Anthrax Reunion Tour Review

Anthrax 2006
Reunion Tour
Review

Anthrax
God Forbid
Sworn Enemy
Manntis
1/13/06
HOB
Reviewer: Karma E. Omowale
Photos: Erika Kristen Watt

“Spreading the Disease after 20+ years, Anthrax proves to audiences worldwide that they are Still the Law!”

Anthrax has been thrashing it up for as long as any of us can remember, serving as part of the fantastic four (Slayer, Megadeth, and Metallica) introducing thrash to us. Having seen this band through thick and thin through our own eyes, not from a second or third hand account, has renewed our faith in Anthrax and their music! Tonight was a pure treat regardless of the date, Friday the 13^th. Everyone seemingly had a pot o’ gold in their back pockets for emergency purposes, for all in attendance had a “Mosh It!” vibe for tonight’s sold-out performance. Some of us in the FourteenG camp experienced Anthrax for the first time tonight and it was worth every nanosecond of wait time!! For those of us who had seen them before, noticed that the first reunion tour date in Chicago last year was just a teaser of what was to come. The drive behind the first stint was secure in the performance but had not yet gelled as a unit. Today, the passion displayed by all of the members of Anthrax translated into a newfound commitment to the music and the band’s comradery showed through; what a lovely bill to compliment their second coming.

The sound was amazing and pristine, per usual. The FOH soundman really did a fine job with all of the bands tonight. From the first note strummed by Manntis to the encore performance from Anthrax, was well received with unusual enthusiasm throughout this gig. Maybe the added bonus of a citywide induced law banning cigarette smoke from commercial buildings might have catapulted us to the brink with pure adrenaline, all that air going straight to the head. Sniff-sniff AHHH… Young and old slammed, moshed, and sang together all night. Even to the tune of Joey Belladonna mentioning that ‘…some of you weren’t even born when this tune first came out', which was true but claimed as their own all the same. – EKW & KEO

Lineup: Jake Sirokman - vocals; Adair Cobley – guitar; Jeremy Swanson – guitar; Clint Gregory - bass; James Sanders – drums

Manntis 2006 (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt)

Riverside, California’s Manntis got the ball rolling tonight, as they were able to temporarily remove the stigma and memory of it being the dreaded Friday the 13^th. They may be the lone band on this tour from the west coast however; this band not only represented their locale but also bridged the gap betwixt hardcore, thrash, and metal with a dash of Swedish metal thrown in for good measure. Dare it be said again, A Dozen Furies won 2004 Battle For Ozzfest however Manntis may have been the runner-ups but it served as one hell of a stepping-stone considering they have their own deal with Century Media Records no less!

Continuing to bedazzle crowds worldwide, Manntis definitely rocked the House of Blues tonight. They lead off with their fuel-injected single, “Weathered Soul”. Despite the size of the audience, the smallish crowd was pumped. Vocalist Jake Sirokman stirred the rowdy bunch of misfits as a mosh pit broke out during the “Approach”. The kids were also singing along with him, how encouraging is that? Speaking of Sirokman, his vocals were very strong tonight. Kudos to the HOB soundman again, Mr. Duffy totally kicks all kinds of ass!! You could hear every note from every instrument. This evening guitarist Adair Cobley shined like a glittering piece of glass in the sand.

During intro to “A New Beat of Life” Sirokman addressed the crowd, “We’re Manntis from Southern California. We all know the reason we’re fuckin’ here tonight. Let’s hear it for Anthrax!” The crowd screamed in response; the band then ripped into the song they are most famous for “Axe of Redemption” as many heads bopped to this tune. This song (video) appeared on Headbangers Ball in the recent past. The unified fists were a flyin’! “My Enemy” definitely showed the vocal talents of Mr. Sirokman. Last song up or final song of the set was the title track to their 2005 release, “Sleep In Your Grave". During the intro, Jake had the audience make noise one last time for Anthrax and said, “Chicago, we’ll be back soon!” At this time the audience was asked to sing along with him, that they did!! Sirokman said, “We fucked some shit up for Sleep In Your Grave!”

