Please leave it to my first major show of 2025, a tri-headed Cerberus billing, to drop an ultimate night of three spectacular bands before my eyes. Do you know what is not metal? Waiting in line. Do you know what IS? Kerry King and Phil Demmel hammering roofing nail-sized thrash riffs into your skull while Municipal Waste and Alien Weaponry summon fine support aiding the pummeling. Yes! It was three bands for the price of one, providing some blazing fast, mosh-inducing metal antics for a sold-out night at Irving Plaza on 02/07! About twelve hundred excited and wild thrashers participated in the demolition. I was one of them!
I arrived in the city with ample time for an early dinner at my favorite East Village eatery, Paul’s Da Burger Joint, to revel in the beast of an Eastsider Burger. My side order of Linda’s grilled chicken salad was also filling. If you ever visit New York, I suggest dining at Paul’s. Having an hour to spare before doors opened at 6:00 PM, I arrived at a charged line full featuring a wide array of generational metal fans from Gen X to the elder millennials and even some Zoomers in the crowd. As it appeared to be taking forever for the doors to open, they eventually did as the winter sun was setting around six, and those who braved the elements entered the venue to pre-game and thaw with some spirits as some watched the first band, Alien Weaponry, set up.
Hailing from a small corner of the world, New Zealand’s Alien Weaponry projected a half-hour of inspiration from their Waipu culture and environmental surroundings while getting a tropical disturbance of metal combat going with five cultural accounts like Raupatu and Mau Moko. The trio of Henry, Lewis, and Tūranga presented the first major highlight of the night. Combining the groovier side of Gojira’s musical makeup and the themes of spirituality and violence penned by Max Cavalera, Alien Weaponry put on a stellar performance. Manhattan was treated to one of many rising stars of modern metal. That said, what we saw was an excellent start to the show. It was a heavy interlock with Alien Weaponry to get us in a warrior-like mindset for another round of high-speed steel with Municipal Waste.
Aw shit, here we go again! The crowd hung out to witness the toxic waltzing havoc that Municipal Waste is best known for. Municipal Waste is speedier as a headliner than playing a more condensed set. They still came out in high gear. Taking command of Irving Plaza, kicking their set off right with the blistering Sadistic Magician. Some other highlighted tracks played were Breathe Grease, You’re Cut Off, and bashing out some newcomers with Restless and Wicked. They turned in a great set of high-energy, kegger-made thrash to increase the eyewall of mosh pits and crowd surfing to give the venue security a good workout in weight training. The frenzy from the moshketeers was non-stop and increased in crucial velocity as the audience shouted, “MUNICIPAL WASTE IS GONNA FUCK YOU UP! MUNICIPAL WASTE IS GONNA FUCK YOU UP! MUNICIPAL WASTE IS GONNA FUCK YOU UP!” for the final few minutes arriving for Municipal Waste to fuck up Manhattan one more times closing with Born to Party. Manhattan broke down Irving Plaza throughout an overarching intense forty minutes of all hell now breaking loose for the arrival of Kerry King.
As if the sloshing performances from Municipal Waste and Alien Weaponry didn’t have us feeling broken-boned, we were more than ready for one more behemoth bash from Kerry King. Kerry has little to prove with this solo project. I think he’s succeeded in surrounding himself with a brilliant lineup. Kerry’s band features the screaming vocals of Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda, Kyle Sanders, the brother of Mastodon’s Troy Sanders on bass, drummer Paul Bostaph is once again behind the drum kit akin to drumming in Slayer, and the fast, furious, and tight guitar playing of Phil Demmel, of Vio-Lence, to assist Kerry in providing some fluidity in the guitar duo. This lineup reinforced the notion of Kerry performing all of his 2024 From Hell I Rise album, but out of sequence, instead of the set-list overly relying on mainly Slayer covers and a few originals.
Kerry is stepping out of Slayer’s shadow. Songs like the album opener Where I Reign, Trophies of the Tyrant, and Shrapnel can move at breakneck speed with anything Kerry wrote for Slayer. The audible assault to the ears did not let up any time soon. The originals to the Slayer songs, like Repentless and Black Magic, had the floor break out into an ongoing hell-bound cyclone only to level up into a Category Five wildfire. As soon as Paul thrashed the tom drums like a maniac to signify the audience is when the largest iron bash of the night broke out in the soundtrack to many a rebellious teen, no matter the generation, hanging on to our lives in the outer rim for two minutes and eighteen seconds – RAINING BLOOOOD – constant slam-dancing and crowd-surfing during that one. Aside from Kerry’s band highlighting five cuts of Slayer, they also paid homage to two badasses in the late Paul DiAnno and Clive Burr, that were once members of one of metal’s defining bands of inspiration, the immortal Iron Maiden. Covering the laser cut precision deep cut of Purgatory and the masterpiece title song to Killers from the same release was another zenith moment in the set.
Of course, those in the know couldn’t help but scream SLAYYYYYEEERRRRRRR at the top of their lungs. If some random asshole doesn’t scream Slayer in defiance of god, are you really at a metal show? All jokes aside, I’m sure Kerry and company felt humbled, honored, and privileged for the group’s first show in New York to be so memorable, also the first sell-out night of the tour capping off a historical night at Irving Plaza for one more searing spin out of aggression and energy in From Hell I Rise to leave a lasting impression. Between the brilliant tribal gaze in Alien Weaponry, the rip-roaring p-a-r-t-a-y in Municipal Waste, and the sunraze smash in Kerry King, all three bands simultaneously brought it!! We were glad to watch them doing their thing as the New York thrashards brought their A-game to rage in the pit.
Overall, it was one of the best shows I have been to at Irving Plaza in a long time. The gig served as a heavy slam appetizer for another gnarly year of concerts. With the states experiencing a bit more active touring around this time, this is a great billing to see if you’re looking for an overarching great night of metal mania before this tour ends next week.
Feature Image Photo Credit: Jim Louvau
