After arriving early at The Underworld in order to interview Jack Gibson of Exodus (interview to be posted once transcribed) I had half an hour to kill before the first band took to the stage, so I went to grab a bite to eat. However upon my return there appeared to have been some miscommunication about my access to gig and that took the better part of 25 mins to sort, so by the time I got down to the stage The Heretic Order were thanking the crowd and two ladies in white gowns were covered in claret. I’m told it was an interesting show, so if I’m lucky I may get to catch them some other time.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’d never heard of English Dogs before tonight and had no idea what to expect. But within a few seconds of them striking a chord I knew they were going to be really old school thrash and more to the point as their set went on, very ‘Bonded by Blood’ orientated too. Now, while I love this style of music, unfortunately I’ve come to their party 30 years too late and the material they played was roughly that old too. The sound engineer did a sterling job too; every word that was sung by Adie Bailey in his gruff raspy voice was clearly audible as were each of Gizz Butt’s leads. They were definitely full of energy and clearly enjoying themselves while they had the run of the stage. Like I said, I’m not familiar with their material at all, but the names of tracks I do recall them announcing were “The Eye of Shamahn”, “Ambassador of Fear”, “The Thing Will Arise”, “Wall of Steel” and ending their set with “Survival of the Fittest”. I’ll also hastily add that I probably would’ve enjoyed them far more if I’d grown up listening to them rather than hearing them for the first time now as I found their stuff to be a little dated to be heard for the first time, but that’s no fault of theirs, that’s for certain.
Now on to the main event. I was reliably informed that Exodus had made the show the night before with minutes to spare after being trapped in Calais for a day while no-one got to leave France, but luckily for us they were already here so they got to start on time, being well rested and rearing to go. The horrible sounds of the Dan the Automator intro to “Black 13” bled through the PA system until Tom Hunting whacked his kit a couple times as the much heavier guitars drowned out the racket to let the show begin. Steve “Zetro” Souza’s distinct vocal patterns and vocals were immediately apparent as was Lee Altus’ Heathen shirt. The new song “Black 13” was quickly followed by the title track of their latest album “Blood In, Blood Out” with the pit starting to heave like it was 1985 after Zetro let everyone know the only rule out there was to take care of each other and not to step on any guitar pedals when hitting the stage. Heading back to an 8 year old album, Zetro made the song sound his own as he spat out the lyrics to “Iconoclasm” while Tom worked up a lather of sweat by keeping his pedals moving non-stop while Lee and Kragen Lum traded leads back and forth. At this point there was a brief respite in proceedings while Zetro introduced Kragen who was replacing Gary Holt on this tour owing to his current commitments with “another well-known thrash band”, allthewhile Tom and Lee were slowing building up the intro to “Raining Blood” before Tom quickly flipped to playing the “Indians” drum intro only to have Zetro point out he meant Slayer, not Anthrax. All rather tastefully done methinks. Anyway, back to the show and staying on the same album, “Children of a Worthless God” came next and its lyrics still ring true today with an ever increasing reports of violent extremism. But nowhere near as extreme as Loki’s pets, his little children, that had the entire venue singing “Piranha” at the top of their lungs. Another new song came next in the form of “Salt the Wound” which had original Exodus guitarist and founding member Kirk Hammett lay down a lead for the album version, and the even better news is the song went down a storm with just as many people signing the chorus as before. The lights then dimmed slightly and the sounds of a jungle at night filled the air as Tom stood up on his throne. When dropping back into his seat he pounded the toms a couple times and the guitars kicked in for the chuggy “Pleasures of the Flesh” riff. Swapping from eating body parts from their second album to collecting them from the new one in the form of a “Body Harvest”. Saying they love playing “Metal Command” in Europe because everyone gets behind the idea and chants along, was clearly verified by the crowd singing out loud once more.
“Blacklist” comes from their first studio album after breaking up in the 90s and it’s hard to believe it’s already over 10 years old and that Jack Gibson has been with the band just shy of 20 years and enjoying every moment he’s on stage as his grin attested. This song just appears to get faster and faster every time they play it, and with it being over 30 years old it’s no surprise that “A Lesson in Violence” gets the pit thrashing in the matter of seconds, with or without the added Gizz Butt on a third guitar. The title track from that same album, “Bonded by Blood”, kept the momentum going and from the bodies being thrown from the pit into the band, I’m sure there was quite a bit of blood on the stage. And here they ended their set with the obligatory thank yous and goodbyes, but we all knew better and were certainly not going to let them leave without playing the 2 songs they always wrap up the night with.
After Tom came out on stage and the chanting died down enough for him to ask us whether we wanted more, which obviously got roars of affirmation, he headed back behind the kit to get “War Is My Shepherd” going. But what really got the crowd going, and I mean the whole downstairs area, was “The Toxic Waltz”. But possibly the most amusing thing for me were the crowd surfers being gently escorted off the stage by the heavily tattooed security crew, who were probably even more taxed during the last song of the night “Strike of the Beast” where literally everyone was bouncing, be they moshing or not.
A truly awesome night out made even better by the company of old friends, both on and off stage.
(Marco Gaminara)
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