Megadeth erupts in hard-rock lava
METAL MANIA: Local band Theory of Hate heated up Egan Center as opening act.
By LELAND SMITH
Daily News correspondent
Published: September 6, 2007
Last Modified: September 6, 2007 at 05:03 AM
Megadeth fired nitro on all cylinders Tuesday night at the Egan Center in downtown Anchorage. The metal monsters mashed into their set with the conviction and precision of a crew of headbanging NASA engineers.
Opening with "Sleepwalker," from their latest release, "United Abominations," Megadeth doled out metal medicine to a frothing and frenetic crowd of around 2,100 people.
Founder Dave Mustaine, sporting a "flying V" guitar and basting in ego to spare, was at the top of his game, hammering at ax and vocals with the same fire that made him famous in the early '80s. The band performed incendiary new material as well as molten classics that would make Pavlof Volcano blush.
Mustaine, saying that the mark of a good band is the fact that they play in Alaska or Hawaii, screamed, "I didn't forget about you." The quartet proceeded to bash out "Wake Up Dead," "Skin of My Teeth" and "Hangar 18" to the loyal and delirious crowd.
The band also included Glen Dover on guitars, Shawn Dover on drums and James LoMenzo on bass.
Keeping up the pressure, the band closed out the mosh pit with "Eye of the Tornado" and "Peace Sells (But Who's Buying)," then encored with the tempestuous "Holy Wars."
Local metal mercenaries Theory of Hate totally ruled as they opened the show in perfect poise, pumping the crowd up to a fever pitch.
Featuring Bryan Earl on drums, Josh Hobert on guitar, Ninja Pete on guitar, Shawn Farmer on bass and Dave-O on vocals, the band gave the crowd a thorough pasting with self-penned, soon-to-be classics "Synthetic Sin," "With the Right Pain" and the meticulous "Puppets of Blood." The band simply shredded flesh.
Theory of Hate's anti-drug and anti-domestic violence messages are a refreshing, uncommon and admirable twist to the death metal genre. This is a band of talented young men that Anchorage should be proud of.
The show went off like clockwork. Hats off to Creative Lighting and Sound for delivering the best Egan sound production I have heard to date. Everyone literally had a blast.
