http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=241065787&blogID=316028139

Metalheads unite, for proper thrash is back in all its heathen glory! There is certainly no denying it. A feast of thrash was last night laid out for the hardcore followers of the scene and all involved left begging for more. What follows is a run down of the most thrashing night of live music the sleepy region of East Anglia has seen for quite some time....

The Twist is often host to some great nights of live bands, but none can match the anticiaption in the air surrounding this gig. New school thrashers Evile have built up a fantastic reputation for themselves recently and success is quickly following in suit. Earache Records have put a lot of publicity into this band and it has really paid off. There is a real feeling that the days of playing to a hundred people in a sweaty Colchester venue will soon be just a distant memory to this band. Much more about Evile later...

At £5 entry for 5 bands in total, one of which being such a large presence in the current thrash resurgence, value for money is amazingly good. Upon arrival, opening act Empathy were already on stage midway through their brief set. In honour of the recent anniversary of a certain metallica bassist's tragic death, the band exploded into a fantastic rendition of the classic "No Remorse", and so forth set the scene for the rest of the night. The band sound in many ways the way you wish Metallica still did, and could do very little wrong. The set was marred however halfway into the opening riff of their final song by the venue cutting power and turning the house music up. Three more minutes, the band pleaded for but it fell on deaf ears. A real shame as there was a sense of anti climax to what had been an excellent thrash performance and robbed the band of the big finish. Needless to say, it had little effect on how the crowd recieved the music and I'm sure the band left with a whole new bunch of fans.

With barely time to catch breath and nip out for a cigarette, gear was swiftly swapped round and it was time for River Freshney. One look at whom will immmediately conjure up an image of exactly what they sound like. Pure, fast hardcore. They did not disappoint, and proceeded to rip the face off every person in the crowd, offering a mix of the more hardcore thrash acts of the eighties. The turning point seemed to come when the drummer managed to break his snare. A short swap over later and they seemed to become much tighter and looked a much more professional band. Of course, whenever thrash is popular there is always an influx of hardcore bands like River Freshney, and with this band, they are a welcome edition to this bill, giving the night a party atmosphere and just generally being a really good laugh. A particular highlight was the highly entertaining guitar solo, as performed orally by the bands singer, as well as the curiously titled "Bob Hoskins Going Mental in a Bin". Thrash is a genre that needs to have a laugh, and this is a band that know exactly what that means.

Next up was a band I was very much looking forward to see, Ipswich's own Elimination. Having grown up in Ipswich and seen little evidence of a thrash scene other than the odd Master of Puppets T-shirt here and there, I was curious to see what this band had to offer. The answer to this is, musically, a great deal. There is no question that there is an awful lot of musical talent in this band. Daz Abbott is a highly skilled shredder, showing off his skills by inverting his fretting hand around the top of the fret board. Does nothing to improve the quality of the music, but certainly says "I'm a fucking kick arse guitarist" with great aplomb. Despite the guitar antics of Abbot, however, The real star for me was the excellent bass playing courtesy of Justin. Playing finger style, his technical bass riffs reminded me of Testament's four stringer, Gregg Christian, a very high accolade indeed. The only complaint is the low sound levels on Dave Spicer's guitar. Turn that sonofabitch up, and do that guitar playing justice! The band stormed through their set with a series of technical and challenging riffs with real ferocity and ensured that the audience was won over. In relation to the Bay area sound, Testament is a clear influence, with the involved basslines and imaginative song structures, but perhaps a less clear influence would be modern day Exodus. Vocally, Neil Stevens can be compared to current 'Dus vocalist Rob Dukes, barking a vicious metal command to the audience. as well as this, there were many riffs that would have fit very nicely on more recent Exodus albums such as "Tempo of The Damned" in particular. Will Rowsell on drums is a drummer obviously very capable due to the nature of the bands somewhat technical thrash sound and kept a very good rythm. In terms of skill, Elimination certainly tick all the boxes to be a great thrash band, and it will be interesting to see where the guys go from here.

An odd band to be put on the bill was main support, Sanctorum. Having seen three bands playing like it was twenty years ago, the crowd was quickly brought back to modern times with a slice of Swedish melodic death metal... Only from England. Having personally lost faith with this melodic blend of heavy metal riffs and death metal vocals after years of dire albums by many of the pioneering Gothenburg bands, Sanctorum are not a band I would normally be drawn towards. One thing that can be said is that the guys playing the songs were doing so very accurately and effectively. Lead guitar was played particularly competently, although one can't help but feel the style of soloing would be much better suited to a blend of seventies hard rock or early eighties british heavy metal, rather than the european influenced modern metal sound. A well played and tight set nonetheless, despite sitting precariously in the middle of a thrash sandwich. For fans of "The Gothenburg Sound" I can imagine Sanctorum would fit proudly in their CD collection.

The final band needed no introduction. With a buxom onslaught of galloping riffs, Evile hit the stage at 100mph, as I took my place in front of the stage to get a good look at just how fucking fast these guys could play. The lads hammered through their set playing the cream of their album "Enter The Grave" with a grin and a chuckle. The thrash attitude is truely alive in this band. Brothers Matt and Ol Drake make an awesome guitar partnership, with Ol in Particular being an amazingly fast guitarist. I don't believe there was a single note on his fretboard that didn't make an appearance in at least one of his superb solos. Brother Matt offered up some impressive riffs whilst lashing out some killer vocals. A highly skillful singing guitarist, as a lot of those riffs are hard enough to play on their own! The band was completed by a rythm section that was tight as arseholes with Ben Carter on drums and Mike Alexander tearing up the bass. As they roared into the modern classic that is the title track of the new album it was clear that this is a band capable of going far. Dare I say big four material? Its certainly possible. After a short encore the band left the stage with the whole crowd showing their appreciation. The sheer speed and ferocity of what had just been witnessed surely confirmed Evile as many people's new favourite band. Long has it been since I've seen a band play quite so fast and tight. It is difficult to believe the Evile boys left the venue with both arms still attached because I very nearly lost mine through desperately trying to air guitar along with the songs.

All in all a successful night for thrash metal. In fact shortly after purchasing my Evile T-shirt (with a free patch, I might add!) I'm sure I checked my watch and it said 1986. Thrash is back and its fucking brilliant!

Cheers....