First off, the World Series of Metal is an annual 2 day metal festival here in Cleveland with mostly local metal bands. I was mainly going to see Mushroomhead, who was headlining the first night, so I didn't bother going to the second night since the rest of the good local bands were playing the first night anyways. They had a cool way of doing the show...they had the stage divided into two sides, and while a band was playing on one side, the crew was setting up the other side of the stage for the next band...so it was continuous music....none of that half hour between bands bullshit. But even though they did do that, the concert was waaaay too damn long. It started at 5pm and wasn't over till 2:30am. There were about 20 bands so I'm just going to go through the ones that stick out in my mind as kicking ass.

Moko: Considering these guys are a new rap-metal band, they were actually really damn good. I really love bands that have two singers like they did...one doing the rapping one doing the singing/screaming in the background. It really adds alot of versatility to the band if you ask me. To sum them up, they sounded alot like 311 if they decided to be a metal band.

Coinmonster: This was the first time I had seen these guys....and they impressed me the most out of any band that night. They've got a real technical, melodic, funky type of metal sound...kind of along the lines of Primus and Mr. Bungle, but alot heavier than both. The lead singer even reminds me of Les from Primus in that he does alot of crazy shit with his guitar.

Cold Hand of Christ: I had already seen these guys last year opening a Fear Factory show, so I was eager to see 'em again and get a second look at 'em. And they kicked even more ass this time. Last time they were playing for a crowd that came to see a national act, this time they were playing for a crowd that came to see a bunch of local acts, so the crowd was really into them.

NDE: These guys sound almost uncannily like older Pantera...but yet they still seem to have an original sound to it. This was my second time seeing these guys too...the first time being a couple months ago opening for Mushroomhead. In fact if it wasn't for Mushroomhead, these guys would probably be the biggest local band in the area. And they sure showed it once again, they kicked some serious ass, got some great crowd reaction, etc.

Mushroomhead: What else can I say about these guys that I haven't said before? They unbelievable, especially live...and if you ask me, they've got the best fans of any band I've ever seen. The feeling you get at the beginning of the show is just amazing....when the lights go down, the Muppets theme song comes on and everybody is singing along with it, then everything just explodes when the curtains fall and the band comes out....it fucking gives me chills everytime. It's something you have to see in person. This was the third time I've seen them, but they did something this time I had heard they did but had yet to see it myself. I know it doesn't sound like much, but they keep throwing garbage bags full of shredded paper out into the crowd, people tear the bags open and there's fucking shredded paper getting thrown all over the place...kind of an odd sight to see. Oh, and another thing....their stripper/dancer left the band a couple months ago so they didn't have one for a couple shows....but they now have a new one, that wears even less (as in only a very small g-string and two strategically placed pieces of tape) and is even hotter. It really makes me wish I had brought a camera heh. Along those same lines, their guitarist left the band a couple weeks beforehand, and this was the first night with their new one, a guy from 216, another badass local band....and he filled in quite nicely. Anyway, they played the usual mix of the crowd's favorite songs: Never Let It Go, Born of Desire, Bwomp, Before I Die, Solitaire/Unraveling, etc. The only thing that sucked about the show were all the jocks that were there only to fuck people up in the pit...they don't give a damn about the music, they just wanna go beat some people up where they won't get in trouble for it....but that's getting off-topic, and I need to save it for rant material anyways. I would give this concert a higher rating, except the length of the show (9 1/2 hours) and the asshole jocks in the pit kind of ruined the experience. Rating: 8