Photos from Waken
'Exodus,
Shrapnel, Man Must Die '
O2 Academy, Islington
Review by Matt Hill
I got to the venue earlier than expectedl and so glad I did, because I was in time to see the first support of the night, Norwich thrashers 'Shrapnel' they certainly knew how to entertain the Exodus crowd and impressed me enough to go the merch stand and buy their E.P ' No Saviours'
Next up was Man Must Die, these Glaswegian metallers were well received by the now crowded venue but didn't have the same impact as the first opener.
As 9:30pm approached it was time for Exodus to take the stage, as expected, they opened up with 'The Ballad Of Leonard And Charles' from the off the pace was set and Gary Holt & his men were delivering a full blown assault on the ears of the Islington Academy.
Throughout the show, Rob Duke would summon the fans to form circle pits as well as crowd surf to the front of the stage, many of the fans were happy to oblige, as the band played on Rob Duke could contain his enthusiasm no longer and staged dived into the pit much to the delight of the fans, feeling honoured being able to mosh with the Exodus frontman.
The Bay Area thrashers concluded the first part of the set with 'War Is My Shepherd' and swiftly returned to play a five song encore starting with Bonded By Blood running into a cover of Metallica's, 'Motorbreath', the final song of the night being 'Good Riddance' which was by no means indicative of how we were feeling as it was time for them to leave the stage !
I came away from North London feeling brusied & battered and very satisfied, Exodus achieved what they set out to deliver.
