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A nice package of old school thrash was announced to hit the European roads in September. And Dortmund is not too far, but I never heard about the club before. Tarantula is a bar and the stage is small, only 30 cm high and in one corner of the room which is dominated by a huge counter. Well, not the best location for a thrash metal concert.
The Belgium band After All again were the opening band and some might have seen them opening for Anthrax, Overkill, Agent Steel and Heathen. The five-some is around for more then a decade and released several albums. Their latest one is The Violent Decline. On the small stage was not enough space to move and especially singer Piet Focroul was limited by it. But that would be okay, but the sound was pretty bad thanks to the sound system of the club. Songs like Frozen Skin and Blackest Moon from The Violent Decline lost power and the muddy sound didn't help to make new friends. One of the highlights was Forgotten and I hope that next time the circumstances will be better!
During the change-over - well, actually there wasn't much to change - most of the fans left the club to get some fresh air, coz with 100-120 people the club was packed!
Time for Agent Steel to enter the stage. The sound hadn't improved and due to the sound jumble Bernie Versailles' and Juan Garcia's guitars totally drowned. Even singer Bruce Hall had problems to get heard - at least partly. But songs like Unstoppable Force, Bleed For The Godz and Rager are fun anyway. I think they played 2 new songs from Alienigma, but to be honest I couldn't identify them. And with Agents Of Steel they finished their set and the crowd went wild. For several minutest the fans shouted for more, but it was time for Vicious Rumors now.
Vicious Rumors kicked off with 2 songs of Warball - Immortal and Mr. Miracle. Helstar singer James Rivera did an amazing job performing the old tunes which dominated the set list. And so songs like Soldiers Of The Night, Digital Dictator, Minute To Kill and Don't Wait For Me were played and that's what the fans were longing for. During the set guitarist and mastermind Geoff Thorpe had some problems with his amp, but drummer Larry Howe took over and entertained the people. Even if the sound was a little bit better it's still a shame that the thrash veterans couldn't play a bigger and better location.
So when they come around next time I hope they will play another club and that they can present a better show. These bands deserve it!
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