It’s true that almost every band, nowadays, makes a stop in Greece. Since this isn’t addressed in yesterday’s fans try to remember how many shows occurred here when Whiplash released “Power & Pain”? But even if you go a few years later you’ll still find things very poor. Even so, none of those who came to An club that Thursday night was there for some different reason than nostalgia. Actually, the main marketing point was that they would play almost all of their debut –and for most their best release- “Power & Pain” since with one Tony departed and the other passed away what kind of Whiplash was that???

After losing Versus Heaven but catching up with Released Anger I can say that they are more than decent. They play an 80s speed/thrash which I’m too bored to listen and if I want to I can find so many albums from that time. Still they have a wonderful, which lacks from most of the new artists, metal attitude, they play nice -maybe their drummer makes some mistakes but not so crucial for the output- while their material has a lot to say to the fans of this music. The sound is somewahat mediocre but they seem to enjoy that so we can say no more and move forward…

…Onto the main course Whiplash with Tony Portaro, as we already knew being the only original member left, set their sound and begin numb since the voice is low and the bond with the new members Rich Day (bass guitars) & Dave Foord (drums) is incomplete. The more they play the better the show becomes and until its end our thumbs are turned upwards. The songs they play are the ones needed for those thrash bodies to take off and fly over heads; still, the feeling of insufficiency is there in tracks by other albums when ignorance or indifference by the audience shows up. It felt like the band came back after 25 years which is untrue!


The essence of this event was mentioned above: nostalgia for the pure, raw, aggressive metal of the 80s! Lack of feeling in favor of technique in today’s acts has caused a lot of youngsters to the discovery of similar, cult heroes of the 80s. In addition, when a track starts, the drums aren’t heard yet and people are already flying in the air it’s impossible to feel untouched! My thrasher brothers the show was nice, I can’t say, but in the end I’d rather go see Swans that played the same day! So shoot me…

Whiplash Setlist:

Last Man Alive

War Monger

Spit On Your Grave

Killing On Monroe Street

Stage Dive

Spiral Of Violence

Insult To Injury

The Burning Of Atlanta

Fight or Flight

Last Nail In The Coffin

Eternal Eyes

This

Feeding Frenzy

Walk The Plank

Power Thrashing Death

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Nailed To The Cross