Written by:	PowerMetal
Published:	August 11, 2007

It was a great Monday night in Sauget, IL (literally on the other side of the Mississippi River from St. Louis). Not one, not two, but three great metal bands came to a fairly small nightclub/concert venue for a night of hammering Heavy Metal. Pop's is a fairly intimate place where the band members simply have to reach forward and they're clasping hands with the metal faithful that have come to pay homage to their art.

The night began with the first of the two new bands Echoes Of Eternity taking the stage. Brandon Patton jamming not five feet from the people at the front with Sam Young on the other side equally entertaining. Duane Cowan at bass got the front tight, due to the larger part of the stage being reserved for Symphony X later on, but no one cared when Francine Boucher came out. While her beauty if undeniable, Francine really got the crowd roaring with her amazing voice (live, she sounds just as she sounds in the studio). She also got everyone going with her head pounding, hair flying energy while Kirk Carrison was flailing away at the drums. They performed pretty much their entire album 'The Forgotten Goddess' and sounded amazing. Their best songs in my opinion were 'The Forgotten Goddess', 'Circles Of Stone', and 'Voices In A Dream'. After finishing (they lasted about 40 minutes), Francine and Brandon went to the back of the venue where they sold their album and Echoes' gear. It was great actually getting to meet the two of them face to face and actually talk with them for more than a few seconds. They were both very happy to sign my copy of their CD, but unfortunately the rest of the band never made it back there by the time the night was over.

The next band up was Sanctity. Now I'm more of a Progressive/Power Metal fan myself and I enjoy the really good 'clean' vocals of singers like Russell Allen, but I was very impressed with the screaming/singing of Sanctity front man Jared MacEachern, who also doubled as the rhythm guitarist. He probably more than any other singer really connected with the crowd, cheering us on to greater amounts of insanity! Zeff Childress was one of the most impressive guitarists of the night for me. The southpaw was blistering his guitar throughout his solos. I don't know the song names all that well, but 'Road To Bloodshed' was really damn good and 'Beneath The Machine' really got the mosh pit started in the middle of the crowd. Derek Anderson on bass was about the scariest looking guy of the night. He was just blasting people away with his bass and no one was playing more aggressively and energetically that night than he was. I'm always impressed with drummers and Jeremy London was pretty good on the drums, but with some of the heavier metal, especially live, I have trouble hearing it over the bass and guitars.

After Sanctity was finished, Jared went back to the booth to sell CD's and stuff and he was just as cool as Francine and Brandon of Echoes Of Eternity. In fact one of the neat things of the night was seeing the other bands rocking out to each other on the side balcony off the stage. Seemed like everyone was having a kick ass time.

About 20 minutes passed while the Symphony X roadies came out and checked the equipment. There was an incredible back drop behind the drums that was the cover of the Paradise Lost CD. People were starting to get restless and start chanting "Symphony, X" and after about five minutes the lights dimmed and the introduction Oculus Ex Inferni started. Under the cover of darkness, the band members came out to a raucous crowd, taking up their instruments and immediately going into 'Set The World On Fire'. It was hard to hear Russell Allen at first because the crowd was cheering so loudly, but soon enough everyone was singing along, throwing their hands in the air with the devil horns and banging their heads. Symphony X kept along with the CD's order, playing 'Domination' (one of my favorites) and 'The Serpent's Kiss'. The Michael's (Romeo, Pinella, and LePond) took turns leading the songs and they all sounded fantastic. Jason Rullo led the crowd in their head banging with his fantastic and frenetic drum beats. The band slowed down the pace with songs like 'Paradise Lost' and 'Sacrifice', with Pinella really showing his skills on the keyboard. Allen, when he wasn't busy belting out the songs with his incredible voice was often interacting with the crowd, clasping hands or catching eyes and flashing the devil horns with his tongue out at various people. It's always terrific when you see the band members having a great time as well.

As the night wound down, Symphony X stepped off the stage. This was at about 10:25 (the night began about 7:45). The crowd quickly took up various chants, including "Od-y-ssey" and "Symphony-X". This went on for about five minutes while the tech guys fixed the mic (it went out briefly during one song). Symphony X didn't disappoint however. They came out and fired away into Odyssey, that wonderful 24 minute opus. It was great that the band was so energetic playing their encore song and they didn't skimp at all. Romeo was back and forth playing for the crowd and LePond barely glancing at his bass while he strummed along. At the end of the night Russell congratulated the crowd for being so terrific especially on a Monday night.

As the night wound to an end after three hours of heavy metal, I found myself extraordinarily satisfied. All the bands sounded terrific and put on tremendous shows for the audience as well as playing totally kick ass music. I can only hope that they might come through St. Louis again and perform their magic once more as well as continue to release great albums.