Trivium -Annihilator - Gojira - Sanctity

A four-band thrash metal-fest stomped all over The Plymouth Pavilions  spearheaded by the wall of noise that is Trivium. Sanctity, from Asheville, North Carolina got the mosh pit underway with a set of no-nonsense raw thrash that hit exactly the right blend of speed, power and aggression to fire the crowd into a state of excitability for the acts to follow, Sanctity's first album, Road to Bloodshed is set to release this week and is certain to make its way into my car cd player, a great start. Next up were Gojira, a French progressive death metal band. Combining elements of thrash metal, death metal, progressive metal and sludge metal and as a result have been refered to as the 'french Mastodon', no band has been this loud at the Pavilions, it was almost painful. Musically they have a straightforward, approach with few twiddly bits, but the jewell in their crown is ????? who is one phenominal drummer, I have never seen a support band produce a drum solo that received such a hugh positive reaction from the whole crowd, and it is the first since Cozy Powell with Black Sabbath that I have realy got into. Anihilator, from Ottawa, Canada, have an extra dimansion to their music than the first two bands, they are still awsomly powerful, but they are not afraid to slow down, produce great guitar solos, and at times completely change direction mid song, all to great effect. For me they produced the best song of the night with the title track to their 1989 album, Alice in Hell, to climax a fantastic set that was way to short. When headliners Trivium hit the stage the roar of the crowd was deafening, the anticipation that had been building, turned the whole arena into a moshing sea of bodies that never looked like slowing down. They had the benefit of a massive set fronted by The Crusade CD artrwork that including two high walkways and several microphones, this gave Matt, Corey and Paolo plenty of room to move wherever they wanted to produce a stageshow that didn’t give a inch for the entire set of  full blooded metal. This was a great night for metal fans with for me, Anihilator the best of the night.

Greg Taylor