Removing the curse with a meld of some, good old-fashioned wicked hardcore and metal; tonight’s performance by Manntis was definitely an amazing one. The crowd seemed to share my opinion! The band received a much warmer reception than usual; the audience loved them!!

Setlist: Weathered Soul; Approach; A New Beat of Life; Axe of Redemption; Second Life Ahead; My Enemy; Sleep In Your Grave.

Click on thumbnail to enlarge photos

Lineup: Sal Lococo – vocals; Edward Kilpatrick – bass; Lorenzo Antonucci – guitar; Paul Antignai – drums; Jamin Hunt – guitar

Queens, New York Sworn Enemy is back with a vengeance this time with a brand spanking new album, their debut on Abacus Recordings entitled The Beginning of the End, which hits the shelves on January 24^th. These well-seasoned musicians have graced the second stage of Ozzfest 2003 as well as sharing the stage with some heavyweights in the Industry like Slayer, Slipknot, Hatebreed, tourmates God Forbid, Unearth, D.R.I., Arch Enemy, and finally Anthrax. We asked guitarist Lorenzo Antonucci how the band hooked up with the tour and he had this to say, “We just pushed for it. I mean being that we’re from Queens, NY and a lot of the members from Anthrax are from Queens, you know it kind of made it happen. Our management just kept pushing for it and we was in Europe and we got the call that we were on it and it was pretty exciting. Playing our hometown with our hometown heroes was an honor!”

Speaking of hometown heroes, this tour is definitely a dream come true for this five-piece being able to tour with the classic Anthrax lineup. Antonucci expressed how happy the band was; he expounds, “It means a whole lot! Anthrax was one of the first records I ever bought; it’s like a dream come true. Touring with Anthrax is like a dream come true for me. I never thought that we would have the opportunity to tour with the actual real lineup that I remember, it’s amazing. Plus our good friends in God Forbid and our new friends in Manntis, it’s one big rolling party!!”

And party it was well afterwards because during their set Sworn Enemy took no prisoners, performing a no holds barred, balls out performance. Frontman Sal Lococo was ever so happy to be there as well as the rest of the band equally showing their immense enthusiasm. Lococo addressed the howling crowd immediately, "We're Sworn Enemy. On January 24^th we have a new record out". The commencement of brutality began with “Forgotten”, "Here's the first track off that record"! The crowd erupted; a monstrous pit ensued! At the conclusion of the song Lococo bellowed, "We wanna see you bopping your heads to the metal! Again our record comes out in two weeks!" We heard ya Sal, we heard you.

Judging off the strength of the first song performed, we can see why the crowds and fans are all about the new songs. Antonucci had this to say about the crowd response to the new material, "Playing the new songs go over better than the old songs. You have your old school Sworn Enemy fans that sing along and you have the Anthrax guys that are just bopping their heads but then when you play the new ones they’re just like, “OHH”! The go crazy, it’s just a lot better! We’ve evolved in many ways." In total, the setlist contained five songs off the new album.

During the intro to the band's first single "Fear of the Unknown", which got the biggest response of the night, Lococo addressed the hyped crowd again, "Alright Chicago, let's turn this place into a fuckin' war zone"! The band then ripped into the song; bodies were flying all over the joint. Security barely managed to corral the plethora of surfers to both the sides of the stage. Citing Metallica, Slayer, and Pantera as musical inspiration, you can definitely hear the Metallica influence which is very strong on this track. It starts out in the vein of an old riff from Old Metallica vs. A Perfect Murder all rolled in one. The bass line is way funky; Edward Kilpatrik was on point! Drummer Paul Antignai reigned supreme on this song as well. Antonucci was pumped as well. The crowd worked almost as hard as the band.

New label, new album, harder attitude…Sworn Enemy has finally arrived. This is not the last time we will run across this band for the year so make sure to see them next time they pass through your town!

Setlist: Forgotten; Here Today; One Way Trip; Scared of the Unknown; Labeled; All I Have; Save Your Breath; As Real As it Gets.

