Photo: Janice French
It’s a sold out house and the Rialto is bulging at the seams. The heavy metal of Black Tide opens the show and we’re a bit shocked when lead vocalist Gabriel Garcia opens his mouth. Not only does he shred on the guitar his voice has a rough, deep and mean quality that seems well beyond his years. The band member’s ages range from 15 to 19 and their metal is outrageously fresh and pure. They perform ‘Show Me The Way’ leaving no metal corner unturned as drummer Steven Spence pounds like an animal and Gabriel sears steaming screaming licks into our brains. During ‘Where’s The Top’ all three guitarist line up and just wail, they absolutely have the skill to match those bitchen axes they carry. What garage did these lads come from? The crowd is moshing, screaming and won. Black Tide will release their debut album in February and that’s exactly when their UK tour starts.
The Confession takes over with ‘No Angel’ as bassist Matt Pauling lays the framework for this urgent piece and crowd surfers begin to fly. Smoke fills the stage, blue and red lights flash, the crowd is beating their fists whilst Kevin Fyfe plays a killer lick. Lead singer Taylor Armstrong’s vox is precise as he moves through growls, roars, nastiness and purity. The audience is holding up their lighters before the song is done. The crowd now claps overhead as the intro to ‘The End Is Near’ begins then the band drags us willingly into their metal depths. Taylor says “This song goes out to all the rowdy motherfuckers, spin that fucker boys!” The unruly mosh pit complies as ‘Rise And Fall’ smashes into us. Hold on a second do we hear a cowbell or is that just our ears ringing?
The bold and outrageous Operator give us ‘Soulcrusher’ and blow us away. The vocals of Johnny Strong are beyond good. Many have compared him to Chris Cornell but we beg to differ he is much more akin to Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. Just when we think Johnny has reached his vocal limit we discover he’s just warming up as he pours himself into the song reaching a new level of intensity with ease. Cocky and sure Operator begins ‘What You Get.’ Paul Phillips does an incredible long screeching lick that rises, falls and thrills. Then Paul ends the lick with a high flying scissors jump and the crowd roars. They finish with the powerful, hot and addicting ‘Nothing To Lose.’
From Las Vegas Avenged Sevenfold paints an auditory vision of another City Of Evil as ‘Beast And The Harlot’ turns the house into a riotous mob scene. The ground and walls are shaking because of the screaming horde of fans. Gigwise takes a crowd surfer in the back whilst shooting photos and with no harm to the camera we quickly get back to business. ‘Afterlife’ is moving and mournful as M. Shadows knells and sings “Take me back inside when the time is right.”
The house is now lit by the glow of hundreds of cell phones and lighters as the sorrowful longing of ‘I Won’t See You Tonight Part I’ hits home. Zacky, Synyster and Shadows sit on the drum stand, take a break and drink water while a keyboard solo plays. They get back up, all the instrumentals return and Shadows delivers an emotionally charged performance ending the piece. A screaming crowd and hands beating the air bring in the incredible wind-up intro to ‘Bat Country.’ The roguish mob sings along as colored lights flash, smoke descends and whirling flying skulls are projected on the walls. When all is said and done the band leaves the stage.
After much screaming, which indeed never seems to stop, the band returns and launches into ‘Seize The Day.’ Zacky sings the intro and holds up one finger as he sings “just one vision” then Synyster plays a poignant sweet lick. When all is said and done Zacky stands on a platform and does the ‘shaking the dice’ move as they say goodnight to the horde. Yep he has to learn another dance step too. Avenged Sevenfold will begin a UK Tour with Black Tide this coming February and it’s well worth the ticket.
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