Domingo 25 Jul 2010, 14:46

Sat 24 Jul – The Tards CD Release Show!

The line-up for this show consisted of a bunch of local bands I've been meaning to check out but the main reason I went was because my favorite local band The Tards were celebrating the release of their new album Guillotine. I got there around 6:30 and the show didn't start until 8:30 but I was cool with the wait because the bar had A/C.

The first band Vanlade had a thrashy power metal sound. They had a good mix of harsh and clean vocals. At times the reminded me of a sped up Manowar which is never a bad quality if you're a metal band. Also the face melting solos were a nice touch. Overall they put on a pretty killer set and I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

Next up was Shred Scare and they came out with all cylinders firing. I was supposed to see these guys a few weeks back with Cross Examination but something came up, overall it was worth the wait. The vocalist broke a microphone but bounced back very quickly. They just had a really fun set, hell when you hear a song titled Fuck Hippies you are bound to have a blast. During a cover of "Breaking the Law" Vanlade's vocalist came up and performed with the kc shredders. They played an aggressive style of crossover that leaned a little more to the hardcore end of the spectrum. These guys seem to be playing at a lot of shows in the area so I'm sure I'll be seeing them plenty in the future.

Then Death Valley Wolfriders hit the stage with their southern fueled hard rock/groove metal sound. They seemed to have been influenced by Pantera quite a bit. The dual vocal approach worked well. They also threw in two covers one Johnny Cash cover and the other being one of Black Sabbath's classics, during the Sabbath cover they had one of the friends come up and do vocals. Overall these dudes were drunk as hell and having a good time and that clearly rubbed off on the rest of the audience. Don't you just hate it when bigfoot steals your beer?

After The Tards finally hit the stage and killed it with their set. Most fans of the Kansas City metal scene are aware of the bands sound so I won't go into detail on that, but these guys were spot on their entire set. The bassist headbanged around in the audience while playing and never seemed to miss a note. This was probably the best small show I've ever attended (there were about 30 people and most of them were band members) Each band gave it their all and it was a killer night. I'm sure it would've been even better if I would have been able to stay to see Meat Shank's set.

Overall:
Vanlade: 8.5/10
Shred Scare: 8/10
Death Valley Wolfriders: 8.5/10
The Tards: 9/10
Meat Shank: Didn't see