Flotsam And Jetsam in Athens for a concert… It sounds great. The historic venue “Kyττaro” has hosted countless veteran Greek and foreign artists for decades.
Time 8:30 The Athenians Desert Near The End started playing their very good technical and power / thrash metal which reminded me of Barlow-era Iced Earth. The sound certainly did not help them particularly to move the audience, whose capacity at the moment was small. Cardiogram: straight.
Then, Greek speed thrashers Memorain hit the stage having many collaborations with big names and lots of albums. During Memorain the sound was not good as well, but they managed to make the audience start headbanging. Good performing from Memorain and in the cardiogram looked like something began to move.
At 10:15 on stage from Phoenix Arizona we welcomed thrashers Flotsam and Jetsam. Previously known as the group of Jason Newsted from Metallica. They are very honest players with two members of the original composition and the drummer extraordinaire Jason Bittner whose tenure at Shadows Fall was a killer! Amazing drumming! At first the sound had some problems with the voice of Eric AK not heard clearly, but gradually began to improve. Things were getting better and better since they played anthems as “Dreams Of Death”, “Hammerhead” (there was chaos), “She Took An Axe”, “Desecrator” and songs from their new self titled album such as “Iron Maiden” (which is actually very good).
Participation was great, the audience sang the lyrics and formed mosh pits while the stage diving was continuous. The band’s performing was great but they seemed a bit tired and Eric confessed that the previous night they had a crazy party. Their regular set was approximately 70 minutes long and an encore followed where they played the classics “Doomsday For The Deceiver” and “I Live You Die”, where people went crazy banging their heads. In vain people were waiting for the second encore and at this point the thrash party was over.
As for the appearance of Flotsam And Jetsam I will not say much as I would not be objective, since they are one of my childhood’s favorite bands, but I will use a criterion: when you are so tired from the weight of a hard day but you are able to enjoy watching and banging your head to a great band until the end of a concert, then I suppose this band is…a killer! Cardiogram: intense.
Konstantinos “2112” Konstantinou
Photos: Chris Kissadjekian / www.livephotographs.com
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