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This was the show I'd been waiting for since August of last year when Ronny Munroe joined Houston's Azrael's Bane on stage at the Rock the Bayou festival in Houston for two songs, one of Bane's, one from Ronny's then, to-be-released solo album. Finally, over a year later as part of the Texas Metal Meltdown Tour with Helstar and Militia. Tonight's show was going to be special. He picked this show to record the live portion of his video for his song Delirium. They even spent most of the afternoon filming without the crowd.
After three local support bands and Austin's Militia, it was finally time. Ronny came out with his touring band that includes some of Houston's best musicains, Mike Heald (ex-Helstar, James Rivera's Sabbath Judas Sabbath) on guitar, and three members of Azrael's Bane - Jeff Clifton (guitar), Brent Marches (bass), and Rick Ward (drums). They opened with two Metal Church songs, Hero's Soul from Weight of the World and Crawling To Extinction from This Present Wasteland. Then it was video time. Ronny explained that, even though they were playing it live, what would be coming out of the speakers would be the CD track so everything would sync with the video. To be honest, as good as they sounded to start with, I doubt too many people would've noticed. After that, the classic Metal Church track, Watch The Children Prey and one of my favorite MC songs, Disappear from A Light In The Dark. From then on, only solo material. Far turned the crowd into a massive headbanging mob and led directly into Deafening Hypocrasy. Finally, one more time through Delirium and the set was over.
Ronny had the crowd going crazy the whole set, and his band proved to be more than just a hired backup band there to play the material and stay out of the way. From Jeff and Mike's shredding guitar work and Brent's infectous enthusiasm, to Rick's perfect blend of power and flash behind the drums, they proved to be as much a part of the show as Ronny himself.
Though the set was way too short, it covered all the bases, one song from each of Ronny's Metal Church albums, a Metal Church classic, and a couple of his new solo songs in addition to two shots of Delirium for the video. Whatever the show lacked in length, it made up for in quality and enthusiasm, because nobody left disappointed. So, until the video hits the airwaves, go pick up Ronny Munroe's The Fire Within CD, and while your at it, check out Modern Day Babylon from Azrael's Bane on BlastZone Records.
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