Cage - Helstar - Warbeast Concert Review Dec. 13, 2009

The day finally came! Cage in Texas! Also, Helstar in Ft. Worth first time in 23 years (according to Rivera)

A couple of pretty lame local bands opened. You have to start somewhere, but they need some seasoning.

Up first for real:

Warbeast

I'd never heard of them so I didn't know what to expect. But as soon as the lead guitarist did this little thrashy/power warm up run, I knew they were going to be good. They were.

Very tight and professional sounding Thrash metal. They sounded more like "old" school Thrash to me. I was suprised and only after did I learn these guys are all vets of the scene.

They had this little tiny drummer who could simply kill it. Very good set of about 6 or so songs






Next up:

Cage

This is THE reason I came. After Hell Destroyer these guys became one of my favorites. Hell Destroyer is a "desert island" disc for me/

Sean Peck is a vocal god. Really, no exaggeration for me. Hell Destroyer and Darker Than Black are awesome albums, but how does one do in concert, away from modern gadgets? Peck = incredible!

He puts on this incredible show, knowing full well how good he is.


This is how he walks out.







The band is tight and hitting everything nicely. I appreciate the effort considering the pitiful turn out. Maybe 200 people to see this incredible band.

They played a couple from Darker Than Black, a few from Hell Destroyer and a few from the new one Science of Annihilation. I had not yet heard the new one, but what I heard in front of me let me know it is going to be killer as well.










Dave Garcia, who's an incredible guitarist, has to be easily the largest good musician in the World. He's short (maybe 5'5" or so) but just massive. I'm decent sized and was wearing my Ultimatum muscle-T and felt embarrassed and tiny when I spoke to him briefly. He's HUGE!



The drummer was very good and kept the pace for everyone.


Great show! If it bothered them playing to a tiny crowd, they didn't show it.

Next up:

Helstar

They were the headliners, but didn't go on until about midnight. A lot of the crowd had been there to see Warbeast and/or Cage and didn't stay. Maybe 100 or so people saw Helstar. A total shame. The World needs to be destroyed.



I'm not a big Helstar fan, and I think it's a Rivera thing. They're not bad at all, and he's a fine vocalist -hitting all the notes - but I don't like his vocal melodies. He just doesn't sound interesting....but that didn't take away from the show. They were very professional and not only ignored the lack of people, but embraced those of us who were there as "true metal" fans keeping the flame alive.

Their set was full of incredibly fast and brutal songs. Very brutal at times. I'd say half of their songs sounded like Death Metal with Powermetal vocals. They were brutal.

Rivera was very active and playful with the crowd. He's a good showman.





Not sure why it came out like this, but I like this picture.

\

Goofy little dude, but he's got pipes.



A great show all in all!!

Three fast and brutal bands. Didn't end until after 1:30, (check the time-stamp above...dude's killing it 3.5 hours past my normal bed time! ) but the family came with me and I had just a few miles' drive to the hotel. The next day we went to the Ft. Worth Zoo which is a very good one.

Dallas Black - no stupid excuses next time!!

Sounds like a great show despite the low turnout Scott.I'd like to catch Helstar live sometime.

Helstar are brilliant! Nosferatu, Burning Star, and Remnants of War are three of my favorite US metal records ever. Didn't care much for The King of Hell though. It was kinda boring imo.

Right on! Did you get any guitar picks?

Sounds awesome. 200 is a crime.

Cool pics. Sounds like a killer show that noone but a select few got to see.

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Dave Garcia, who's an incredible guitarist, has to be easily the largest good musician in the World.

This struck me as funny. Are you implying that there are larger bad musicians out there?

The Cage vocalist has a real Halford-like vibe about him. Good for him.

thanks for sharing the photos

Looks like ya had a cool time ScottM. Kinda sad that only 100 people stuck around to see Helstar in their home state though!!!

Is it me, or does James Rivera look like a "Mini-Me" version of Chuck Billy (Testament) in those pix?

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Did you get any guitar picks?

No. I'm not a big collector....but if one fell at my feet I'd get it.

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This struck me as funny. Are you implying that there are larger bad musicians out there?

That's sort of what I meant. There might be some crappy musicians out their who are simply massive, but you don't know about them because they are crappy.

Glad you had a great time!!! Those are some great pics!!! Thanks for sharing them!

Sounds very cool. I will see Cage next year in September, can't wait for it. And I would like to see Helstar as well.

A while a go I bougth the first Cage CD Unveiled on ebay from Dimitri Liapakis from Mystic Prophecy.

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I will see Cage next year in September, can't wait for it.

Is this at KIT? I envy anyone who gets to go to that. At least in Europe Cage gets the crowds they deserve.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

I'd say half of their songs sounded like Death Metal with Powermetal vocals. They were brutal.

If you don't mind, Scotty, I might borrow this description for my Detritus year-end column (in which Helstar's THE KING OF HELL disc gets an honorable mention. It describes the sound of that album just about perfect in my book.

An admitted plagiarizer huh? I've lost all respect for you.

TheNazgul wrote:

An admitted plagiarizer huh? I've lost all respect for you.

No plagiarizin' here...I gave him credit for the line when I wrote up the column. Even us wanna-be fake journalists have standards by which we must abide.