I can guess what you are thinking; Who the hell are JUDAS BEAST? Well, this is actually a tribute band to the most significant bands JUDAS PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN. Yeah you are reading right, this is not a spelling error. My first contact with this band took place on a cold Saturday that I had completely nothing to do and I was searching the net about local pubs.

So, my search stopped in the name JUDAS BEAST that really excited my curiosity. The night turned excellently leaving me with the best impressions about their work on the cover songs. From that day two more live shows followed and I was enjoying more and more. This report is about JUDAS BEAST's latest live performance at the The Buzzbomb Club located at Bedford Park of Illinois. To my surprise I found in the club at about 30 people; I really don't understand the US metalheads. You get a really good chance to enjoy yourself by listening to a best of from PRIEST and MAIDEN while enjoying your beer and the company of fellow metalheads.

The stage was really nice with nice lighting and very good acoustic. Nevertheless, the five piece cover band from Chicago took over the stage in a really high mood despite the weak attendance. The first thing you notice when JUDAS BEST get on-stage is their solid sound and their flawless performance. I mean these guys just nail the song delivering even the pretty difficult guitar solos. The highlight of this band is definitely the singer Dane McCartney who sounds pretty much like Dickinson. I am not joking here this guy can sing all the MAIDEN classics at ease presenting some really impressive powerful high pitches. During, Hallowed Be Thy Name I tried to isolate the music and concentrate on his voice during the classic scaling wail and I was totally impressed!

During the PRIEST songs Dane was wearing the Halford mean glasses adding sometimes a finishing touch with a leather jacket. The band did a huge setlist comprising everything that a JUDAS PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN compilation would have. Iron Maiden, Wrathchild, Children Of The Damned, Wasted Years, Bloodstone, Victim Of Changes (impressive one!), Electric Eye, Breaking The Law, Livin After Mignight (always), Trooper, Fear Of The Dark (of course) among others.

The entire setlist lasted almost three hours satisfying and more the fans and friends who came to celebrate with them their love for the two Metal monsters. I had the chance to talk with the band members and I realized that they play music for the shake of music and nothing more. This is why the performed with that energy and duration in front of a really small crowd.

Sometimes Dane or Chris Cassidy the bass player were getting off stage while playing to join the metalheads that were headbanging to the famous and most classic tunes. The twin guitars, from Ralph Circelli and Rick Voss were changing roles from Downing - Tipton to Smith - Murray almost without loosing a note (they did some mistakes but they were hardly noticed). Jess Naputano celebrated his birthday by putting off the candles on his cake while standing behind his drum kit. So, the night was just perfect since I had some beers, a nice headbanging time and listened to my favorite classics. Thank you boys!

You can visit the band's myspace page (www.myspace.com/judasbeastchicago) listen to a some tracks and why not become a friend of them since if you are into Metal then IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST should be on your favourite band list. Thanks to Luke, the band's manager, for arranging the interview and the promo material.

(photos by 'Eddie The Metallian')

JUDAS BEAST