There aren't too many others things better then celebrating the independence day in the USA with Metal, booze, and smokeables. I had been waiting to see TROUBLE ever since the recommendation came from the Chicago Powerfest Ultimate Metal Forum. I figured I was in for a treat since TROUBLE is a Stoner Metal band but due to the fourth of July celebrations there were a lot of DUI checkpoints (which I didn't run into one actually) on the way so I didn't drink and just smoked opting for the ultimate experience.

LUCID FICTION was a band I was only semi-familiar with; but they were interested to see so I showed up early. They had kind of a Prog Metal sound, but with a Classic Metal sound. They were even parts of certain songs where they sounded like SAVATAGE. This was partially due to their singer having that Jon Oliva sound and he also was playing keyboards.

The Thrash Metal trio MEATSHANK were next and they had an old school raw sound. Maybe it was just how much I had smoked, but I didn't care for them, as much perhaps it was distortion level or perhaps the sound of the vocals. While I won't deny they are talented, I think under different circumstances I would enjoy them significantly more.

Stoner_Southern Metal from Kansas is what DOOMSHADE bring to the table. Much different from the previous band in that they were moving around considerably more and had much more crowd interaction. There were times during the set where I thought I was listening to CORROSION OF CONFORMITY minus the vocals, but Pepper just uses a total different style from DOOMSHADE's front man. I also loved the way the drummer was getting into the set with lots of funny faces and banging the shit out of his drums.

Once TROUBLE took the stage I had some mixed feelings about their appearance. Kory (WARRIOR SOUL) had this vest on that just made him look kinda gay or like he was stuck in the 60s. I will say his vocals sounded great though they could have sounded a little better but I think that it was mostly the venue acoustics etc. The other gripe I had, was the lead guitarist looked like a mix of Iommi and Ozzy and it was almost comical. I just know that they are compared to BLACK SABBATH somewhat in style, so I don't understand why you would try to look like them. Either way the face melting didn't stop til I left the venue, which was a little pre-mature, but that was due to the late hour. TROUBLE put on a outstanding performance consisting of new and old material. Even though it didn't seem like more then about 5 out the 100 or so people that were familiar with the music they still owned the stage.

I want to thank Live Evil Promotions for bringing the show to town even though I didn't get pass .