Metal Allegiance @Count’s Vampd 1/08/16

Metal Allegiance @ Counts Vampd 1/08/16

By: Leah Burlington

When I went to Vampd to see this band Metal Allegiance, I had no idea what I was in for. I only knew that there was a few pretty big rock stars or shall I say metal stars, on the bill including Mike Portnoy, Dave Ellefson, and Alex Skolnick. I didn’t know what it was all about. I just figured it was going to be a killer night of metal cover songs. Little did I know that Metal Allegiance is not just a cover band, it is a gathering of metal icons that got together and actually made a new album called “Metal Allegiance” that came out in 2015 on nuclear blast. Each show can be different musicians as there are so many from the metal world that will get together and play out live. They do play cover songs of all sorts of metal genre’s, from old school metal and thrash metal. They also play songs from their new album, which by the way is a breath of fresh air. It hearkens back to the days when metal ruled the world. With guys like Mike, Alex and Dave writing, you know this album would be perfection.

This lineup consisted of Mike Portnoy on drums, Dave Ellefson/guitar, Alex Skolnick/guitar, Mark Osegueda/ vocals, Mark Menghi/ bass, Phil Demmel/ guitar, and Troy Sanders/ vocals. I didn’t know who Troy was but later found out he’s the singer of Mastadon. That dude was probably the highlight of the show with his crazy onstage presence and wild gesturing and grimaces, that dude was pretty amazing. Not to be outdone was the mighty Mark Osegueda from Death Angel who sang Dio with perfection as well as Priest or Maiden like a boss. The line up was a who’s who in Metal and they brought it on like the legends that they are with such intensity and earth shattering solos by Skolnick, who was right up in our faces most of the show, and Phil Demmel from Machine head, ripping solos on his polka dotted flying V. These guys meant business and they played sixteen covers from bands like Priest, Metallica, AC/DC, Maiden, Accept, Dio Van Halen, and finished the set with a tribute to Motorhead. They also played some songs off their new album, “Can’t Kill the Devil”, “Let Darkness Fall”, “Dying Song” and their theme song, “Pledge of Allegiance”. Their original stuff is a tribute to old school thrash and heavy metal with all  the attitude and talent you would expect from musicians of this caliber. These guys still have the spirit after all these years and they still love what they do.

The show was a head banging great time and my ears rang for a few days after. This was one of the best  metal shows ever at Vampd, as it was old school metal at its finest, with some of the finest metal musicians in the biz. I am happy I went as I had a killer time. Hope they come back again!!

You can find more on Metal Allegiance here: http://www.metalallegiance.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metalallegiancetour/?fref=ts

 

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