Lineup: Byron Davis – vocals; Doc Coyle – guitar; Dallas Coyle – guitar, vocals; John Outcalt – bass; Corey Pierce - drums

Next up on the night's energy filled extravaganza was New Jersey's God Forbid. Did you know that the band originally started as a metalcore band, very different from what they are doing now. The lively crowd was good and hyped by the time this five-piece came out. During our interview with Doc this evening, he shared these pearls of wisdom in regards to the crowd, "Surprisingly for our style of music [the crowds] have been very, very receptive; I kinda expected a harsher audience. I expected that and it hasn’t been that way; it’s been smiling faces and lots of energy. I think also Sworn Enemy and Manntis are a little more on the hardcore side so by the time we come out, they are almost a little surprised that we’re bringing some metal to the table". Speaking of bringing metal to the table, that is exactly what this band did with full force!

The band was more than happy to be on this bill. When asked what it meant to be able to tour with Anthrax, this was Doc's response, "I mean shit, it’s with a legendary band and everybody in our band knows them and loves them. They’re actually really cool guys. They are from New York so you know you kind of have that kinship just being from the same area. It’s cool because I think they actually have a lot of respect for us and that’s really all that you can ask for, you know." Tell me about it! GF got nothing but respect from their Chicago brethren even though it was a little slow in the beginning as far as audience response to the band's rocking show. As soon as they hit the stage, vocalist Byron Davis spoke to the crowd briefly introducing the band, "Chicago we’re God Forbid"! , the crowd roared in response. The band kicked off their set with the "End of the World", current single off the latest album, IV: Constitution of Treason. During the break in the song, Byron screamed, "What's going on Chicago", by this time the noise level from the audience reached a deafen pitch. Davis wanted the fans to sing along with the band, "this is the End of the World four fucking times!" The enthused crowd happily reciprocated. GF then ripped into their celebrated single, "Forced Fed" off the Gone Forever release. The crowd really went nuts by this point however, Davis made the universal mosh call sign while screaming, "make a circle"; the disobedient crowd did not follow suit but ferocious fists started to fly. Damn kids with their bad timing finally started a generously sized pit during the last ten seconds of the song.

After Byron introed "Chains of Humanity" the floor opened up as a massive pit welled up. Sustaining the momentous energy from the previous two bands if not raising if possible, they really put on one hell of set. This band has been very fortunate touring with the likes of some of their favorites: Slayer, Slipknot, Sick of it All, Bad Brains, Sevendust, Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Opeth, Arch Enemy, Meshuggah…talk about a touch of blessing, heh? Well as it turns out, God Forbid will hit the road with Trivium in the UK almost as soon as this tour concludes and then will return home for another jaunt across the nation with none other than Finland's Children of Bodom. Bottom line you have no excuse not to see this band.

Setlist: End of the World; Force Fed; Chains of Humanity; Antihero; Gone Forever; Lonely Dead; To The Fallen Hero; Broken Promise.

Lineup: Joey Belladonna - lead vocals; Frank Bello - bass, vocals; Charlie Benante - drums; Scott Ian - rhythm guitar, vocals; Daniel Spitz - lead guitar

The audience remained ridiculously restless during the changeover, guessing it would be hard to stand still after receiving the two-hour pounding of their lives from three acts! The mounting energy was stifling, enough to fill an atom bomb to be honest!! When the classic lineup of one of thrash's most celebrated bands took the stage, the entire audience in the House of Blues screamed, yelled, and cheered for minutes. Anthrax thanked the crowd. Frontman Joey Belladonna addressed then crowd. He said that Chicago was the best place to play; why of course it is fellas, far be it for us to be biased! He then asked, "Do you have the time?", the audience went mad as the band ripped into "Time" and the biggest mosh pit of the night arose. It was a tornado of bodies; the entire floor moshed…well almost everyone! During the song, Joey stood at the edge of the stage hitting the hands of the passing brigade of body surfers. He immediately connected with the entire expanse of the front row as well as the rest of the venue. Bassist Frank Bello owned tonight as he established his presence from this song on.

