On Thursday, February 9th 2017, a night of heavy metal music awaited. I ventured to Hamtramck, Michigan, a town just outside of Detroit. The venue is called Small’s; a place I’ve never been to. The club is small and the lighting is lacking, which surely tested the limits of my camera. But with five bands, the night was full of kick-ass music.
Starting the evening off was Tyrant – a group based out of Lansing, Michigan who provided the crowd with speedy guitar playing and ominous sounds that set the mood for the rest of the night. The next band on stage, another local act, who hails from Detroit; Euphoria, who you would’ve thought was the headliner had you just walked into the club and seen how active the crowd was. The moshing only intensified from when the first band performed.
The name of the venue rings true to the size of the place. When a circle pit breaks out, you’re pretty much off into the corners should you not partake in the moshing activities. It was clear as day that Euphoria had a lot of support from fans, even to the point where a fan got up stage to stage-dive. A lot of energy was exerted from the band and fans alike for some intense action.
Extinction A.D. hit the stage next with fury. The crowd was spent from Euphoria’s set, after a about four songs, lead singer Rick Jimenez addressed the crowd saying, “enough of this horseshoe space in front of the stage. Move up!” The crowd did as ask and when the music started again, the energy in the room began to rise once again as the moshing and headbanging commenced as this band out of Long Island, New York thrashed through the rest of their set.
Exmortus who hails from Whittier, California brought the riffs and beats that got the crowd back into a frenzy all over again. A combination of thrash and death metal is a perfect recipe to create a moshpit, which Exmortus executed with precision.
Headlining the night was Havok, as this is named the ‘Conformicide’ tour which is in support of their latest album by the same name to be released on March 10th. The four-piece out of Denver, Colorado has thrash metal down to a tee. You can hear the old-school thrash influences this band grew up on. It’s reassuring to witness younger generations continuing the genre of thrash metal. Even nearing midnight, the crowd was into it just as much as when the first band went on. Hair-whipping, crowd-moshing and foot-stomping were aplenty as Havok played.
It was a long day that led into a long night of heavy metal thrashing. It took me a couple times around the block to find a parking spot, but Small’s is a nice place to catch a show. The lighting seemed to get darker with each band which gave my photos a grainy look. But in a way, that depicted the type of mood the music was all about that night. Several fans left sweaty and bruised, but we all had a good time. Tonight was a testament that heavy metal will continue for years. Rock on!
Also check out our Photo Gallery of the gig here!