Brazilian thrashers Nervosa bring the full on thrash metal assault to the nation’s capitol with support from Oakland, California’s Hatriot, Amherst, Massachusetts’ Lich King and Maryland’s Aphellion.
Kicking off the night was Aphellion, a group of fire pissers from Maryland who quickly made the older members of the audience remember the good ole days of young thrash and death metal bands tearing it up on the road. Zack, the lead singer of Lich King pointed out how young these guys were by saying they did their homework at the bar before the show started. They were fired up, kicked ass and stuck around to support all the other bands. If you are in the DC/Maryland area and you need some thrash in your life, look Aphellion up!!!
Aphellion SETLIST
Great War
Trench Hammer
Ghost of Sparta
Cold Sweat (Thin Lizzy Cover)
IPKS
Slaughter With Force
It has been just under a year since I last threw down with Hatriot when they were supporting Kings Of Thrash. If you have never seen Hatriot live before, they bring a lot of energy to the room and the crowd responded in kind with a good sized pit. Their set consisted of songs from their last two albums “The Vale of Shadows” “From Days unto Darkness” and played the single “Forest of Illusion”. One of the things I thought was really cool is the guys posing with fans just minutes after they finished playing their set.
Hatriot SETLIST
Horns & Halos
Delete
Forest of Illusion
Clemency Denied
Ethereal Nightmare
Hymn for the Wicked
The last time I saw Lich King live was April 2, 2013, it was the fifth show of the “Born Of The Bomb” tour and the band I was traveling with Possessor, a thrash outfit from Virginia Beach was finishing their support run. Those five days taught me a lot about the music business, I watched two bands go from riches to rags in three days as they had a killer show where everyone made money to a show where the touring bands got paid in beer. I didn’t forget.
Eleven years later Lich King is still touring and kicking ass wherever they go. One of the things I really like about these guys is their sense of humor, songs like “Crossover Songs Are Too Damn Short” poke fun at metal music without talking trash. I have always thought they could throw down despite some dissenting opinions and many in the crowd agreed with me. Zach encouraged crowd surfing and stage diving and the kids from Aphellion happily rewarded him and created some chaos. Pie Shop is a small place so having a mosh pit can be a problem. Having crowd surfers just adds to the insanity but it was handled well. It was great to see my friends from Massachusetts blow it up again.
Lich King SETLIST
All Hail
Attack of the Wrath of the War of the Death of the Strike of the Sword of the Blood of the Beast
In the End, Devastation
Crossover Songs Are Too Damn Short
Waste
Lich King V: Stalemate
We Came to Conquer
One of the bands I have wanted to see live for years is Nervosa and the opportunity hasn’t presented itself until now. I have been a fan since the “Victim of Yourself” days and while I have never listened to their 2023 effort “Jailbreak”, the show gives me the chance and that 50% of their setlist is songs from that album. Filling in for Hel Pyre on bass because of commitments to her other band W.E.B. is Natalie Nova of Beyond The Roots. The band doesn’t waste any time going from silence to thrash your ass off. For most of us I think this our first time seeing Nervosa and we were not disappointed. While I was hoping to hear more older material, I can understand their reasons to push forward with the new songs.
Nervosa SETLIST
Seed of Death
Behind the Wall
Death
Nail the Coffin
Kill the Silence
Perpetual Chaos
Venomous
Ungrateful
Masked Betrayer
Under Ruins
Kill or Die
Jailbreak
Guided By Evil
Endless Ambition
If you are on the fence about whether or not you want to see this tour package, go!!! The tour runs through October 13th with the stop at Reggie’s in Chicago.
