Golden Gods Tour | April 16, 2014

The Revolver Golden Gods Tour kicked off on a drizzly Thursday night at Seattle’s Showbox SODO. With Black Label Society headlining with support from Devil You Know and Butcher Babies, the dedicated fans of the Seattle Chapter of the Order of the Black lined up early out front for that coveted spot up front.

Butcher Babies kicked off their set promptly at 8 pm and front-women Heidi and Carla worked their asses off to successfully win over the local crowd during their short but tight set.

In the direct support slot was Devil You Know. Never heard of them? Well you will soon. Featuring former Killswitch Engage frontman Howard Jones on vocals along with Francesco Artusato (guitar), John Sankey (drums), Ryan Wombacher (bass) and Roy Lev-Ari (guitar), Devil You Know hasn’t even released their first record yet (The Beauty of Destruction out 4/29/2014).  And while the crowd may not have known the songs nor recognized Jones in the dim haze of the stage lighting, the vocals were distinctive and the music infectious.  Within no time at all, the Showbox was in an uproar.

For their part, the members of Devil You Know were clearly happy to be out on the road, in particular Jones who was all-smiles and cracking jokes throughout their set, at one point referring to BLS as “Me Label Society … because I’m black.”  Featuring powerful melodic vocals and heaving riff-laden guitars, there’s no doubt that the timing of this tour relative to their album release couldn’t have come at a better time.  Look forward to checking out the new disc next week!

Given the number of Black Label Society back patches in the room, the reaction from the crowd when the stage crew hoisted a giant BLS curtain in front of the stage shortly after Devil You Know wrapped came as no surprise. Those massive dudes from the Seattle Chapter who were lined up in the rain waiting for the doors to open were now up front and ready to rock. The crew made quick work of the set change and when the curtain dropped shortly shortly before their 10:00 pm start time revealing Zakk standing in front of stacks of Marshall amps, the fists went into the air and the room got loud.

Eschewing the small talk and pleasantries, the band dove right into the set.  With a new album of their own (Catacombs Of The Black Vatican) having been released only a week prior, it was no surprise to find the setlist sprinkled with new material (e.g. My Dying Time) among the classics.  30 minutes in came the much-anticipated guitar solo.  Their aren’t many people on this planet that can pull off an eight minutes solo, but just when you thought it was over, Zakk would sidle down to the other end of the stage and start ripping again. You could almost see the smoke coming off of the fret board.

Short on words, Zakk let the music do the talking only only paused around the 40 minute mark to introduce the band … “Seattle, can you dig it?”  Oh yes, Seattle dug very much though the shout-out to the 2014 Super Bowl champs seemed to get the loudest cheer of the night.

The Golden Gods Tour heads East and then South before looping back to the West Coast where it wraps up in Los Angeles on June 7. You can check here for remaining dates of the tour.

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