Review

with supporting acts: CANDY STRIPER DEATH ORGY, RED RIGHT HAND, BAD KARMA
at Jarrod's, Attleboro, MA
September 14th, 2001.

Review by Ultra Boris
Used under permission.
 

Yeah, I went to the  show.  And (this applies for an overwhelming majority of you) - YOU DID NOT.
You are a pathetic loser that deserves to have a squid inserted into your inner ear.

But anyway, after a borderline hilarious incident getting lost, we made it
to the show (we = Craptic Reign and I) and despite being 2 hours late, we
got there before the opening band even set up!  I met (finally) Eric from
Candy Striper Death Orgy, and also Local Bootleg Gods Jim and Brian.  I got
an  t-shirt and made it to the front for the opening band, which was
Bad Karma.

BAD KARMA - they played about 6 songs total, they were pretty good power
metal in the vein of the last few Riot albums but thrashier... their drummer
is Stu Dowie who was in Meliah Rage in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  This
band doesn't sound much like Meliah Rage but they were pretty good.
Unfortunately I forgot the song titles, and failed to grab their setlists,
so I don't know what any of their songs were.  These guys got the most
support of the night - a lot of the friends of the band turned up.  There
were about 80 to 100 people in the audience for them.  Again, pretty decent
power metal and worth seeing.  * * * 3/4

RED RIGHT HAND - Next up were Red Right Hand, who were labeled as
thrash/speed, but they sounded more like a Cowboys era Pantera, not bad at
all, except their guitar was too soft in the mix and the bass too loud,
making their riffs less distinct - they had good riffs, just didn't present
them well.  Their lead singer, Chris Kozdra, looks like Rob Halford, and
sounds nothing like him.  His stage act involved walking around in circles
and grimacing and attempting to poke a hole in his skull with his fingers.
I met him and bassist Rob Leo after their set at various points.  I managed
to snag a copy of the setlist off the stage (my new hobby) and got Chris's
autograph on it!  Whoo hoo!  The songs they played were:

Hate
Alibi
Good Day to Die
(I Don't) Need You
Embrace Me
Darkened
Wonderland

The setlist also mentions "So Still" but they didn't have time for that due
to the set running long... I think those are the correct titles, the setlist
only has abbreviations for the song titles (i.e. Good Day to Die is listed
just as Good Day, I just remember Chris announcing the full title.)  Anyway,
they were quite good, though again their guitar needs to be louder in the
mix!  * * * *

After the Red Right Hand set, I met speed metal guitar God John Ricci, the
founding member of  and the genius behind most of their songs... I
got my "Blood of Tyrants" t-shirt signed, and requested they play "World
War III" but they didn't... oh well.  Doesn't usually work to request their
second most obscure song!  (Yes, I consider it more obscure than "Death
Revenge", but less obscure than "Sail On"!)  Next up was...

CANDY STRIPER DEATH ORGY - saw these guys open for Overkill a few months
back - they kicked ass then, and they kicked ass again today.  They're
extremely riff-oriented thrash... the riff consistency and changes of
Beneath the Remains era Sepultura, with the actual construction being more
along the Nuclear Assault line.  Great set - no lead guitars, since Eric
Paone (guitars/vocals) was constantly playing riff after riff!  No printed
setlist - Eric kinda winged it but the song titles I remember are "(NTC)
Nuclear Termination Cycle", live staple "Holocaustic", a Nuclear Assault
cover ("Radiation Sickness"), and an instrumental version of "Megaton"
since Eric mentioned that the lyrics that he had made up a few weeks
earlier were too similar to recent world events, so they were going to
leave it an instrumental.  They played some others, but I forget the titles. These guys kick ass - they're full out thrash metal!!  The bad part is,
the crowd had dwindled to about 40 by this point.  * * * * 1/2

So after that, the people had started really filing out... so here is where
my obligatory rant of the day comes in.  So let me get this straight, speed
metal legends  play Boston for the first time in their 22+ year
careers, and about 100 people show up.  That's bad enough... but it turns
out most of them are here for the opening band - and don't get me wrong, for
once the opening band didn't suck, and that is my point exactly.  The
opening bands were all METAL, and if you like metal then you will like
!!!  I mean, these are fucking metal GODS, a total throwback to the
time when men were REAL men, and little beady eyed furry creatures from
Alpha Centauri were REAL little beady eyed furry creatures from Alpha
Centauri, and EVERY ONE, men and furry creatures alike, played on eleven.
They turned it up so their neighbours could hear it too - here is a band
from that bygone glorious era before the sample DJ and the three extra
percussionists on garbage cans defining what the general world thinks of
as "metal" (yeah right.)  These people were METAL.  These were the guys that
started it all - the guys that the people in the opening band looked up to
and worshipped for inspiration - and when they took the stage, the members
of Bad Karma and all their friends were... where?  Who knows, but not
banging their heads off to , that I'm sure of.  Poor pathetic souls -
at least the members of Red Right Hand and CSDO stuck around... but a lot
of their fans left, and they missed out on one Hell of a show.  End of rant.

