Steel Prophet

Mark

Not blessed, or merciful
Apr 11, 2001
7,134
74
48
Sarf Lundin, Innit
STEEL PROPHET
July 8, The Dragonfly, Hollywood, CA
By Rodrigo


On Sunday July 8 at the Dragonfly in Hollywood I was able to attend the Steel Prophet Book of the Dead release party. The doors opened at 7 and we got there right on time but we were one of the first people to arrive. But our early arrival time enabled us to see Onward work on their sound check which was kind of cool. Eventually, as the time grew closer for Onward to kick off the night more people started showing up. I was highly looking forward to watching Onward live and they did not disappoint me. Toby Knapp was cool and in control of his guitar playing with no problems whatsoever. Michael Grant was really impressive and I consider him a great vocalist. I actually got to meet him and chat with him for a little while after they were done playing and he was a very friendly down to earth guy. The thing that I found interesting is that bassist Randy LaFrance wasn’t there instead it was another bassist who unfortunately I can’t remember what his name was. Onward played songs like "Witches Winter Eternal", "The Kindness of Strangers" (they cut it short, they didn’t play the long instrumental of the end), and "The Waterfall Enchantress". It was a very good show and unfortunately they had to cut it short, a scenario that played itself the entire night.

New Eden played next and I had no clue who they were or what kind of music they played. The singer’s voice kind of bothered me because at times he sounded like James Rivera of Destiny’s End who I just don’t like at all. The music was pretty good heavy metal but nothing really impressive. Cage was the next band and they were really impressive. I had heard of them but never heard any of their music. They played with a lot of power and it was loud. The drummer totally impressed me with the huge sound that was coming out of his drum kit. Musically, Cage plays melodic power metal band and they are good. Some of the songs that I enjoyed were "Astrology" and "The Final Solution". Unfortunately, I didn’t have any spare cash to buy one of their albums but I will look out for them.

After Cage followed Order of the Illuminati which most of you may know them as Agent Steel. The name change is due to the fact that ex-singer Jon Cyriis is hassling the band about its use. I also noticed that drummer Chuck Profus wasn’t there and I later found out that he is no longer part of the band because Chuck quit. The new drummer is Rigo Amezcua. I had previously seen Order of the Illuminati when they played with Armored Saint at The Whiskey a year ago. I really enjoyed them and I immediately bought their latest CD Omega Conspiracy. For whatever reason after enjoying that album for so long I got bored of it. The band put on a great show and has rekindled my interest for them. A couple of songs that I remembered they played included "Know Your Master" and "Illuminati is Machine". There were plenty of people head banging and singing along to the songs they played and Bruce really has a commanding presence. I also really enjoy the guitar playing of Juan and Bernie, they make a great team.

So it was finally time for Steel Prophet to play and they also did a great job. I especially like the energy that bassist Vince Dennis and guitarist Steve Kachinksy displayed. They were both jumping up and down and acting really crazy and into it. Vince even cut his forehead and blood was dripping but he kept on playing. They started with "The Ides of March" from Messiah and a couple of more songs from that album. From Book of the Dead, they only played "When Six was Nine" if I remember correctly. I wish they would have played more of that album but I guess they didn’t want to since in between sets the album was being played over and over on the club stereo. They also played for about a half and hour and I wish they could have played longer especially since they were the main band of the night. Never the less they definitely entertained and they struck me as a great live band.

After Steel Prophet played some of the band members decided to play covers. Bruce from Order of the Illuminati and Rick from Steel Prophet were the ones taking charge and asking musicians to help them out. They played "Breaking the Law", Michael of Onward sang lead on "Man on a Silver Mountain", they also did "Wrathchild" with the bassist of New Eden handling the bass duties and doing a great job. I only wish I could remember her name to give her proper credit. They played more songs and everyone was having a great time. At one point Bruce mentioned that he had no more drink tickets and he had no money to buy any more beer and he wasn’t even drunk yet. It was really quite hilarious and luckily for him someone handed him a drink. Overall, it was a very fun night with a great bands playing.