Metal music fans showed up on a Tuesday night at The Machine Shop in Flint, Michigan and four bands gave the crowd a weekend feel as they rocked the house. Red Tide Rising took to the stage first. With mask covering their faces early into their set, they looked like characters from a Mad Max story. The music was hard and heavy and could easily be the soundtrack to an apocalyptic world.
Hitting the stage next was 9 Electric, based out of Hollywood, California and fresh off their debut album release of,‘The Damaged Ones’, 9 Electric now has something to support as they tour. Lead guitarist Mikey Lopez is proud of the album and told me that having an album does add pressure, but it’s a good motivation type of pressure that keeps you driving forward. I’ve seen this band three times over the past year and they never disappoint. Micah Electric on drums shows his humor at times, CaseyDC on bass is the stoic one. Lead singer Ron Underwood aka, Thunderwood, is a ball of energy who electrifies the crowd as he is bouncing everywhere and even hanging from the rafters. It’s always a good time to see 9 Electric perform. The energy they deliver is infectious.
Gemini Syndrome followed and captivated the audience with stellar vocals by lead singer Aaron Nordstrom, his white dreadlocks helped draw attention as well. The music was turbo charged and got the crowd pumped. With recent album release ‘Memento Mori’, Gemini Syndrome is moving full steam ahead with Brian Steele Medina on drums, Alessandro Paveri on bass and two recent additions on guitars Daniel Sahagun and Charles Lee Salvaggio. As interesting as some of these guys look, I look forward to continued success musically from these guys.
Headlining the evening was Drowning Pool. The crowd was immediately in tune with the band as lead singer Jasen Moreno led the charge. Moreno, having filled in on bass guitar with Red Tide Rising showed no signs of fatigue. With C. J. Pierce on guitar, Mike Luce on drums and Steve Benton on bass, the music was tight and well received. Playing songs off their latest album, ‘Hellelujah’, showed they still are dedicated to hard heavy rock, along with older material, which got the crowd even more active and brought about some moshing action. Singing the classic lyrics “The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire” always gets attention and elicits folks to sing along. An epic song had an epic ending as members of each of the other bands came up to sing along to the song “Bodies”. The crowd was at a fever pitch as that catchy beat rang out causing everyone to hop along.
All of these bands delivered a healthy dose of heavy metal for all of the fans in attendance. Why wait for the weekend when you can get your rock on, on a Tuesday? Any day you can enjoy a good rock show is a day worth living. Rock On, my friends.