Seventh Calling LIVE!
June 5, 2010 at The Hideout, Omaha, Neb.
by Derric Miller
Staff Writer
There are a number of excessively talented bands out there going against the grain of all that is Modern Rock and Metal, and bringing it back old school. They are doing it for the sheer love of music, and popularity be damned. Sure, bands like Avenged Sevenfold and Sevendust are all the rage, today, but when you listen to the music created by bands like White Wizzard, Pharoah, Cauldron, and another band with a “seven” in it like Seventh Calling, you can feel that Metal is going to stop being antiseptic and unabashedly corporate sometime soon. And it’s because of bands like Seventh Calling this is inevitably going to happen …
Seventh Calling blew through Omaha, Neb. June 5, in the midst of their cross-country tour pushing their brand new studio release, Epidemic, out on Heaven & Hell Records. For those lucky enough to catch them at The Hideout, a small but inordinately METAL venue, you not only would have witnessed a juggernaut on the rise, but they also came with another band hellbent on saving Metal from itself, the gents of Widow from North Carolina.
The opening band, a local group called Lords of Steel, unassumingly took the stage first. Their set consisted of raw, unpolished songs that rocked the smallish crowd, and everyone in the club had their ears set on fire by the unlimited range of singer Warren Curry. At times, he sounded like Geoff Tate and Michael Kiske of 20-plus years ago, and other times, his less soaring moments still pushed through with a Dickinson-like power. No, he wasn’t anywhere near the class of these singers who are surely the legends he looks up to, yet. But the talent is obvious. With a skilled, mohawk-wielding guitarist in Jeff Decker, and a surprisingly potent rhythm section, if Lords of Steel find their niche and continue to develop it, they might be on to something. (http://www.myspace.com/wearethelordsofsteel)
Up next was Cruz Del Sur recording act Widow, and they wasted approximately zero seconds in showing the crowd what a Metal band is supposed to sound like. Guitarist Chris Bennett is one of those effortless technicians, although he probably wouldn’t admit it. With the lead singer John Wooten IV off to the right of the stage, and the tall bald bassist Michael Wooten dead center, Widow lets you know from the get-go they will do whatever the hell they want … but certainly hope you enjoy it. Widow ripped it up with songs like “The Pleasure of Exorcism” and “Angel Sin,” and also ended their set with an ode to the fallen legend, Dio. This is the way Metal is meant to be played. If Widow is playing anywhere near you, you’d be a dolt to miss them live. The band also has a deluxe reissue out soon called Midnight Strikes … Twice and a new album in the works as well. (http://www.myspace.com/widow ) 
Seventh Calling closed the night, and they are a more testosterone-driven version of the bands before them. Seventh Calling slides back and forth between Classic Metal and Thrash Metal, and do it with such ease you aren’t always aware what just happened. These guys are tight; their live set sounds exactly like their studio recordings, unless they change it up on purpose. Hearing rabid tracks like “Paid in Blood” and the epic “Beyond (The Wicked Lies)” live was beyond impressive. The title track to the new CD “Epidemic” was another one of those thrash-tinged compositions that made you think that maybe if Metal Church and Megadeth wrote a song together, it’d end up sounding exactly like Seventh Calling. They even closed with a shout out to lead singer/guitarist Steve Handel’s vocal hero, the late David Wayne, and then tore up their version of the song “Metal Church.” Seventh Calling is a guitarhead’s dream, with solos and leads blazing throughout every song, and the demon-throated Handel is a force on the mic as well. Pick up their new album now. (http://www.myspace.com/seventhcalling )
With this much talent playing at such a humble venue, it does beg the question … where the hell are all the Metal fans? So you missed them all in Omaha, but Seventh Calling is heading out east, so check their itinerary and make it to a show. When bands like Widow and Seventh Calling are playing, you get the price of admission (and a great drunk) paid back a hundred times over.