Speaking of the crowd surfers, one can surmise that these kids were more than likely breast-feeding from their mother's bosom when Anthrax released their first album Fistful of Metal or probably wasn't even born yet! Nonetheless, the mixed crowd (ranging from early teens to grizzly) enjoyed the show in unity. The crowd got rowdier during the fourth song of this evening's soirée and how could they not get "Caught In A Mosh"? During the intro to "Medusa" Joey screamed, "I will take you back to 1985…stuck up her ass, from Spread The Disease, "Medusa!" The crowd went into a frenetic fit. For the outro Belladonna bellowed, "I don't know what it is around here but it's great to be back. 21-years ago…but I don't know what it is!!"; You could feel the love from the crowd fill the space. Joey then went on to introduce Chicagoland hero Charlie Benante, "One of the bad ass drummers in the world! A very talented musician…he wants me to build it up!", the venue filled with uproarious laughter. "I think he had to take a time out. He's actually from Chicago!" The crowd began to chant, "Charlie, Charlie…" Joey continued his homage to Benante, "I actually introduced him last night from Chicago/New York. We then have Mr. Daniel Spitz! All the way down from California, Scottie!! A man that needs no introduction, MC of Joseph Bello, "Indians"! Before the band ripped into the song the charismatic frontman had one last thing to add, "Chicago it's time to recapture the 80's. I know you know what time it is, we need a circle pit mother fucker!!" As if the crowd was not already jumping out of their skin, they screamed to the top of their lungs and sang along to the song. The maddened pace picked up more during the solo in which Mr. Spitz shined like a crazy diamond!

Anthrax owned! Before the encore the crowd cheered for a while, I response Joey said, "Thank you very much! You guys are the shit, yeah!!" They ended the regular night's set with a FourteenG favorite, "I'm the Man"! I do not think we saw one person in the audience that was not singing along to this renowned anthem. Belladonna said at the end of the finale, "I see all the smiles on your faces, it should be!" Scott Ian then grabbed the spotlight for a moment. He said that it's metal and wanted to say that just because the Cubs were more popular the White Sox deserved respect too. He had gone on to say some one said, "Fuck New York" and if "some said the said the same thing then he'd have to say fuck the Yankees too!" Bottom line it was a gesture to try to unite the divided Cubs and White Sox fans. Yes, we have two baseball teams and the fans usually are never fans of both, it has historically been one or the other. Nice try Scottie!!

A contest winner joined the band on stage as he played guitar and sang during the Kiss cover tune "Parasite". The guest guitar player was identified as "Graham" he did a fantastic job! A real trooper, he never appeared to be nervous, not hard to see how he was able to beat out any competition he was up against. The contest winner received high fives from the band after his stellar performance. Now see this just goes to show that all New Yorkers are not rude!! Since we are on the subject of surprises, the band performed "Aftershock" from Spreading the Disease. Joey said, "we thought we would never play it"…happy that they did! What sweet joy to hear rare classics dusted off and especially when they are played live!

During the finale, Belladonna said, "You never let us down Chicago! Thank you Chicago, we're gonna see you real fucking soon with the sickest fucking Anthrax album you've ever heard! Are you ready for one more? We didn't want to hear no shit about the cops…this is our last song!" which was "I Am The Law". Looks like they are the law since normal curfew is 10:00 and this show ended at 10:45! An 11:00 curfew is well in order!! Joey said that he reached back from the heyday for the finale in which they did the entire night. Their setlist rocked, it contained all of the classics and a lot of older stuff we all have not heard in years. It seemed tonight's set was more comprehensive than their first reunion tour of last year. Joey thanked the crowd again for coming and said the audience was "awesome, you know how I know that? Because we are in the city right now!" It was a madhouse, all puns intended!!

Anthrax proves that age is only a number! These men are so not fuckin' around as they are still wrecking the ears and minds of all they run across 20 years later showing their balls deep ammunition. They are definitely "Armed and Dangerous", cocked and loaded, and ready to go for what looks like another 20!

Partial setlist (not in any particular order): Time, Skeletons, Caught In A Mosh, A.i.r., Medusa, Indians, I Am the Man, Parasite, I Am The Law; Antisocial; Keep It In The Family; Aftershock, Efinkufsin (n.f.l.).