Thrash Metal Titans Continue to Dominate
Photos and words by Alex Matthews
Photo: Alex Matthews
Legendary thrash metal band Anthrax celebrated the end of their 40th Anniversary US Tour at the City National Grove of Anaheim. Formed in New York in 1981, the band has technically been playing music together for over 42 years. Showing no signs of slowing down these veteran metalheads put on an absolutely killer show for a sold-out venue of adoring Southern California fans. Anthrax features founding guitarist Scott Ian, drummer Charlie Benante, bassist Frank Bello, vocalist Joey Belladonna and lead guitarist Jonathan Donais. Each one of the members is a master musician in their own right, but the combination of their unique voices and playing styles come together to form a truly powerful sound. Anthrax played a long set of hits that featured songs from throughout their career. They started the evening with "Among the Living" and went straight into the fan favorite "Caught In a Mosh" which caused the Anaheim crowd to go crazy.
Supporting Anthrax was the always impressive Black Label Society. Featuring Zakk Wylde on guitar and vocals, Dario Lorina on guitar, John “JD” DeServio on bass and Jeff Fabb on drums. This band is a must see for heavy music fans, and their massive crowd response at this show was overwhelming. The BLS Doomcrew fans always come out in full force and there were a ton represented at this show. A highlight of the band's performance was a heartfelt tribute performed by Zakk Wylde to the late Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul of Pantera.
Opening the show were thrash metal pioneers Exodus who formed in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1979. This veteran band is in their 44th year of existence and is also still somehow destroying their live audiences. Exodus features Steve “Zetro” Souza on vocals, Gary Holt on guitar, Tom Hunting on drums, Jack Gibson on bass, and Lee Altus on guitar. The band sounded amazing as usual and the only bummer was how short their nine song set had to be. It was especially awesome to see drummer Tom Hunting back pounding the drums again after a recent battle with cancer. Exodus was a fantastic opener for an absolutely killer evening of heavy music, and it was a pleasure to get to cover this tour.
Black Label Society
Exodus
