exodus_2005_11

» Exodus 2005 11 20

Reviewed by Thomas
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Headliner: Exodus
Special guest: Evildoer, Arise
City: Gothenburg, Sweden
Venue: Musikens Hus
Date: 20 Nov 2005

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Arise

Arise have the intentions but it does not reach all the way for them. Further, they are not that intriguing to watch on stage even if it occasionally sounds really great. Their blend of thrash and death metal is rather anonymous and their songs are not good enough to make Arise stick out. It works on their albums but they need to improve in order to become a live act to be reckoned with.

The In Flames-smelling song How Long Can You Pretend from their latest album The Beautiful New World is one of their better songs but the part with clean vocals did not work very well live. It was with the tracks Another World To Consume and Strangled Love they managed to get a grip on me, otherwise it was just ok listening music while waiting for Exodus.

4 chalices of 10

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Exodus

Bay Area thrash legends Exodus roll into town on a Sunday evening and it was great to see that they are still to be reckoned with even though most members in the band have been replaced since their last visit to Sweden. Gary Holt and crew were here to give a lesson in violence and with Bonded By Blood as opening song the gears was kicked into action right from the start.

Exodus showed how thrash is supposed to be played: fast, furious and aggressive. Most songs came from their latest effort Shovel Headed Kill Machine, and it is perhaps not that strange considering that they have three new members in the band with that album. Practically every song from the album was played and the set was mixed up with some older songs in-between and usually you want to hear more old stuff than new but the songs on Shovel Headed Kill Machine turned out to work great live so the desire for older ones quickly decreased.

Rob Dukes was screaming his lungs out and showed that he is fully capable of taking care of the old songs well even if it weren't that many of them that they played. Sadly it wasn't much of a crowd to talk about, I heard someone mention the figure of 125 attendances and by the looks of it that seemed to be right. However, that did not seem to bother Exodus that gave hell on stage and thrashed anyhow for us that were there, and it always nice to see a band that enjoys putting on a good show despite how many there are in the crowd.

Gary Holt seemed to be enjoying every minute of the time on stage, he said that this is what keeps him from going insane, playing in front of fans with Exodus, and I have no reason to disbelieve him. He and new guitarist Lee Altus did a splendid job with the riffing and harmonies and it was also a pleasure to see the third new guy in the band, Paul Bostaph, beat the living shit out of his drums. The concert never lost its pace and they kept the momentum up all the way only to crank it up a little more with War Is My Shepard as second song in the encore. And even if I don't want to complain on the set list, I do wonder where the hell they did leave Toxic Waltz? Because it wasn't where it was supposed to be, as in delivered.

8 chalices of 10

SETLIST

Bonded By Blood
Raze
Deathamphetamine
Kharma´s Messenger
Black List
A Lesson in Violence
Altered Boy
Now Thy Death Day Comes
Shudder To Think
Scar Spangled Banner
Piranha
I Am Abomination
.44 Magnum Opus
Shovel Headed Kill Machine
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Fabulous Disaster
War Is My Shepard
Strike Of The Beast