Killthrax Tour 2018 at Worcester Palladium – 3/3/18
▣Palladium | Worcester, MA ▣Saturday, March 3rd 2018
Fans in the metal scene are often some of the luckiest people on the planet. More times than not, they can attend festival shows where handfuls of their favorite acts can be seen together. Features (an artist from another band singing or playing on a song with another) are less frequent than they are in pop and hip-hop music, but are often much more meaningful. The Killthrax tour is one of these lovely situations and it’s currently tearing up the country. It made its way into our neck of the woods (which also happens to be the home of Killswitch) last Saturday. Due to some technical difficulties, I missed the opening band Havok but if you’re into thrash, show them some love.
Described as one of the Big Four (Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer) Anthrax has helped pioneer a lot of the music we enjoy today. Heavy music didn’t really exist before the 80’s and has evolved a lot since. So, to see a true 80’s thrash metal band share the stage with a new metal band like Killswitch was an amazing experience. The local fans apparently agreed, as over 2,000 of them showed up and sold out the venue. The room was filled with a lot of great energy and the full force of it could be felt when Scott Ian waltzed out onto the stage, devil horns raised. The band matched the energy of the sold-out crowd and they fed off each other for an electric 11 song set. 80’s metal has never been huge for me personally, but I enjoyed the set very much. The sound was great, the band was tight, and the show was fun to watch.
If you follow metal music at all and don’t know this next band, shame on you (but all of you know who they are, right?). You’ll be hard pressed to find a metal band with better chorus hooks, I can tell you that much. Killswitch Engage has been a prominent figure in the metal scene since 2002, when they busted onto the map with sophomore album, Alive or Just Breathing. The band really rose to fame with the 2004 release of The End of Heartache. The title track was plastered on all of the Resident Evil spots the following year and is the infamous Du Hast** of the band. The music is fast, and the music is hard. It translates extremely well to a live arena- watching Adam D run around eating pizza while performing a guitar solo, and making up super raunchy comments, really adds to the show. A video of Adam at the show in Maryland is floating around where he’s at the bar while playing guitar, takes a shot, and plays his solo before running back to the stage. I saw them once where he simply proclaimed, this next song is about buttholes. Basically, he really makes it exciting. As if their already banging Dio cover Holy Diver wasn’t good enough, Joey Belladonna from Anthrax joined the band on stage for this live rendition and really gave it the DIO. Crowd approved.
I had a damn good time at this show and I didn’t see a single fan not enjoying themselves. Like I mentioned earlier, KSE is from Massachusetts so the room was filled with friends and family alike. Adam did mention at one point ‘I feel like too many of you know us personally’ and that’s the exact feeling I got from the crowd; family. Do not miss your chance to see Killswitch Engage- they have yet to disappoint me.
** From this day forth I dub a bands singularly popular song among the masses the “Du Hast.”
Ex. “love Rammstein.” “Oh, me too. Du Hast is a killer song.”
Review & Photos: Anthony Coy
Check out the band’s websites for more info!
Anthrax
Killswitch Engage
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