I had a great night last night down at Club Fujiyama here in Okinawa Japan. The event was all about metal, bands and friends and I was stoked to be there to capture some of the madness. It was also a great chance for me to try my D3s out in some of the hardest lighting on earth!…Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stick around till the end of the event, but I did manage to capture 4 of the bands.
Hate Crown: Opening a show is probably the hardest, the pressure is on you to warm up the crowd, Hate Crown went all out and did just that…although there were a couple of guys hell bend on jumping kicking each other (what happened to simple moshing?) and I think that worked against the bands effort to get everyone up and on the dance floor…Still a solid performance from the band.
Need Lead User: Second act to the stage, Need Lead User just erupted, The crowd were still a little cold, so lead singer and guitarist Kota Sakamoto took into the crowd, riffing by the bar, climbing on tables and just driving the tempo of the room up about 3000BPM…I see these guys going places, they were engaging, energetic and charismatic and did it all with a smile.
Wrath of Eidola: Was a bit of a bitter sweet feeling when WOE took the stage; it was great to see the guys again, been too long, but it was also the last show they would do together. There was a sense of it being over in their performance, the energy level was as strong as ever, but there was a relaxed feeling to their performance, usually so tight they came across a little more punk and in the moment. Great show guys, wishing you luck for your future endeavors!
Illuminati: Unfortunately as Illuminati hit the stage, I had to be on the road home. But, the two songs I did get to watch were full contact and hard to the core! Illuminati are the real deal when it comes to growling metal; there is also an element of punk to their presence on stage, but their sound is straight out of the pits of Hades!…looking forward to seeing this band on the stage again soon.
