Anthrax
April 22, 2017
The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA
The KillThrax tour featured some of metal’s biggest acts. First up on the bill was popular metalcore band, The Devil Wears Prada. The two main headliners were metalcore giants Killswitch Engage and thrash metal legends, Anthrax. With a lineup like this, it brought together two different genre of metal together and was set to be a very wild night. To make it extra special, the show sold out ahead of time and fans were lined up outside the venue before doors opened in anticipation for the show.
The Devil Wears Prada came out to an already packed venue and started the show with Daughter from their newest Transit Blues album. The stage remained quite dark for the majority of the performance and so was hard to see the band members most of the time. With heavy guitar riffs, chugging, and of course breakdowns, plenty of people could be seen head-banging to the band’s music. TDWP tore through the audience as they played songs like: Sailor’s Prayer, Worldwide, and Dead Throne. The band never lost its energy and they only seemed to get more energetic as the show went on. The band wrapped up their show with Mammoth and gave the audience a taste of what was still to come.
Killswitch Engage is one of the most popular metalcore bands today. With seven albums out, the band had plenty of material to deliver to their fan-base. Lots of fans could be seen wearing KsE shirts, so you know that a lot of their fans were in attendance. KsE came out and started the show with Hate By Design from their newest album Incarnate which came out in 
2016. The band was greeted with huge cheers from their fans as they were happy to have the band come back. KsE had a very nice light setup and offered great visuals while the band performed their music. They had a very energetic presence that was only matched by the ongoing mosh pit which was occurring on the floor. KsE would continue their onslaught of heavy guitar riffs as they bulldozed through their fans with songs like: The End of Heartache, This Fire Burns, and their most popular song, My Curse. The band was thrilled to be performing for their fans and were grateful to have their support after all these years. They finished the show with their Ronnie James Dio cover of Holy Diver. On this occasion, KsE brought out Anthrax vocalist Joey Belladonna to sing the song with them. KsE finished up their show and since the fans were still hungry for more, the main band of the night was still waiting to thrash things up.
Anthrax are one of the biggest metal bands of the 80’s as one of the “Big Four” of thrash metal (Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth being the other three). If you know your metal music, then you know Anthrax. They released their newest album For All Kings in 2016 and are still actively touring for it. Anthrax came out and started their show with Among the Living from the album of the same name and is their most famous album to date and is also considered a landmark album for the thrash metal genre. The band was met with thunderous cheers from fans and a mosh pit quickly formed on the floor. Anthrax knew better than to slow down a thrash metal show. They kept up the speed of the show as they continued with one of their most famous songs and one of metal’s anthems, Caught In a Mosh. Seeing fans sing along to, “What is it? Caught In a Mosh!” was quite the sight and hard not to sing along with. The third song played was the band’s most famous song and another metal anthem, Madhouse. This song always drives the fans completely insane and both headbanging and moshing were seen throughout the whole venue as well as singing along.
All the band members had their own unique stage presence. Singer Joey Belladonna would run around on stage and often mess around with his band mates. Bassist Frank Bello would run and jump every opportunity he got as well as make some funny faces showing that he was happy to be performing for the band and the fans. Being that Anthrax has eleven albums out, the band did a good job of mixing old material with newer material. some of the other older songs played were I Am the Law and Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.). Newer tracks included were Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t, Blood Eagle Wings, and Breathing Lightning. Guitarist and founding member Scott Ian along with drummer Charlie Benante had formed a hardcore punk/crossover thrash metal band called Stormtroopers of Death in 1985. since the band will never be active again, it only made sense for Anthrax to play a cover of one of those songs as a special treat, to which that song was March of the S.O.D. and fans of old school thrash were thrilled to hear that song live. Nearing the end of the show, Anthrax had a very special surprise for the Los Angeles crowd. For the new album’s 7″ vinyl box set, Anthrax recorded a cover of Kansas‘ Carry On Wayward Son. For the first time ever, Anthrax brought out keyboards on stage. Scott Ian revealed that the band was about to play the cover and also revealed that Fred Mandel (Queen, Alice Cooper, Elton John, etc.) would be their guest keyboardist for the song. It was possibly a once in a lifetime experience. Now that the show was coming to a close, Anthrax went out with a war dance and played Indians for the grand finale. Having the song cut in the middle so Scott Ian can yell out “Waaarrr Daaance” and then continue the song always gets the audience super pumped up and makes the mosh pit on the floor get crazier. Anthrax finished the show, thanked the audience and left the stage. Lots of smiles and looks of satisfaction were seen no matter where you looked proving that no matter what metal genres are mixed together, they are all one big metal family.
Review by: Misael Ruiz
Anthrax
Killswitch Engage
The Devil Wears Prada
