SHOW REVIEW: KillThrax Tour, feat: Anthrax and Killswitch Engage w/The Devil Wears Prada - Jasta - Fillmore - Silver Spring, MD

Anthrax & Killswitch Engage – The Fillmore – Silver Spring, MD – April 3, 2017

One of the most highly anticipated heavy metal tours of early 2017, The KillThrax Tour, featuring a co-headlining bill of thrash royalty Anthrax and metalcore titans Killswitch Engage, invaded the halls of the Fillmore in Silver Spring, Maryland, this past week.

Any lineup featuring the two aforementioned metal heroes would be more than enough to fill most music halls to capacity with rabid headbangers, however, the KillThrax tour also includes rising metalcore outfit The Devil Wears Prada and Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed fame.

The venue had posted show opener Jasta as taking the stage at 7:00 pm, however, Jasta and The Devil Wears Prada both had their set times moved up an hour at the last minute, as apparently a personal issue forced the Hatebreed front man to start the night’s metal festivities a bit early.

As a result anyone not lucky enough to already be inside the Fillmore when the venue’s doors opened likely missed most if not all of Jasta’s and The Devil Wears Prada’s performances. As it turns out, sometimes the metal gods can be cruel.

Any feelings of disappointment some fans may have felt being denied the chance to enjoy Jasta and or TDWP were surely washed away quickly as New Jersey thrash metal godfathers Anthrax took to the Fillmore stage with the kind of ferocity and sheer intensity most bands thirty years their junior would be lucky to emulate.

Still touring on what many consider a return to form, 2016’s For All Kings, the evening’s performance was mostly a metal time machine journey through Anthrax’s early catalog. Outside of three tracks off of their latest LP and a single tune from 2011’s Worship Music, the evening’s set list leaned heavily on Anthrax’s third studio record, 1985’s Among the Living.

Most longtime fans of the band were likely expecting this as prior to the KillThrax tour kicking off here in United States Anthrax played the Among the Living record in its entirety across the pond throughout both the months of February and March.

At 56 years of age, Joey Belladona’s voice has not only not degraded, his level of energy and overall performance seem to actually be getting stronger. This same sentiment holds true for the entirety of the band, especially in terms of Frank Bello and Scott Ian’s frantic antics while up on stage.

Ian, Bello, and Belladona were whirling dervishes, constantly darting from stage end to stage end and up, then back down, the elevated stage platforms regularly interacting with another. When not crashing and banging into each other the band members regularly created connections with individuals in the audience via more than a handful of directed nods, finger points, and the flashing of the metal horns. Belladona at one point even directly interacted with a few of the photographers, twice grabbing cameras to take a few choice images himself.

It’s these connections and the genuine heart felt interactions Anthrax makes with the audience at their live shows that ensures their performances are unique, making these encounters that much more timeless for their fan base. At most concerts if the band performs at a high level, that’s more than enough for almost any fan to be satisfied with. Anthrax always manages to exceed those expectations by creating personal moments that those in the audience will go on to remember for years to come.

A fair percentage of those in attendance were on the younger end of the spectrum and thus more than likely Killswitch Engage fans. That fact did not prevent Anthrax from forcing nearly everybody inside the Fillmore to engage with them via fiery renditions of classics such as the S.O.D cover, “March of the SOD, while also setting the stage ablaze with fan favorite, “Antisocial” and regular show closer, “Indians.”

Hats off to Belladona, Ian (guitar), Bello (bass), Jon Donais (guitar) and Charlie Benante (drums), as all are superlative as well as seasoned players who never fail to impress and their performance at the Fillmore in Silver Spring, Maryland did absolutely nothing to dispel that long standing tradition.

Originally formed nearly twenty years into Anthrax’s career, Killswitch Engage are on somewhat of a nostalgia trip themselves as the band is also celebrating one of their own record’s anniversary, Alive or Just Breathing.

Released fifteen years ago, the band’s second full-length studio effort put the Massachusetts outfit on the proverbial metal map on the strength of the single, “Last Serenade.” Their set list at the Fillmore, however, did not center around the band’s sophomore album, instead it swung more towards material off of both 2016’s Incarnate and the 2004 Howard Jones fronted classic, The End of the Heartache.

Killswitch Engage have taken a play right out of Anthrax’s playbook in terms of not only fan interaction but their actual live performance. Much like his metal brothers Bello, Belladona, and Ian, Adam Dutkiewicz has a non-stop motor whenever and wherever he performs.

Known for his crazy stage outfits and even more outlandish stage antics, Dutkiewicz could easily come off as corny. Instead KsE’s fans embrace the guitarist’s wild behavior and I’m sure many come to the band’s live shows excited to see what eccentric ensemble Dutkiewicz may show up in. Just don’t tell Slayer guitarist Kerry King any of this.

King has called out Dutkiewicz more than a few times for what he’s referred to as the guitarist’s “silliness.” I suppose to each their own, and there’s never such thing as a wrong opinion but in fairness, Dutkiewicz is just trying to have a blast. His on stage shenanigans are more than likely just his way of expressing his exuberance and his attempt at sharing those emotions with the fans.

Although not quite as silly as Dutkiewicz, bassist Mike D’Antonio is wildly entertaining to watch in concert as he too is beyond animated. D’Antonio puts on an array of evil metal faces while swaying and contorting his bass in every possibly direction as he maniacally moves about the stage.

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The bassist is this kooky amalgamation of Gene Simmons meets Cliff Burton in terms of both play style and stage persona. Upon observation D’Antonio appears to be living out the real life concert millions of metal heads played to themselves in their high school bedrooms each and every time he has the opportunity to play live.

The counter to Dutkiewicz and D’Antonio, lead singer Jesse Leach, is more of a serious presence while up on stage. Leach forgoes the tomfoolery instead choosing to make his connections with the audience via his soaring vocals and stoic performance.

Leach commands immediate attention and only has to utter a few words to send any crowd into an all out frenzy. Seconds before launching into “Strength of Mind,” Leach quipped that the mosh pit had not nearly impressed him up until that point in the show. Not unexpectedly, the audience responded with vigor as lord help those who were not prepared for the break out of flying fists and hammer kicks that instantaneously engulfed two-thirds of the Fillmore’s general admission floor.

Similar to Anthrax, the boys in Killswitch Engage Leach (vocals), D’Antonio (bass), Dutkiewicz (guitar), Josh Stroetzel (guitar), and Justin Foley (drums) have spent their entire career creating long standing bonds with their fan base. Thus when attending one of their surreal live shows most fans don’t just come away feeling as though they’ve spent a few hours at a concert. Instead upon existing the venue most fans probably felt as though they had just spent a couple of hours with their best friends, who also just so happen to be in a kick ass metal band.

As the final notes of “In Due Time” echoed throughout the Fillmore many headbangers, weary from hours of well, head banging, were doing something that isn’t necessarily associated with the world of heavy metal, they were smiling. Head banging, smiling, and beyond unreal live metal performances, that’s what our friends in Anthrax and Killswitch Engage are all about.