessed. His voice is a death metal voice that most death metal vocalists would die to have. The guitarists were shredding up and so was the bass. The drummer had some serious chops man! This guy was pummeling the shit out of the drums! A+ my friend! Although I don’t know any JFAC songs by heart, their performance was quite impressive and these guys bring the metal, in your face. The crowd was loving every second of it which only meant that JFAC kicks ass.

The last band is undoubtedly one of the main reasons why dealing with the rain is way worth the drive. As I Lay Dying is for sure going to tear up. I was even more glad to be there after Tim from AILD announced that their set is going to be a unique set dedicated to Brian Slagel, Head Honcho of Metal Blade Records.

AILD immediately rips into it with “Nothing Left.” The pounding drums and guitar riffing instantly establishes that AILD are here to destroy. Once the second song started, “The Beginning,” I knew that we were in for a treat cause for the past shows I’ve been to, this song has not been part of their set. I was also surprised to hear “Collision,” which is one of my favorite songs from As I Lay Dying and they just killed that one. Then they broke out into “Losing Sight,“ which completely blew me away since I’ve been waiting for them to play that song at every show I’ve been to and now I got the chance to hear it live which was just awesome! Man, Jordan behind that kit is just a complete monster, beating on the skins and delivering the goods! Tim, always in top form, is the ever enthusiastic pyscho front man who can freakin’ scream and growl his head off. The guitars were screaming bloody murder and the bass, backing on vocals as well, was straight energy with a huge thump! Now I love this part, you don’t see a lot of bands giving praise to their labels and thanking them for giving them a career, that’s exactly what Tim did, thanked Metal Blade and Brian Slagel for giving them a career, good job Tim! They went ahead and played some more tracks that they will probably not ever play again, as Tim announced, and I was for sure glad to be a part of this and hear them play these songs! Tim wasn’t fuckin’ around when he mentioned that their set was going to be a unique one. Other notable tracks for the night, on the newer side, “Forsaken,” “Within Destruction,” and one of my favorites of their newest, “The Sound of Truth.” To close off the night, they really did it this time. This was the first song I’ve ever heard from AILD, “94 hours,” and it is to me the best AILD song ever, hands down. Well, they freakin’ busted into it and just drew the crowd into complete madness, it was freakin’ amazing! The last song of the evening was “Forever.” It’s my second favorite song from AILD and man, it’s a true testament to the power of this band. The song arrangement of the song, the unforgettable chorus, the powerful riffing, man, it rocked the hell out of the place. When’ the next show? Thanks Metal Blade!

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