Archive for the ‘helstar’ Category
Helstar and Omen Concert Review, Austin, TX, July 30, 2016
I love Metal Blade Records for being one of the first metal labels that were accessible in the mainstream record store market as a kid. About 90% of their first 80 or so titles were winners. One of those bands that stood above the fray was Omen. My first listen came when Danile bought Battle Cry. From there I was hooked. Before owning any physical copies of their stuff, we traded dubs of their first 2. Kelz had a dubbed cassette of those first two that was passed around between our circle of friends. Would love to see the j-card of that again. Such great memories. Those first three albums are essential to any fan of traditional metal. JD Kimball’s (RIP) vocals are the best. After he left and their followup albums came out, I admit to losing interest. I did buy their latest one, Hammer Damage, last week and I like it a lot. It’s certainly got that old school Omen vibe to it. They never came through Virginia back in those days and I had missed festival appearances in the last decade so last night I was able to scratch off another band from the list. To be honest I had a little trouble sleeping the night before like a kid on Christmas Eve.
Come show day, I gathered up my CD covers, marked the spot in The Book, took a nap, showered up and headed to the show. Doors were at 7PM and the first of the 6 bands was going on at 730. I grabbed some tacos at the place next door then went in and caught the openers, Metalriser, from San Antonio. I’ve seen them a few times in San Antonio and I like them a lot. Very Sepultura-ish with slightly cleaner vocals. It was a solid 30 minute set.
Locals Force of Rage came on next. Pass. Not a fan. By their second or third song, my date had shown up and she hadn’t had dinner yet, so back to the taco place! We had missed all of the next band, Death of a Dream. After listening to their stuff earlier in the day, I was ok with missing their set. We returned right as Black Thorn Halo came on. She looked at me when their second song started and said, “Outside?” Haha. YES! I’m not a fan of that band at all, 0%, although I think their guitarist is excellent. He also plays in a local Dio tribute. Fantastic guitarist in general.
As we were outside waiting for them to finish, I let her know about my rabid fandom of Omen and she was understanding. We went in as Omen was setting up and went right to the front of the stage. I was utterly surprised how under-attended the show was, especially since Omen rarely plays Texas even though Kenny lives in Dallas and because it was Helstar’s album release party and they generally do well in Austin because of how infrequently they play here. My guess is that there were maybe 100 total from beginning to end, but the crowd had thinned out by the time Omen came on. But we were there, at the front of stage when they opened with Death Rider and Dragon’s Breath. This is right at the beginning of their tour with Helstar and even though things were a little rough, they were still fantastic. I was just so excited to see them, singing along with everything. They played the title track from their new album, Hammer Damage, and singer Kevin Goocher forewarned us that it was only their second time playing it live and that it would be a little rough…and it was, but that was ok. To be honest, it’s my least favorite song on the new album, but it’s not a bad one by any means. They played 8 songs total and were scheduled to close with Teeth of the Hydra (!!!) but the other bands ran long, so Omen had to pay the price and get cut by one song. Add to the fact that Helstar had a hard start time. It’s my favorite song of theirs. Bummer. I met up with their singer right after the cleared the stage to sign my CD and he mentioned that Steve Wittig had left already as he had to catch a flight. So none of my stuff got signed by him, but no biggie, I’ll see them again in California is October for Frost and Fire II and again April 2017 for Spring Bash. Funny, waited 32 years to see them and now I’ll have seen then 3 times within 8 months or so.
Helstar came on and pretty much just destroyed the place. They were promoting their new album, Vampiro. It may have been the best I had ever seen them play. Currently lineup features on Larry Barrigan as the other remaining original member and he’s a fantastic player. The remnants of crowd (pun intended) that were left there piled into the floor and were very vocal and animated during the set. James’ voice was as precise as I have ever heard it. It was a fun set and the new songs sounded great. My date enjoyed both bands as well, having never heard them before.
She was patient with me as I spent a few minutes with Kenny Powell to get some CDs and The Book signed. “I love signing stuff, I appreciate anyone who appreciates us.” I mentioned how much I liked the new album and he mentioned how much trouble they had in writing and recording it. I said that it sounded like Omen. “Perfect,” he said. “That’s what I needed to hear. I wanted it to sound like classic Omen.” Mission accomplished. He signed the CDs and paused to see the Best of Metal Massacre. “What’s this? Never seen this before. Another comp that I never knew about!” He signed the book and his wife was enthralled by it, taking a picture of the cover to get one of her own.
It was a great night overall seeing old friends, making new friends and seeing one of my favorite all time bands.
Riot V & Helstar Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, September 26, 2015
I will start out by saying that Riot V is pretty much one of the best live bands out there right now along with Satan. Last time I saw them was last year in Chicago at the Ragnarokkr Metal Apocalypse and was completely blown away. Prior to that I had only seen them one other time at Scout Bar in San Antonio which was Mark Reale’s last USA show before his death.
