If you think having a heavy metal show on a week night is a bad idea, well think again people! Given the right bands, the right venue and the right amount of headbanging fanatics, you might find yourself experiencing an all around great show. Such was the case this past Wednesday night in San Francisco at Thee Parkside where Night Demon along with Blood Star and Space Vacation, put on one monumental show for the ravenous Bay Area metal community.
After being quite busy over in Europe since the release of their second full-length album, “Darkness Remains,” Night Demon finally was gearing up for a North America tour. The last time I saw the band perform live was around 2016 in Sacramento when they were touring with Ghoul, Crowbar and Carcass. Kicking off their North American tour in San Francisco seemed to be the most optimal place and the fans showed up in full metal force at Thee Parkside.
Opening the show was Space Vacation, a local SF Bay Area band I had seen once before in Petaluma a few years back. These guys are all skilled musicians and they definitely know how to offer up that classic hard rock/NWOBHM sound with plenty of sweet sounding guitar riffs and bombastic ear pounding rhythms. Drummer Eli Lucas is a true maniac behind the kit and plays with great personality as he smashes his way around the cymbals and snares. Lead guitarist Kiyo Morgan shreds like a madman with true precision and is an amazing showman when executing his lead parts. Singer/guitarist Scott Shapiro has a strong voice which stands out especially during each song’s chorus section. Bassist Steve Hays handles the low end with crushing force and his ability to inject some extra force into each riff section does not go unnoticed. Fans seemed to be really digging their songs, so Space Vacation started night off right and was a solid choice as the opening act.
After Space Vacation finished their set the next band, Blood Star, began setting up. I tried looking them up when Night Demon announced the tour and listed Blood Star as their main support. This band seems to be fairly new, however, I can honestly say that their stage presence and ability to perform did not seem that way. Their entire sound was tight and reminded me of that classic early eighties period in metal where the riffs are heavy yet the music is extremely catchy. Also, the band had these large black banners with their band logo and even had smoke machines, which I thought were great visuals to add to their performance. In the end, the singer really blew me away with her powerful voice and confident stage presence. I also thought the band’s sole guitarist offered up some tasty leads and hard hitting classic sounding metal riffs. I’m looking forward to hopefully an album from this band, because their live sound did not disappoint.
As soon as Blood Star concluded their set to a thunderous applause, Night Demon started setting up the stage for their metal assault. Once the lights dimmed and the band took their positions waiting to break into the opening song, the entire audience was making noise and showing their support for the Venture, CA trio. The band opened their set with, “Welcome to the Night,” and set the tone for an overall thrilling performance by bringing tremendous amounts of energy. Singer and bassist Jarvis Leatherby displayed his exceptional skills as the band’s frontman by constantly giving one hundred percent during each song. Guitarist Armand John Anthony played with precision while cranking out some wicked sounding riffs and solos. Adding an extra boost of seismic force, drummer Dusty Squires was locked into each song and did not miss a single beat. All around, the musicianship just did not disappoint and all three musicians worked extremely well together to produce such a tight sound.
The band’s set consisted of material from “Darkness Remains,” “Curse of the Damned” which is the band’s first album and a few from the band’s debut self-titled EP. They also added a powerful and epic cover of, “In Trance,” by Scorpions. I was really excited to hear them perform songs like, “Save Me Now” and “Full Speed Ahead,” since those are two of my favorite songs off the first album. During the song, “The Chalice,” the band’s mascot Rocky appeared holding a goblet and received a major pop from the audience. They finished with their self-titled song and the place was still erupting even after a feverous set of songs.
At the end of the night, all three bands put on one brilliant overall show, so everyone walked away satisfied and with their ears ringing. This is what heavy metal is all about and to see so many passionate metal fans show up is a testament to the longevity and loyalty within the heavy metal community. I think Night Demon is one of the most driven and hard working bands around. Their performance once again proved that they are true professionals that keep waving the flag for metal. Also, Space Vacation and Blood Star are two promising acts that I hope to see around more, because both bands know how to write some killer heavy metal jams. In conclusion, I am extremely optimistic about metal’s future as the fury just won’t die and we have plenty of bands and fans to keep the power and glory of metal moving forward.
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