Anthrax, Exodus, High On Fire, Municipal Waste and Holy Grail took over San Diego’s House Of Blues on the immense Metal Alliance Tour. Joe Daly was there to get his face blown clean off.
“Go fuck yourself, San Diego!”
It’s not often that you hear a frontman treat a full house to such a colourful greeting, but when the Metal Alliance tour pulls through town, all bets are off, and on this Monday evening, the paradisical city of San Diego is about to tuck into a feast of nearly five hours of glorious, ear-bleeding metal.
San Diego’s House of Blues, a sweatbox of a room more suitable for a Sunday roast than a metal show, requires all bands to complete their set by 11 p.m. or plugs are unceremoniously pulled. With five bands attached to the Metal Alliance tour, featuring headliner Anthrax bringing a 90 minute set that includes the entirety of their classic Among the Living album, tonight’s festivities kick off at 6 o’clock sharp, with quick, punishing sets from Holy Grail and Municipal Waste.
At 7:30 p.m., High on Fire, led by a gloriously shirtless Matt Pike, dive headfirst into Rumors of War and blaze through a jet-paced thirty minute sludge and doom offensive that sees giant circle pits form across the floor, with the “No Crowd Surfing” sign getting less respect than Fernando Torres at Old Trafford.
A recent Facebook debate explored the question: “We know who the thrash metal ‘Big 4’ are, but who would be the fifth?” Tonight, Exodus lay out a strong, if not airtight case for themselves, delivering forty bracing minutes of thrash and speed metal that includes Piranha, Bonded by Blood and Strike of the Beast. Frontman Rob Dukes is having the time of his life, at one point bellowing, “Go fuck yourself, San Diego!” The crowd of course, howls with delight at this quote from the movie Anchorman. After orchestrating a wall of death that makes the battle scenes in Game of Thrones look subdued, Exodus bid farewell, along with one more “Go fuck yourself, San Diego!” for good measure.
Anthrax have just released Anthems, their spectacular new covers opus, but tonight is a celebration of their past, with a setlist featuring a performance of Among the Living in its entirety. Two years of hard touring, including a turn at Donington last summer, have left the band in their best ever performance shape and Anthrax unleash an absolutely blistering ninety minute set that sees them cover side one of ATL before breaking into a middle set that includes AC/DC’s T.N.T. from their new EP.They end the song by jumping straight into Back In Black, stopping abruptly after the first few chords and smirking at the audience. A twisted sense of humour, those guys…
Across the board, Anthrax are polished, high-energy, and utterly devastating. After side two of ATL, they end with I’m the Man, Antisocial and Rainbow’s Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll. Before walking off, Scott promises that the band will hitting the studio soon and will be back with a new album next year. We should be fully recovered by then.
Underground Kingdom World 