A couple of friends and I headed down to 210 Kapone’s last in the afternoon, get parked and head in. As always at a show like this one, we ran into a lot of friends from both San Antone and Austin and elsewhere.
There were 5 local openers for this show. FIVE. As seems to be pretty typical in San Antone and I imagine some or all of them paid to play. Helstar was also a later addition to the show. That’s 6 bands before Riot if you’re keeping track here. The schedule was set as follows and was a recipe for disaster:
DOORS 6PM
METALRISER 6:50 – 7:15
SA TERRITORIES 730 – 7:55
JESSIKILL. 8:10 – 8:40
SEANCE. 8:55- 9:25
LOS WICKED WAYS. 9:40 – 10:10
HELSTAR. 10:25 – 11:10
RIOT. 11:30 – END
The show ran late I’m told because Riot’s soundcheck started late. We didn’t get there until right before Jessikill was going on.
Helstar came on about 30 minutes later than their scheduled time and delivered a solid set as usual that I think was cut short, or at least during Run With the Pack their sound got cut and they finished it with just their stage sound. Rivera was spot on with his vocals and I always enjoy watching Larry play guitar. I’m not sure who the bassist is, but he’s good. Unfortunately, they seemed to be getting hit with poor sound as I couldn’t hear the drums that well at all through the PA.
Riot finally hits the stage a few minutes after midnight opening with the instrumental Narita and then Ride Hard Live Free from their latest album. Up next were two songs from Thundersteel and the crowd roared for Fight or Fall and Johnny’s Back, a personal favorite. The rest of the set was mixed up with songs from all eras of of the band but didn’t touch the last Tony Moore album which was really good. I guess they can’t play everything.
Former guitarist, Rick Ventura, who played in the band from 1979 to 1982 sat in for a handful of songs and it was really cool to see one of the almost originals on the stage. He rocked it alongside Mike Flyntz and Nick Lee and looked like he was having a good time. Don Van Stavern is from SA so he’s got an automatic contingent in the house when he plays shows. Frank Gilchriest laid down a powerhouse set of drum work as he always does. And finally, vocalist Todd Michael Hall. Dude looks 25, turned 46 last night and sings like a lark. Pretty much the best singer out there right now in my opinion. The only thing missing last night was Tammy’s backing vocals. She’s in another band with Flyntz and sometimes provides live backing vocals. Look up the Bloodstreets video from this year’s Keep It True festival. They’re perfect.
All in all it was a great show and I can’t wait to see them again…again. RIP Mark Reale. Riot V is keeping your spirit alive.
Because of shitty lighting, I couldn’t get a decent picture of Helstar.
Lizzy Borden Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, August 16, 2014
Last night marked the third time since 2001 that I’ve seen Lizzy Borden. I’ve been a fan since being introduced to them via their first EP. They’re currently touring on the “30 Years of American Metal Tour” and last night was the 3rd of three shows in Texas. One of my lifelong friends lives in San Antonio so I picked him up before the show and we headed to Fitzgerald’s after grabbing some Thai food. We missed the first band and stayed outside on the patio during the second band. Not my thing.
James Rivera’s Metal Asylum came on next playing songs from many of the bands that’s been involved in over his career as well as some of his favorite cover songs. The sound in this venue was horrible and I’m not sure that it was equipment issues. Beyond the huge shows at the AT&T Center and Alamo Dome, every bar gig that I see in San Antonio sounds like shit. Last night was no different. Rivera sounded good through most of his set, but it did seem that he was having trouble hearing himself. Between going in and out during most of his set, it was enjoyable.
While on the patio during the second band, I saw Lizzy and his bassist, Marten, by their RV and spoke to them for a minute. Lizzy asked how the crowd was and I told him, “Maybe 100, probably a little less.” He looked disappointed. By the time that they came on stage, a lot of the crowd had already left. I figured that would happen as a lot of the crowd was there to see Rivera as he’s still very popular in Texas.
Lizzy came on and the sound issues continued through his set. I stood up front for much of the show but moved around to gauge the mix and it was just awful. Nonetheless, the band was solid although I was surprised to see them with only one guitarist which happened to be Ira Black who has notably played with Metal Church and Vicious Rumors as well as being on the last Lizzy album. He played well but some of the guitar harmony stuff was noticeably absent. Lizzy did costume and mask changes between every song which got a little tedious. I’d love to see him just do a tour with no makeup. Maybe I’m just getting old but I don’t need the theatrics to keep me interested in a band or their show. His music stands on its own for me. But that’s his thing, so be it. It was good to see them again and I really liked watching Marten’s bass work. He’s good.
It was a fun show and a great night with one of my best friends. And for the record, Lizzy and drummer Joey Scott (Lizzy’s brother) signed The Book in 2001 back in Norfolk.
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- Ira Black
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- Marten
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- Give ’em The Axe!
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- Marten Andersson’s bass pick
The Metal Files 
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