The Metal Files

I’m not shy about how I feel about Venom.  In general, I can’t care about their classic era.  My three favorite albums are Calm Before the Storm, Prime Evil and Temples of Ice.  Even knowing that they were playing only one song from the Demolition Man era, I wanted to go.  It’s a legendary metal band that I’ve never seen before.  Plus I knew I’d get them in The Book.

Before the show, Rodney, his friends and I all had dinner with Venom’s tour manager, John Perez, who was in Rotting Corpse and more importantly for me, Solitude Aeturnus.  John’s a good guy all around and I always love seeing him.  He and Rodney were trading some pretty incredible stories about Texas metal history.

Opening the show was Hellknife which features fellow ex-Eternal Champion member, Van Darden.  As with a few other times, I missed them again.  DAMMIT!

San Antonio’s Hod was up next.  I’ve seen them a dozen times over the years.  Hod is Hod.  You know what you’re getting and what you’re not getting.  My buddy Jake is playing bass for their live shows these days, so it’s always great seeing that maniac on stage.

Necrophagia was up next.  I never liked them but one of my closest friends was always big into them, so I grabbed a shirt for him since he missed the Virginia show.  They were solid and Killjoy works the crowd pretty well.  Still not a fan, though.

Up next was Venom and the crowd of about 200 packed up closer to the stage.  My back has been jacked up for a while, so getting in a crowd that surely was going to be moving around a lot wasn’t appealing, so I hung back and sat at the bar.  Killjoy was standing back there next to me and I had him sign The Book.

Venom (Inc), opened with Prime Evil and for the rest of the set they stuck with songs primarily from Black Metal and Welcome to Hell.  I didn’t know any of them other than by knowing the titles.  Tony Dolan, The Demolition Man, did a fine job fronting and Mantas and Abaddon were as I expected.  It was an enjoyable show and when they got to the encore, I knew all of those songs…Black Metal, Welcome to Hell, Countess Bathory and Witching Hour.

After the show, Abaddon came out and signed stuff for everyone.  Outside at their tour bus, Tony and Mantas came out and signed stuff.  They’re all really nice guys.

Added bonus of getting Louie from Devastation’s signature in the book as well.  I love getting the rogue signatures at concerts.  Great to see a lot of Austin friends and the Corpus Christi crew hanging out!