Written by:	D.T. Metal
Published:	November 23, 2013
Event:	Death Angel: North American Tour 2013
Location:	Summit Music Hall, Denver, CO, USA
Galleries:	Battlecross, Diamond Plate - Summit Music Hall - Denver, USA - 7 NOV 2013 by D.T. Metal (26)

Death Angel just finished their headlining tour across North America and while I do like them a lot I have seen them tons of times over the years and therefor will concentrate on reviewing the "underdogs" of the tour package.

It actually was a pretty solid line-up which included, from bottom to top, Diamond Plate, Revocation, Battlecross and Canada's 3 Inches Of Blood as direct support to Death Angel. There was old thrash, new thrash, retro thrash, progressive thrash, everywhere thrash - in a nutshell - it was a thrash'ing experience. BUT, at least in Denver, CO the tour tanked - bad. I would have thought many more thrasher would come out to see the bands, but apparently everybody was saving their money for the show happening the next day, which was Warbringer, Overkill and Kreator.

Helllllo booking agents! Can we at least halfway look what is going on in a town before we commit to dates? Apparently not, since the two tours followed each other pretty much across the continent. Really sucks for the fan who wanted to see both tours but due to money being tight everywhere, had to pick and choose. Well, in all fairness and not taking anything away from Death Angel, but if I had to choose between the two tours, I would take the German's over the Bay Area ones ANY day. But hey, that's just me, and thankfully I didn't have to choose and attended both shows. Anyhoooo, back to the gig at hand.

So, Diamond Plate was the first band of the night and they were promoting their just released second full-lengths album, Pulse. I have seen them a couple of times over the years and after reading our own review of the album I thought I would give them a thorough listen to see if I agree with the review or not. Hmmm, well - I agree and I also don't. Whatever shortcomings the studio album might have, they sounded really good live.

Check here for some more pictures of Diamond Plate

Gone is the kinda goofy looking frontman/bassist and the kid who replaced him does not only fit visually better to the band, but also improves their live sound. Konrad (guitars) and Jim (drums) explained in our interview that Matt (Ares) really grew not only as a bassist but also as a vocalist and promised nothing would be held back on their next album. Good to hear, since he didn't sound that he was holding back that night. Seriously, give them a chance since his vocals are much, much better live than on the album. Weird, right?

Dude's bass playing was pretty good as well and the guitar work was flawless. With just one axe in the ranks there was no time for Konrad to allow any mistakes; and there were none. The riffs came over crisp and to the point. Drumming wise - well, it's thrash metal drumming, nothing major and extraordinary to report on this front.

Diamond Plate concentrate mostly on their new material but this didn't deter from the fact that all the folks in the front row were headbanging and having a great time.

Setlist: Walking Backwards, All Of It, Price You Pay, At The Mountains Of Madness, Empire Tomorrow, Dance With Reality (probably not in order though)

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Revocation was up next and since I literally just saw them just a couple weeks ago, coincidentally with Battlecross, I was sitting at the bar during their performance. I do love those dudes to death and they are personal friends of mine, but there comes a point where you just have seen them way too many times. Don't get me wrong, I totally dig their music, but ?. well, you get the point.

Battlecross, or better known as "the band who has the most breakdowns with their trailer". Seriously, when they played in Colorado Springs a couple weeks back they barely made it because of trailer issues, and low and behold their van rolled up to the Summit Music Hall about 15 minutes before their set time. Un-fricking-real. Guitarist Hiran was joking about this as well in our interview, but at least they made it and since I dug their show in the Springs, I was looking forward to seeing them again.

The band has been around since 2007, but somehow I managed to miss them each and every time they came through here. Even on their off-gig in Colorado Springs a month or so ago - it was toward the end of the night and I was ? well, let's just say we have some pretty good micro brews in the state and leave it at that. So it was actually very nice to see them play a complete set on the tour with Death Angel.

They are promoting War Of Will, the bands third full lengths album which was released this summer, but Battlecross started their set with two songs off their 2011 release, Pursuit Of Honor. Hmmm, maybe they felt the audience would be more familiar with those songs, but in the end it really didn't matter since the reception off Battlecross by the Mile High fans was phenomenal.

Check here for some more pictures of Battlecross

The statement on their Facebook page is more than fitting for the band: "Five Regular Dudes From Detroit Thrashing And Melting Faces Across The World." Well, not five but rather four dudes, since they have been out on the road with several touring drummers. Kevin Talley (too many bands to list here ) helped them out during the Rockstar Mayhem Festival, and now All Shall Perish's drum Beast Adam Pierce is providing the soothing sounds of blast beats and other ruckus. I honestly had to do a double take when I saw him behind the kit in Colorado Springs. Dude is an awesome drummer and I am glad he is helping out a fellow band while his own still looks for a frontman.

Battlecross put on a great show during their limited set-time and while their music really can't be described as "pure thrash", I am certain that most of the genre elitists in the crowd found themselves head-banging and moshing to their songs. Having two guitars in the band makes for a well-rounded listening experience and both axe slingers did an awesome job and had fun on stage. Wow, seriously, Battlecross has to be one of those bands where every member just smiles on stage and that happiness really reflects on their performance. Nice.

Like I mentioned before, the gig was not very well patronized, but this didn't matter to those in the pit and the moshing was alive and well during all of the bands. Even I circled the damn thing a couple of times during Death Angel's 1987 "The Ultra-Violence".

3 Inches Of Blood were - well, I have never seen a bad gig from the Canucks and Death Angel closed out the night with the aforementioned "The Ultra-Violence". The entire show was good and I hope that the Denver gig was just a fluke in regards of attendance since the package was awesome all around.