At The Wiltern 1/28/06

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By Mina Greas a.k.a Thraxer

It's 7p.m. do you know where your children are? They're inside the Wiltern with special guests In Flames, Devildriver, Trivium, and Zao.

We walked in about half way through Zao's set. They were all right. Next up was Devildriver which was kind of bitter sweet in that you'd think a good band would play right before In Flames played but all this shows is that these boys like to play and in my book that means you got heart. They opened up with End Of The Line and really got things started. The pit erupted about a foot away from me and my buddy, Steve (otherwise known as the "Bald Pit Tank" if you read my Anthrax review). Since we had my little sister Mary and my gal Priscilla there we kept "the few, the proud" at bay. Devildriver played unrelenting, taking their anger and fury to another level. I could see the little boys holding each other's hands as Dez screamed, "Fuck! That guy is bad ass." Talk about intensity with talent that dude has got it. Anybody can scream. We saw that with Zao and Trivium. But only a few can orchestrate their pipes in a controlled fashion. The pit was moving at times but about 300 times less than at Anthrax. Steve was busting people up. There was something lacking at this show: respect! I saw too many people go down and get stepped on. I got blindsided a couple of times and all it did was make me hit harder. You play by the rules you have fun but as soon as you step out of line you get your justice and you'll know who you were because as soon as me and Steve hit back you stepped out.

They kept playing Grinfucked and slammed into The Hangman's Noose. This is a band you need to see. The drumming is heavy, the guitars are like chainsaws cutting through bone, and Dez is one real pissed dude. And I have respect for him because he respects the Metal. He must have the coolest quote I ever read not too long ago when he said,

"I believe in an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. If you step on my toes I'm gonna kick you in the face, and if you walk by gently and say hello, I'm gonna say hello twice as politely and I'll see you next time around."-Dez

That is fucking Heavy Metal right there.

They also did a great song Hold Back The Day. And of course they closed with I Could Care Less. Dez even went as far as saying that the people in the first few rows should move to the back because we were moshing and its ironic how nobody's moshing in the pit area. We'll thank the good folks at the Wiltern for keeping us in check and establishing Jim Crowe laws at a Metal show. Riff raff in the back and people that like to cross your arms and stay straight faced in front. And the end of the set people kept coming up to Steve and giving him his just props and salutes for owning that pit...which he did.

Next up was Trivium. Kids were getting excited for that one. I saw some boys jumping up and down getting all giddy and making sure there pretty, pretty hair was in place. You know brushed across the eye just right. The sight of this display made me wish Devildriver would run back out on stage and slam into another set. Anyways, Trivium started playing and the boys lost it. The pit if you want to call it that was there, but not a circle pit. I remember at one point shaking my head in disgust because how sad these people were, bodies were falling and no body helped anyone up, I can vividly remember picking up two people by myself. There was absolutely no unity amongst their fans. The funny part was when the lead singer said, and I quote, "I'm sick of these hardcore bands and stupid wannabes, rap metal bullshit." Well, in case he forgot, his band is one of those!

I never saw so much tight jeans and brushed across bangs in my life. Oh, the pretty, pretty people. They did the Pantera song Walk in tribute to Dime which was good. The part that bothered me was the lead singer imitating Phil Anselmo with the remark, "Ey! We got the god dam cameras on ya and we're filming for the god damn home video!" They also did Domination and yet again he copys Phil, "Do you hear that bass? Answer me! Do you hear the fucking bass?" Hey dude from Trivium, I got news for ya. You ain't Phil Anselmo and your band isn't Pantera so stop disrespecting. Good job on adding insult to injury.

So after the little boys and girls got their fix we moved up to the front where Steve got hit in the back of the head by a bottle. He knows why, as do I, because he moved the pit, he fucking owned that shit. It was his pit the whole night, guys were asking for forgiveness.

So off to the bar we went. $7 for a beer! That blows! But, oh well, we got to replenish vitamins.

Next up was In Flames. They came on and rocked. They played loud, hard, and are actually a very talented bunch of guys. Real cool too, I remember last year at the Roxy they said our stage is your stage so stage diving was game. They played a few new numbers off of Come Clarity: Take This Life, Vacuum, Leeches and some other ones I am not too sure on the titles. They of course played their hits, Episode 666, Cloud Connected, Drifter, Trigger, and Quiet Place. Episode 666 took the cake, and a sad display of posing. Andres invited a fan on stage to sing Bullet Ride while he went up to his room and grabbed his whisky. The guy gets on stage and doesn't know a single word, not one. So after about 2 minutes of rocking out with each band member another dude, with long hair, gets on stage and starts nailing it! Even the screams! The moral of the story is that shorthaired guys should never be entrusted with singing a metal band's songs. As Halford would say "You got one shot at glory." You blew it dude. But it's O.K., at least you looked pretty doing it.

All in all, the pit got going but still only a few dedicated souls. Everyone was rocking out hard to them. They played a good hour and half set. They played a lot of songs...way more than I named but those guys rock and always deliver a good show despite what anyone may say.

Stay Heavy!

-Thraxer