Originally published on December 2010
On November 19th, I had the opportunity to see the band Blackened 'live' at 115 Bourbon Street in the south suburbs of Chicago. The band, made up by John Dent on lead vocals/rhythm guitar, Jim Snedeker on lead guitar, Justin Welsh on bass/background vocals and Vince Ochwat on drums, performs the music of Metallica and is one of the most popular and top-drawing tribute acts in Chicagoland.
One important "tidbit" of information that I wasn't aware of prior to meeting the guys, is the fact that even though Blackened is a cover/tribute band, they also write original material. Their material is heavy, well-written and very influenced by the music of a certain San Francisco metal band, which is not a shocker given what they do. They currently have a 4-song demo and plans to record and release an album in the near future. I'll pass on information on that as it becomes available.
One important "tidbit" of information that I wasn't aware of prior to meeting the guys, is the fact that even though Blackened is a cover/tribute band, they also write original material. Their material is heavy, well-written and very influenced by the music of a certain San Francisco metal band, which is not a shocker given what they do. They currently have a 4-song demo and plans to record and release an album in the near future. I'll pass on information on that as it becomes available.
In regards to tonight's show, after a performance by the local act Imperial DLX and an outstanding 'breaking-of-the-ice' by the Los Angeles area AC/DC tribute 'Bon Fire', the house lights went down and the sounds of 'The Ecstacy of Gold' (an intro song used by Metallica at their shows for years) filled the room as the band's name & logo flashed across giant screens on each side of the stage, along with loud cheers and anticipation for the band which by now, seemed to have been growing by the second. As it ended with a brief pause, the band launched into Enter Sandman and followed it with an onslaught of Metallica hits which included songs from the band's entire repertoire such as 'Whiplash', 'Jump In The Fire' & 'Metal Militia' from the Kill 'Em All album thru 'Fade To Black' 'Creeping Death' & 'Fight Fire With Fire' from 1984's Ride The Lightning, and also 'Battery', 'Sanitarium' & the title track off the 1986 Master of Puppets album, covering the band's "classic" era. In addition to those, they also performed 'Wherever I May Roam' & 'Harvester of Sorrow' among others from the hit Black album, as well as numerous tracks released in the 90s thru the band's latest Death Magnetic album. | 
Opening act BONFIRE from Los Angeles, CA
LIVE onstage (Nov 2010) |
From my perspective, the band has gone thru quite some effort to not so much re-create a Metallica show, but to present a show that was worth being called a tribute and that includes cool show elements like smoke & confetti cannons, snowfall when they played 'Trapped Under Ice', among other things that not only look good from a professional standpoint, but are entertaining and when combined with good, skilled musicianship, can take the audience -as they did in this case- to what I like to call rock 'n' roll fantasyland and allowed them to forget about the economy, jobs or other negative things that bog them down all week long and just have fun. The band played their hearts out and were repeatedly rewarded with loud cheers by the very large crowd that came to see them that night. People sang along, pumped their fists in the air, a guy even proposed to his girlfriend and were serenaded by the band afterwards with 'Nothing Else Matters' (I think she said yes...). The band was also joined onstage by one of the guitarists from Bon Fire for a few songs towards the end of the night. At 2:30 AM, as I was walking out the door, the band was still pluggin' along with a huge crowd that was still alive and kickin'.
All in all, it was a great evening of music and good entertainment. Other than some timing issues on a few songs, which I suspect monitoring was to blame, Blackened did a good job and the band is most definitely a force to be reckoned with in the Chicago tribute band market. I think most metal & rock fans will enjoy their show and I definitely recommend them.
For additional information on the band, upcoming shows and news regarding their original material, visit them online at chicagoblackened.com or visit them on Facebook.
I now leave you with some photos from the show. Enjoy and see you next time!
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