Slim’s // San Francisco, CA // January 8
How do you go about reviewing an anniversary show of a band that claims to be “The Greatest Band of All Time”? That statement and especially the fact that they made such an assertion tells you about the attitude of the band. Everything they do is harder, louder and bigger. There are no apologies, no shyness; just balls to the walls attitude to make music and entertain.
Boy, did these guys entertain! Slim’s was sold out and most of the audience arrived in full combat gear, faces painted. The show was like a tidal wave of distortion kicking your teeth in. The band was all over each other on stage, moving what they could and posing in heroic stances for the audience. That’s the least you can expect with eight members on full patrol. As if that wasn’t enough, lead singer Holz Holzfeuer invited the whole mosh pit on to join as backup on “True Lies.” He was very concerned about the well being of the fans; he asked everyone to check on their neighbor by grabbing their gluteus maximus. If there was a reaction, everything was cool.
ArnoCorps told the heroic stories of Austrian Alpine communities through songs like “Total Recall,” “Terminator” and “Predator,” set to high intensity hardcore/trash. Three guitars and three basses sounded unbelievably great played live while the heroic drumming of Gellend Adler kept everyone marching in the same stride. The advantage of so many musicians on stage is that you can always take a sip of your favorite protein drink or have a chat with the cute girl in the front row and the music doesn’t stop. Holz is on mission to right the wrongs that Hollywood has done to the stories and puts in an awesome performance singing, shouting and growling the stories like they were told for centuries. The show is definitely worth checking out if you can. Stay ballsy!
-Miikka Skaffari