Reanimator 3rd Birthday Party - Bristol Pear - Saturday 15th March

On paper a special gig. Five of the Reanimator crew's favourite bands on one bill for a fiver. Could reality live up to the dream billing?

Battlewitch had the honour of starting things off. Thanks to Maz for the CD - cheers fella! Difficult to sum up really, they incorporate just about every rock/metal cliche into their set and pull it off (oo-er!!) effortlessly. Classic/power metal meets battle metal would be close but, by the same token, too simplistic. Hugely enjoyable they make one hell of a din for a three piece plus vocalist. Setlist tonight was "Heathen", "Talisman" (trust me you won't forget this one - at least 40 airings of the song title within its confines!!), "Reptilicus", ""Merlin's Riff", "Plague Of Chaos" and "Do Or Die". Great start to the night from a band who play tongue in cheek metal and enjoy it immensely.

Dark Forest. Surprising in two ways. Firstly they appeared to have changed style to a thrash/folk fusion outfit. Secondly, Billy from the Reanimator crew was on stage for them and playing a very intricate set on his five string bass. Setlist tells me they played "Wizard", "Badon" (??), "Dyed In Crimson", "Pipes Of Pan", "Dark Forest" and "Fight For Metal." Excellent set which was lapped up by an increasingly energetic crowd.

Seregon. The vocalist, James, is very close to being clinically insane and thankfully a very good frontman as well! Their music is in the zone between thrash and death metal and incredibly brutal. The setlist appears to have been written in hieroglyphics, but it's pointless anyway. Half an hour or so of savagery was more than enough to satisfy the pit.

It appears I may have stirred up a hornet's nest with my review of Hospital Of Death's self-released debut CD. Having chatted with all the band members it would appear I am still welcome to review their studio and live output however. Which is just as well, because tonight they were awesome. "Down That Hatch" (sadly missing the Casualty intro!) got the set underway and the crowd were theirs from the off. "Eyezabeams Of Osiris", "Fear The Ambulance", "Transformers"!!, "I Am A Tiger", "Kicked To The Kerb" (wow what a song!) and "White The Lightning" completed things before they returned for a riotous version of "Death Shed". I was serious when I suggested a death metal remix of Postman Pat for the next album; oddly enough live it may just work.... (and I will do the vocals if necessary hint, hint..). By the way what was going on with the fire alarm?

And so the scene was set for Gama Bomb to complete the annihilation, which they did brutally and effortlessly (well as effortless as it can be when you play thrash this quickly!). Had reasonable chats with both Joe (bass) and Paul (drums) who talked me through their setlist. "Sentence To Thrash" got things underway and they then pummelled their way through "Evil Voices", "Steel Teeth", " Time Crime", " Atomizer", "Hammer Slammer", "Zombie Kommand", "General Zod", "O.C.P.", "Scientists", "Global Warming" before the encore "Zombie Blood Nightmare" concluded the evening. Thrash metal is reborn and their next album will inevitably catapault them ever closer to the summit of this genre.

Happy Birthday Reanimator! Another staggering evening put together by the crew - thanks guys!! Awesome line-up of bands gave their all and delivered a truly stunning gig. So how do you follow this in April fellas??!!