While my colleague Sledgehammer Messiah visited Vader & Co in the large hall of De Effenaar in Eindhoven at the ninth of November, I decided to go for some good old thrash metal in the small hall of the same venue. One of the fathers of Bay Area thrash metal, Exodus, was supported by Biomechanical. So horns up and let's roll!

Hailing from the U.K., Biomechanical is one of the more promising bands in the progressive/thrash genre. Razorfast playing, complex songs and varied vocals result into a hybrid of the class of Dream Theater mixed up with the riffs and agressiveness of Pantera. Vocalist John K. has no problems with high yelps or Phil Anselmo like singing. The band drowned a bit in the sound; I'm not sure if the soundman was to blame for that. Maybe a bit more tighter playing will benefit in this department. 

Exodus was well..Exodus! Even though there is only one original bandmember left (guitarist Gary Holt) they still write and play some of the best thrashmetal anthems you can think of. Paul Bostaph fits perfectly with these guys, and "new" vocalist Rob Dukes has the voice and look (the "I drink more beer than water" look) which makes him a great frontman. I prefer him over Steve Souza but that might be a personal preference. Having to admit that I'm mostly familiar with the newer material I was pleased to hear tracks like "War Is My Shephard", "Deathamphetamine" and "44 Magnum Opus". The crowd enjoyed it as well; I guess at a certain moment more than half of the venue became a pit. Excellent sound and excellent show!