Tuesday the first of May was the first time for me (Mindsaver) to visit the rebuilded large hall of Amsterdams venue the Melkweg. Must say that it looked great! Together with Sledgehammer Messiah and Buzzin Hornet I went to check out three different bands, one being known for ages (Annihilator), one being a true hype since a few years (Trivium), and a newcomer (Sanctity).

Sanctity has just released its debut on Roadrunner Records and are opening up at Trivium’s headline tour, who got the band under the attention of the label. Last year they were on Dave Mustaine’s Gigantour so stage experience was to be expected and they fully redeemed that promise. Their modern thrash sounded very well due to their tightness and already got the audience pretty stoked with their good performance. Especially guitar player Zeff Childress impressed me with his convincing solos but I must say that I still can’t appreciate Jared’s caveman vocals and he didn’t reache that awesome high heavy metal note in ‘Beneath the Machine’. Though, overall these guys did a pretty good job! (Sledgehammer Messiah)

Then it was time for the band which in many people’s view should have been the headliner of tonight: Annihilator. It’s obvious that they have earned their stars way more than the two other bands playing tonight combined, but of course the band that sells the most nowadays gets the main slot. However it wasn’t the most active and grotesque show of the night, Annihilator sure played the most impressive show with Jeff Waters showing off his great virtuosity in some new songs, but naturally the audience was mainly craving for those good classics such as ‘Never, Neverland’ and ‘Alison Hell’. Guitar player Corey Beaulieu of Trivium came to play a song along and also Jared of Sanctity came on stage to sing a song, but thereby proved that Dave Padden has a way better voice at his disposal. Dave, wow, what a great singer! It was really hard to discover a false note in his classic high vocals. The young audience also seemed to appreciate Annihilator’s effort, but it would become clear that Trivium was the band most people came for tonight. (Sledgehammer Messiah)

Trivium. I became a fan of this band after Ascendancy came out, and also Embers To Inferno made a lot of spins in my cd-player. Until this day in October 2005, when I saw them on stage as support act of Arch Enemy. Damn it was horrible! I can’t remember the quality of the sound, but the whole act... man it sucked. Asking all kind of things from the audience like jumping, waving, starting pits, showing devilhorns etcetera, and in the end showing them unsatisfactory signs in reverse, no, then you’re not worth becoming that big band that you wanna be. When The Crusade released in 2006 I didn´t even check it out because I was so done with this band.

Currently we live in the year 2007, the year in which everything is possible! So when I heard about Trivium playing in Amsterdam, I thought about going again, giving them a new chance. With this positive state of mind I must confess that I witnessed a very cool show! The tension-building intro took a little bit too long, but then hell was unleashed and a huge pit was formed, Trivium truly was able to convince me. They didn’t have to ask the attending metalheads to do things making them look popular, Trivium just played kicked ass which culminated in an energetic show for both the long hair dudes on stage as well as for the fans. Songs of all of their three albums passed by during their 80-minutes long set. I’m not good in titles anymore, but I remember that 'Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr' was very well regaled by the public. Only complaining note I can make was the extreme loud bass which sometimes seriously hurt my ears. Conclusion of tonight: Trivium did something good for me and made it a pleasant workday. Will surely check them out the next time too. (Mindsaver)