It was a cold Saturday night in Dunellen, NJ and the club, Roxy N’ Dukes was filled for a WSOU radio “Street Patrol” show. We got there a bit late but still in time to see the main headliner WRATH OF KILLENSTEIN. WOK hit the smoked filled stage at 10:50 and as they were tuning up ready to play they cleared the place, I mean literally, the smoke machines set off the fire alarms and the place had to be clear for the fire marshal to inspect the venue to make sure there were no fires. It was about a thirty minute wait before fans were let back in. WOK really set the tone for the night but for me the mood was lost because the band really couldn’t put their full stage show on and that was a disappointment. The troopers that they are, they put 100% into their set but you can see there was still disappointed within the band.
Not holding back the band still played their entire set of twelve songs opening with an intro that ran into “Demoniaxted”. For me WOK is a band set for a bigger venue. Roxy N’ Dukes is a great club but with the stage show WOK possesses they really need to be presented on a bigger stage for fans to get the full effect of the show. Having said that, I still loved every minute of seeing a band like WOK in a small venue. In watching WOK the song structure tells the story of the evil that Killenstein brings to the fans. The music is raw yet effective and brings hell into your life in a concert setting. The music is dark yet exciting especially when you get the full vibe of the music and the bands objective to bring life to the unknown. Songs like “Raptus” are a mainstay and a phenomenal song as with “Fuckinstein”. Another amazing song was their latest video “Ugly” that features some killer guitar work by Steve Irons (yeah the same Steve Irons from CIRCLE OF THORNS and CARNIVAL OF SOULS). WOK included two covers that gave a jolt to the system and were done to perfection, “Electric Funeral” (BLACK SABBATH) and “Wrathchild” (IRON MAIDEN) sounded great. John “Servo” DeSalvo is a monster behind the kit and bass master Krohm brought the thunder which added depth.
I was told something special was going to be added after the song “Whorella” but that never happened. It’s understandable if it was going to be some stage effects and the fire marshals were there already so they didn’t chance it. The night ended with my favorite track “Igniisis Dance” (and more problems with Killenstein’s guitar strap!).
Regardless of all the issues throughout the night it had no effect on the music that was brought to the stage in the name of EVIL. It did however affect their stage show but with being veterans of the industry they still managed to give the fans their money’s worth with great music. My hats off to WOK and for not cutting any songs off their set list on this night as they were still amazing!
WRATH OF KILLENSTEIN has been added to the line-up for Spring Stampede April 27th, 2013 in White Marsh, MD at The House of Rock… Tickets can be purchased at
www.showclick.com
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