Yngwie Part II: ANJ

So many stories, one blog post could not hope to contain them all!

Think about Yngwie for a second: limited compositional abilities (he says as he put in Trilogy for a spin), flair for Hendrix-style theatrics (a thought I had during the show: Yngwie Malmsteen is like Jimi Hendrix if Hendrix were Swedish, played three times as many notes and wrote songs that were a third as interesting), committed to the over-the-top performance for the performance's sake. What band would be a fitting opener, a match to his style without the polish of years of performance?

Enter ANJ. I had my first ANJ experience the Friday before the show, when a friend sent me a link to the video for their song "Gorbachov," a stirring tour-de-force where the titular character, in Conan the Barbarian form, defeats a horde of ravaging Stalin zombies, saving the fair (and busty) maidens and bringing the glories of capitalism (in the form of Twinkies) to Mother Russia. It's a brilliant video, but the music wasn't particularly impressive (see a theme coming?), so I expected to be disappointed. I have never been so glad to be wrong.

Imagine if a group of guys had purchased Rock Band last year and decided that the animated characters on their screen would be a good model for their band. Their MySpace page first describes them as "Megadeth after five bottles of Russian vodka" (looks like someone isn't up on their Dave Mustaine history), but then amends the statement with something closer to the truth: these guys really do want to be Dethklok. Their singer wears Joker-style corpse paint, has a bright yellow mohawk to go with his plaid pants and red vest and spent the first half of their set striding around wearing a Tartar helmet, demanding members of the audience sing along. Their lead guitarist, a prodigy who started doing session work at age 16, got his own two-minute, all alone on stage with the spotlights solo.

Let's take a second to contemplate that: ANJ had a half an hour on stage. They're an opening band...and yet they let one guy take a solo, all by himself. Have you ever seen a band do that? Because I certainly haven't.

Suitable for a Yngwie opener? It was beyond perfect.