BYZANTINE - SUDSY MALONE'S 6/9/06

Sudsy Malone’s – Cincinnati, Ohio
Friday 06/09/2006 ©by: Robin Rheins/Mystik~Music
Byzantine (Prosthetic Records)
Dead Broke
The All Knowing
Death Broker
Azygous
Felix Tucker
A Call To Arms
Endless Sacrifice

It was a hott Friday night on June 9, 2006 at Sudsy Malone’s in Cincinnati, Ohio. There was a capacity crowd by 6pm and they stayed till the very end of the night. On this hi-profile event, Mistress Juliya of Fuse TV brought with her Prosthetic Recording artist BYZANTINE. In support of this show by local metal bands were THE ALL KNOWING, DEAD BROKE, AZYGOUS, DEATH BROKER, FELIX TUCKER, A CALL TO ARMS, and ENDLESS SACRIFICE. Yep!! 8 I tell ya…8 bands in all!! Lots of death metal music, lots of alcohol, lots of fans and lots of fun!!!
Opening the show early was A CALL TO ARMS who played an abbreviated set but managed to stir up the first of many mosh pits of the night. Then DEATH BROKER blasted onto the stage. It was the first time I be seeing this band here at Sudsy’s. They had a blast with the fans who swarmed the stage when the vocalist, Jimmy, who is powered always by at least 2 bottles of Coors Light Beer per song, gave it his all. Adding to the DEATH BROKER sound is Shane on drums, Rhino and Drew on guitars and Dave on bass. These guys are brutal! Relentless abuse and use of their instruments is what the fans crave. Check out more of DEATH BROKER at www.myspace.com/deathbroker and see them live on Friday, July 7 at Annie’s for Friday Local Music night.
After some of the dust settled, THE ALL KNOWING took over the stage for a killer set. THE ALL KNOWING is lucky enough to have scored the bass talent of Jason VieBrooks (you might’ve seen him in GRIP INC. ~Dave Lombardo of Slayer ex-band and with a few other selected metal monsters). Any band to have Jason VieBrooks is very fortunate and will most likely gain a lot of well deserved attention. Their music is hard driving and lyrics are aggressive, almost an anger releasing from deep within, drawing on real life experiences, which fires up the fans both long time and new, but it’s still good old metal and rock fused together. THE ALL KNOWING opened with “Out” then went into “Haunting”. When vocalist Billy Cox asked for any Motorhead fans, THE ALL KNOWING went into their own rendition of “The Ace Of Spades”. Knowing just how to wield his axe is guitarist John Lynn. He fret work is solid and consistent and in your face. Banging skins and crashing cymbals is the ever-driving footwork of Shawn Hartford. THE ALL KNOWING pleased us with songs “I Am What?” then onto “Failure” then into “Truth And Forgive”. THE ALL KNOWING knows what the world wants in today’s music. The band has a 4-song demo available as well as T-Shirts and other cool swag you can purchase online and at their shows. The band is currently in the process of recording their full length cd. Stay in touch with their progress at www.myspace.com/theallknowingmetal or www.theallknowing.net . You’ll be hearing a lot more about THE ALL KNOWING. See them live on July 1st at Annie’s Freedom Fest ’06 show. Get there early – doors at 12 noon and bands start at 1pm. Go for the beer and stay for the music!
Speaking of beer…..AZYGOUS was up next keeping the night alive and wired. They know to bring a crowd with them with their motto “Drink Beer Smoke Weed” theme. This is a metal band that can party it up on and off stage!! AZYGOUS played a balls~out non~stop set of originals. Their large and loyal fan base in attendance, set the tone for the mosh~pits! Hard hitting contained within the circle, bodies whipping about, when you’re done, ya just gotta drink more beers!!!! Working these people into a thirsty frenzy is Steve on vocals, Adam on guitar, Nick on guitar, Brian on bass and extra vocals, and SamHain on drums. AZYGOUS never fails to put on an excellent show. High energy all around. They’re booked all over the place so check it out at www.myspace.com/azygous and buy their cool t-shirts and music and stuff.
