Last Friday, the partnership Rock Classic Bar and Les Soirées Cerises Booking presented again a full-house evening of powerful riffs: Trouble Agency, a Belgian band from the ‘90s, and a more recent one, with more international line-up but as well from Belgium, Eyes of the Insane.
Since its emergence in the ‘80s, Thrash metal gathered tons of fierce loyalty from listeners worldwide. A genre meant to be entirely about the music, with emphasis on instrumental virtuosity and lyrics and opposing to appearance and triviality. In the early 2000s, the style goes through a revival with many old bands reunited along with a new wave of thrash bands. Despite never reaching the same success, Thrash metal stays solid and attending a concert with good thrash metal bands has been always gratifying.
Eyes of the Insane
Eyes of the Insane is an ambitious project emerged in 2013 with the goal of ‘making music that they want to listen to’, as it’s stated on their Facebook page.
Mixing a great variety of styles, their starting point is an aggressive thrash mounting easily to extreme death metal structures and incorporating elements of progressive metal, a very original praise to their influences in addition to naming the band after a famous band’s song.
Aiming at this level of complexity, a two-guitar style seems more appropriate and that was easily felt once a former member went onstage as evening guest. With two guitars everything was amplified, the rhythm, the tempo, the energy. This reunion celebration was made even more special by playing a Motörhead cover as well. Special mention to the lyrical content, dark, threatening, social, insane.
Video – Eyes of the insane @ Rock Classic – 13/05/2016
Trouble Agency
Trouble Agency has been on the Belgian metal scene for more than 20 years. Formed in 1993 as a band influenced by both hardcore and thrash and growing into traditional metal, the group released five demos and albums, exceptionally all of them self-released, which says a lot about their uncompromising style and attitude. Musicians with a strong metal background, they shared the stage with great names as Exodus, Anvil, Macabre, Destruction, Immortal and won the Wacken Open Air Battle in 2014.
By the time Trouble Agency took over the stage, the place was already fully packed with an audience that seemed to know what they were coming for. And there was no disappointment. 
The instrumental approach is spotless, fast guitar riffs, appealing guitar solos, high-speed drumming and a gifted bass player, all to deliver high quality, strong and fast thrash metal wrapped in aggressive, angry lyrics denouncing social problems.
Kevin Nolis is a very convincing frontman, completely succeeding in getting the audience in the right mood. And the response was accordingly.
At the end of the show, in that burning ambience, the small scene in Rock Classic became a real sauna and playing more became purely impossible, even if the fans were requesting it.
Trouble Agency is currently in the studio for new material to come out soon.
Video – Trouble Agency @ Rock Classic – 13/05/2016
More info
Les Soirées Cerises Booking
Eyes of the Insane
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/eyesoftheinsaneofficial
- Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/eyesofficial
Trouble Agency
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/troubleagencyofficial
- Website: www.troubleagency.be
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