Most of Evil Music do not stop surprising us byВ promoting great metal concerts. This time the consecution was finished by the visit of the American metalcore monsters Pro-Pain. It is true that the chosen bands from the promoter were not the biggest metal icons and are often leaders in the underground scene, but they are always topical and succeed to make many of the well-prepared Bulgarian fans happy.

And while in the beginning of July we expect musicians on a decent age, in the evening of June 3, 2008 we saw the 16-year-old Pro-Pain, which with their uncompromisingly presence made us forget about everything within the framework of more than an hour.

They themselves forgot about their standard setlist and enlarged it a few times with a few songs, as if they wanted to squeeze our last powers out of us under the heaviness of the metal noise and… Actually I messed up myself – I began from the end… I hope that I won’t end with the beginning… Yeah, ok – not only the great musicians from New York, but three other bands blew our ears at the substitute of the Black Box – allegedly, a more tranquil and blue place called Blue Box. It was far from the notions of a club, but it turned out to be a proper venue for a metal marathon like this.

X-Core, Blasted и Zuul FX made not only a warm-up but a fire, flood and storm at the same time. Such a blasting support is a rarity – now I finally realize why Pro-Pain took the these bands in their previous tours around the world. There is a great reason for that decision and all of the brutal fans whose count was more than 500 at the Blue Box were convinced of that.

Now, in short about every band. X-Core were more than energetic on stage and gave their best, just as if they were in front of thousands of people. They mixed core with thrash, metal with other stuff – great music which made the people to fill up the place. Blasted also made a great appearance on stage – with more hardcore influences than any of the other bands. They sweat and made us sweat like it was supposed to be.

However, Zuul FX made a special impression. Not only with the giant calf of the vocalist, but mostly with their aggressive behavior and the surprisingly powerful playing on stage. It was not until their participation that I realized that maybe their two full-length albums are not accidental...

The time was around 10:30 p.m. when after a short soundcheck the stage was filled up with musicians again, but this time they were the most expected for the evening - Pro-Pain! They began at full speed and did not release the accelerator more than an hour. They were playing and playing, and playing – there wasn’t time for taking a breath. We were jumping at times together, at times on one another’s heads from song to song and from album to album.

Gary Meskil and his fine crew (machine?) gathered under the name of Pro-Pain for 16 years now broke the stories of the skeptics in pieces. I can’t tell about the time before their concert here, but now, after the show in Sofia, I’m sure that Pro-Pain have more true fans in Bulgaria. They also felt it before the end of the standard set and showed it by making it longer with more than half an hour! And the audience was really wonderful – strapping young people who made a smashing pogo and didn’t stop making jokes with the security’s patience who had the “good” intention to stop the stagediving.

It was a great concert – the smiles on everyone's faces after the show proved it. Again – great thanks to Most of Evil Music who made another dream come true! Good luck for the next show - we’ll do our best to be again in a perfect shape for it.

Report & photos:В Boyana AtanassovaВ