Mistress Juliya was great meeting with everyone, introducing the bands, having her picture taken with all that asked and drinking lots of shots with all of us!! She is a very charming and most professional sexy hostess. She’s welcomed back here in Cincy anytime. Her camera crew did an awesome job of filming the night’s festivities. And they did have their work cut out for them. Yes, Mistress Juliya has a myspace page too where you can see hott pics of her but give her time to respond…she’s very busy bringing you the best tv filled with the best metal bands.
After AZYGOUS was a band called FELIX TUCKER. Their brand of metal music received a warm response as did the next band, ENDLESS SACRIFICE, whose vocalist is the most littlest petite female in a local death metal band. Don’t let her size fool you…..she knows what to do!!
Getting closer to the headlining hour, all the way from Dayton Ohio was Cincinnati’s newest favourites, DEAD BROKE. After going thru some recent and brief personnel changes in the past few weeks, DEAD BROKE came out stronger and more solid than ever!!!! This had to be one of their best shows to date. Now performing as a 4~piece band, Adam tears it up on the guitars, Ron on bass and Eric doing backup vocals and drums driving a solid backbone force of crashing aggression and bringing it to life is the deep and forceful vocals from hell style of Dave. DEAD BROKE really got Sudsy Malone’s fired up for BYZANTINE, who were up next as headliners. During the song “The False Prophet”, which is about that Waco Texas guy, it was a show~stopping performance….literally!!! A small contained riot in the mosh~pit broke out and the band had to stop playing while security had to toss-out the whacko (who was probably drunkified on all that Jager that flowed) who just didn’t know how to play well with others. I don’t know but I thought a mosh~pit was meant to be hard~hitting friendly fun (key word here is friendly!), not try to intentionally hurt anyone. When you see a friend fall to the floor (oopps….they got caught in a mosh!), you pick ‘em back up and carry on in the circle. Once the asshole was gone, the band picked back up where they left off with the crowd cheering them on. I bet that’ll make for kick~ass entertaining television!! DEAD BROKE is sponsored by Sam Ash Music Stores and Jagermeister. That means lots of cool free swag from Jagermeister was given out all night. Sorry but you still have to pay for the shots of ice~cold Jager. DEAD BROKE has too t-shirts, stickers and best of all a CD available to purchase at their shows and online. When you’re down reading this, go click on www.myspace.com/deadbrokeohio or www.dbmetal.com and see them live again on Friday, June 30 at Sudsy Malone’s on Short Vine across from Bogart’s in Cincinnati and then on Friday, July 21 at McGuffy’s in Dayton Ohio.
As the night comes to a close, the highlight of this event was headliners BYZANTINE struck the first note and began to play intro of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” and then metal mayhem happened! They went seamlessly into their own songs, and the fans went crazy. The headbanging and moshing didn’t let up! BYZANTINE wouldn’t let it! Their music encourages fan participation. Joking with the crowd between songs makes BYZANTINE (Prosthetic Records)fan accessible. BYZANTINE set included songs “Serpent”, “Red Neck Wars”, “Five Fares”, “Justica”, “Jeremiad” and ended with “Stick”. BYZANTINE is signed to Prosthetic Records and they call Charleston West Virginia home. You have the distinct vocals of “OJ” who also tackles a tastey rhythm guitar, getting all the low~end out in your face with an attitude is bassist and equally brutal vocals “Skip”, shredding strings off the neck is lead/rhythm guitarist “Tony” and rounding out the music with fierce stick slapping, skin pounding is drummer/percussionist “Wolfe”. To hear snippets of audio and sneak peeks at their videos, visit them online at www.myspace/byzantine or www.byzantinemusic.net . Their video “Jeremiad” will appear on the “Sounds Of The Underground” CD/DVD June 27, 2006. Be sure to get this limited~edition collector’s item. Also on this collective effort is IN FLAMES, CANNIBAL CORPSE, TRIVIUM, GWAR, UNEARTH, ALL THAT REMAINS and AS I LAY DYING to name a few.
So take notes here about what a well advertised show can do for your club. Capacity crowd from beginning to end, lots of band merchandise sold, great bar sales.
Keep It Metal everyone! Today’s local favorite bands are the metal stars of tomorrow. Until the next full moon……keep your lyrics dark and your music brutal. \m/ \m/