Saturday May 17^th, heralded a fantastic night of music and an overwhelming sense of togetherness between 4 great bands and the audience that showed to support the music. ASHES OF ARES was joined by A SOUND OF THUNDER, GHOST OF WAR, and MARTYRD, at Empire in Springfield VA. This was a mini tour, and GOW was specially requested.  Prior to the show the bands hosted a meet and greet open to everyone who had a ticket. At the end of the show, Matt Barlow, lead vocalist of ASHES OF ARES and ex-ICED EARTH, gathered up the whole crowd with the band members for a large group photo. Yes, this was definitely a great experience.
 

MARTYRD, from New York, was the first band to take the stage. I had not previously heard of these guys, but I am sure glad to have caught them live. Their sound is a unique blend of several Metal sub-genres. They had excellent energy, and threw plenty of passion into their performance. The guys certainly rocked the house. After their performance, the boys could be found mingling with the fans and chilling by their merch booth.
 

GHOST OF WAR, who was specially requested for this show, took the second slot in the lineup. As always these guys were totally bad ass. They have great energy, and wonderful crowd interaction. It is a pleasure working with these guys, they make killer music, put on an awesome show, and are local to my neck of the woods. They played a new song for us Saturday. I can't wait for the next album either, great stuff.
 

A SOUND OF THUNDER Took the third spot of the evening. What separates them is their female vocalist, who has one hell of a voice. Again they have tremendous energy, and great crowd interaction. I was especially impressed when Nina busted out a Theremin on stage. YES, A THEREMIN!! You can tell that they (as well as the other groups) love and are very passionate about the music they make. Awesome performance.

Setlist:
1. The Nightwitch
2. Walls
3. Fight Until the End
4. Reign of the Hawklords
5. Blood Vomit
6. Wings of Steel
7. Just Another Fool
 

Last for the evening was ASHES OF ARES. These guys are fantastic. Barlow has an incredible voice on him. And his devotion to the fans is great. He made sure the crowd was involved in almost every aspect of the performance. These guys are on fire (No wonder they're signed to Nuclear Blast Records.) Their passion for music is dominate. They really put all they have into what they play. (As do the rest of the bands.) Yes, their performance was a perfect ending to a perfect line up, and to a perfect evening of Metal.

Setlist:
1. The Messenger
2. Move the Chains
3. On Warrior's Wings
4. Punishment
5. This Is My Hell
6. Dead Man's Plight
7. Chalice of Man
8. The Answer
9. What I Am
10. The One-Eyed King
 

So all in all, I have to say to say that the whole show was just fantastic. GOW handed out plenty of free Jägermeister merchandise. It's awesome when bands join the crowd to mingle, have drinks, and enjoy the other bands playing. The venue was rather small, but that only helped make the show that much more intimate for everybody. All of the groups being bigger local names also played a part in making this show special. Great job to all the bands who played. You are all AWESOME!!

*A special thanks to Jennifer Farace and Tammy Crosco Giordiano for providing the photos!