Armored Saint with Savage Messiah and Dendera Live Report

I must admit my attendance at this gig was based solely on the fact the two awesome local heroes were on the support bill and not because of the slightly legendary American headline act. I say slightly because to me they've never really been a big name in the US metal scene and more of an underground act. To be honest I am not even really familiar with even their most famous material.

I was up close for both the two Brit bands and went to the back and on the pub area for AS. Dendera were first up and they were awesome. The material from the new CD sounds bloody great live. Very heavy and yet still very melodic too with a very confident vocal delivery. They played a rapid fire 30 minutes and soon were gone. I'd like to see a headline show with these guys soon if possible. The best song was the awesome galloping The Daylight Ending from the latest CD.

Next up were Londoners Savage Messiah who I'd only seen a couple of weeks back supporting Testament at the Brooklyn Bowl. Their speedy delivery and enthusiastic front man Dave Silver excites the front rows and then some. The riffs are ripped out with superb precision and a nice sound mix helped bring the tightness of the band to the fore. They played around 40 minutes before a pretty healthy Thursday night crowd indeed. SM never fails to impress live. I look forward to their next studio output immensely.

Finally at around 9.30 or so it was time for the Saint to take to the stage and rip out some classic American power metal for the highly healthy 400+ crowd. I must admit I thought AS would be far less recognised here in the UK but I was wrong. John Bush is a great front man with a pretty cool melodic voice and he was in fine form. As John explained they were using this gig as almost a rehearsal for their upcoming festival appearances in Europe so expect a little rustiness.

But we needn't have worried. They sounded pretty tight and cool especially the great bass which added a funky vibe to the heavy riffing. I am not a big fan of their latest CD Win Hands Down but plenty are it seems and they played a fair chunk of it as well as a lot of old classics which I am not familiar with. I did enjoy the song Chemical Euphoria a lot though I don't know if it's old or new to be perfectly honest. I left just about 10.45 and the band was still on stage but I'd had enough by then and was feeling tired.

A cool gig, not the best of the year but good to see two killer local bands who have a lot to offer.