On May 15th VanMusic held its first metal show with Fuse Breaker, Magnus Rising and Sinister Black at Pat’s Pub.

Holy Metal!  What a show.  Fuse Breaker is a new band for guitar guru Chris Thomas, while this was Fuse Breaker’s second show it was Chris’ 179th.  Chris Thomas has got to be one of the premiere guitar players in the city, if you haven’t seen him live you should.  He puts every ounce of sweat into his guitar and releases intense crisp melodies as smoke rings rise  from his fingers.  Dave Schroeder and Dan Thomas played their asses off and lay down a nice canvas for Chris to let loose on. Make sure you check out myspace.com/fusebreaker for Elastic live from the show.

Magnus Rising are quickly becoming one of Vancouver’s most popular and soon to be huge bands.  I’ve been wearing their t-shirt for two days, maybe I shouldn’t admit that, but hell, they’re that good.  Their loyal fans alone show you how much these guys rock.  Aaron Hawkins’ vocals are clean and tight, he brings a massive stage presence to the band which is already filled with charisma.

Sinister Black have been burning up the metal scene in Vancouver for five years and they didn’t disappoint at Pat’s Pub.  Wayne Powell’s guitar grinds as his voice growls note after note of metal fury with songs like Plug and Junior Mint.  I’m stoked that I was at this show as sinister Black is taking a break for a while.  Life throws people challenges and because of that The metal scene in Vancouver will be a little more quiet without Sinister Black.  Metal fans need to demand that they return to the stage as this three piece has become an iconic mainstay of Vancouver metal.

All in all the music was great the people were amazing and the venue…  I have to be honest, its a little out of the way and you might not want to take your girlfriend to that neighborhood, but the $4 Pat’s Classic Lager which is brewed on site and their super lucky Keno board balances it all out.

Thanks to all the bands.  And thanks to all the people who support local, live independent music.  YOU keep the scene alive.