This would be my second time at The Pearl Room and I have already fallen in love with the place. It is so easy to reach, has a very big parking lot and the sound's quality is top notch. So, for the second time in this month I found my shelf driving towards Mokena, IL to catch EXODUS performing live tracks from their recent full length release The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A. Unfortunately, there are no photos from that night even though, I tried hard and eventually in vain to get press credentials.

I arrived at the The Pearl Room one hour before that the announced 'show time' along with almost 200 metalheads. After looking at the merchandise and scheduling my after show purchases I found a comfort place to stand and wait for BENEATH THE HOLLOW to get on stage. This band comprises some young musicians who are deeply influenced by all of this Nu-Metal meets Hardcore scene. This means screaming vocals with some Death moments, groovy rhythm section and to -my surprise- some pretty good guitar solos. BENEATH THE HOLLOW managed to make the crowd move, proving that their strongest point is the on-stage relentless performance. Despite the fact that this sound is definitely not my cup of tea I have to give them some credit for being a very good opening and warming up act; nice work boys! You can listen to some tracks in their official MySpace page by clicking here.

Next on the billing was the freshly formed band WARBRINGER. This band was formed in 2004 and has already managed to attract much publicity with their debut and only album War Without End. I was completely unaware of their existence until the time I saw them on stage. I was totally surprised with their sound and on-stage presence; these guys have turn the clock back playing real old-school Thrash Metal with striking out influences from the German scene with bands like TANKARD , the prime KREATOR nd DESTRUCTION. The audience was already familiar to their sound so the crowd surfing and moshing was a logical sequence. Songs like Beneath The Waves, Total War or Shoot To Kill (excellent chorus) were the ideal reason for some warming up headbanging. Some additional credit deserve the guitarists that made a very good job especially in with their leads. Their very good performance made me purchase their only album in red vinyl (m_) immediately after the concert. I am sure that we will be hearing from them in the following years. Check out the Combat Shock video clip below:

GOATWHORE from New Orleans were the last band before the mighty EXODUS and actually were the night's exception to this Thrash based pattern. This is a Black Metal based act with some hearty Death Metal additions that make their sound really solid. I really enjoyed the dominating bass guitar sound, the shredding guitar riffs and the dual vocals that were courtesy of the tall frontman Ben Falgoust and of the guitarist Sammy Duet. GOATWHORE performed in a high mood giving with the blast beats being a perfect reason for some violent crowd surfing and neck snapping headbanging. So, after 40 minutes GOATWHORE left me satisfied drinking the last beer before the headliners' time. Watch below the video clip Alchemy Of The Black Sun Cult that I am pretty sure they played that night:

Last time I saw live EXODUS was during their tour for Tempo Of The Damned with Steve Sousa behind the mic somewhere in 2004. After the very good albums Shovel Headed Kill Machine and The Atrocity Exhibition ... Exhibit A (read METAL TEMPLE's review by clicking here) with Rob Dukes on the vocals I was something more excited and kind of curious to watch them with a different frontman.

Their show started right on the announced time with EXODUS entering with Iconoclasm from their latest album. The sound was excellent and the band was in a top mood giving the first signs that this would be a night to remember. So, the security guys took their places among the crowd that was already loaded for some serious moshing. After Rob Dukes' silly introduction by telling the crowd someone wants you to become Muslims EXODUS kicked in with Children Of A Worthless God. One dude from the audience made his way to the stage and returned to his position by performing the classic ritual of stage-diving. Immediately secutiry grabbed him and tried to get him out of the venue. This action made EXODUS stopped playing while Rob Dukes was yelling towards security to bring the fan back. In the meantime Jack Gibson was calling with various names the security guy who was responsible for all of this fuss.

Then Rob stated we won't start playing until all security leaves the venue. After some awkward minutes security left the arena on time to hear Rob adding: if the guys want to stage dive, then this they should do! Then came Piranha along with total chaos and a glorious 'wall of death' in the center of the arena. For the following minutes, I made a time travel to the 80s where stage-diving was a must; the crowd has turned into a raging sea smashing upon the stage (I am getting poetic here, somebody stop me!). After this track the sound stopped and the lights came on; eventually the venues' rules prohibited 'stage diving' and the manager would not leave EXODUS unless the metalheads would stop getting on stage. After some negotiations that took place in front of our eyes EXODUS accepted the term and returned with War Is My Shepard after Rob's confession about stealing a couple of cars and his intention to join the marines stating: I just wanted to shoot people, that's all.

Things remained violent enough for tracks like Karma's Messenger, A Lesson In Violence, Strike Of The Beast, Bonded By Blood, Fabulous Disaster and of course The Toxic Waltz in the encore.
As you have probably understood this was an excellent gig that had everything! Rob Dukes has fitted perfectly to the rest of the band while the return of Tom Hunting behind the drums was a real nice treat. Thank you EXODUS for these really violent moments and see you next time! Watch the Toxic Waltz video clip below and get some idea of what happened that night at Mokena!