So yeah, by the time  took the stage there were like 15 people in the
audience.  Pathetic.  It took all the challenge of getting to the front,
but I was there anyway...

- so they took the stage sometime between 11 and midnight, and I do
not exactly remember when.  The stage lights were turned down and they
started out with a tape of "Warcry", which is the intro to I forget which of
their albums, (yeah I know, I'm a sucky fan!)  Then they launched into "The
Dark Command", which is of course the title track to their 1996 comeback
special album.  The lead vocals were almost inaudible through the first 2
or three tracks, unfortunately, before they fixed them up.  But of the
people that were there, at least everyone had the sense to sing along to at
least the chorus.  The next song was from their latest album, Blood of
Tyrants, and was "Rain of Terror", and then they played "Stand up and
Fight", which is of course from the very first  album, Heavy Metal
Maniac.  By this time they had managed to get the mike fixed up so lead
singer Jacques Belanger was quite audible.  He did a masterful job leading
the crowd - pretty much he's a 100% heavy metal frontman.  John Ricci is of
course a metal guitar god, and he played the part, with lots of flourishes
and madcap soloing.

Next up was "Rule With an Iron Fist" from Blood of Tyrants, and luckily most
of the crowd knew the lyrics - the crowd was small, but at least it was
completely loyal - no occasional hangers-on, this was all real fans all the
time.  They then played the classic "Heavy Metal Maniac" in full asskicking
style like it was still 1983, and then "Burn at the Stake", which is from
The Dark Command.  They really mixed up the old and the new, managing to
leave out the forgettable middle period... next up was "Brutal Warning",
another Blood of Tyrants song.

Next up was the cool guitar solo "Ritual Death", from the Long Live the Loud
album - yes, a real live authentic guitar solo, complete with facial
grimacing and everything - not only Yngwie J. Malmsteen has guitar soloes
anymore, fortunately.  It may not have been the most absolutely technically
mind blowing thing ever, but it was nonetheless very very good - again, John
Ricci is a speed metal God.  Yeah.  Then of course they played "Victims of
Sacrifice", and then "Pounding Metal".  Next up was "Martial Law", then
"The Rising of the Dead", and "Long Live the Loud", and they finally closed
with "Violence and Force".  The setlist actually listed "I am the Beast" as
the last track after "Violence and Force", but they didn't play that... they
had to be off the stage by 1, unfortunately.  So they got cut short... which
kinda sucks.  But they totally and completely kicked ass - a very good set
list that only was missing "Cry of the Banshee" in my opinion - and "World
War III" of course, hehe... from the first demo and the U.S. Metal 2
compilation from 1982.  Oh yeah and the crowd was unfortunately small. Did I
mention these guys are speed metal Gods?  The crowd was enthusiastic, and
every member played competently - John's guitar tone was very very good,
the best of the night.  The only problem was that the vocals were just a bit
too soft.  Marc Charron on bass and Rik Charron on drums completed the set -
Marc was cool enough to look up at me for a brief second so I could take a
picture of him!  Rik was an animal on drums, and I couldn't detect any overt
mistakes by any of the band - they played practically flawlessly, and their
stage show was also remarkably cool.  At one point during "Violence and
Force", John bumped into Jacques, but he kept playing...

So yeah, they kicked ASS!!  As much as Overkill?  Not quite... but
definitely close.  I would've gone and seen them today too, except
unfortunately today's show was 21+.  Oh well... they rule!!  * * * * *

So that was the end of that, they herded us out like cattle and we
disappeared without further incident.  Overall, an awesome show - I mean,
none of the bands required me to hurt them due to their excessive suckage,
the only bad thing was the size of the crowd.  SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SPEED
METAL LEGENDS, YOU PATHETIC FOOLS!!!!!!!
 
 

setlist 010914
 

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