I just got back from the Chicago gig and holy fucking shit were these guys awesome! I've waited a long time for them to come to Chicago, but it was worth every second.
The first act of the night, Michigan's Sauron, set the stage for an intense evening of thrash with a mind-blowing set that recalled the glory days of the early 80's thrash scene. I had never seen, nor heard, of this band before, but I left with a copy of their CD, as well as a t-shirt, and I'm prepared to spread the word. If you like good, old-school thrash with no holds barred, then Sauron is definitely up your alley.
The second act of the night, Chicago's Cyanide, put on a decent show, but are basically your run-of-the-mill mid-90's death metal band, so the thrash took a little breather during their set. Although, the last two songs they played had thrashier riffs than the early part of their set, and definitely got me back in the mood for some headbanging. Which was good, because after they cleared the stage, all that remained was ...
the mighty Destroyer 666! On their first official US tour (does 10 dates really qualify as a "tour?"), D666 is obviously out to prove something to the North American audience. Those of you who are familiar with D666 know that they play fast, thrash-based black/death metal - definitely leaning more toward thrash and black than death, but it's all semantics anyway - metal is metal and these guys know how to give it to you hard and fast. Cramming two hours worth of riffing into a blistering one hour set, D666 treated the crowd to both the old and the new. From "The Eternal Glory of War" off their debut EP "Violence is the Prince of this World" to "A Breed Apart" from their most recent effort, 2003's "Terror Abraxas" EP, the band pulled out all the stops and hit every album for at least one track. They also managed to pay homage to legendary metal gods Bathory and Venom with interspersed covers throughout the set. If that wasn't enough, they capped off the evening with "Satanic Speed Metal" from the 1998 EP of the same name and, believe me, Satanic Speed Metal is exactly what they delivered - I haven't witnessed such a powerful flurry since Slayer in their prime. K.K. Warslut was certainly having his way with the crowd, drinking from a fifth of Jim Beam between songs and commenting more than once that he couldn't believe the crowd was that rowdy on a Monday night. I was hoping for more than one hour - especially considering they have 11 years worth of material backlogged and this was their first ever Chicago appearance - but I can't imagine they could keep that pace for much longer than they did.
The ticket was a little steep at $20 for 3 bands, but the venue was intimate with good sound, and the bands performed at breakneck pace, cramming 6 hours of music into 3-1/2 and leaving the audience reeling and stunned. Of course, being a metal crowd, we all wanted just a little bit more ...