Casey Chaos is one angry motherfucker. As lead singer of LA based Amen, he sure has the perfect outlet to unleash his rage. Amen is surely the angriest band to come onto the music scene since Black Flag or even the Sex Pistols. Violent, dark, and anarchistic, best describes Amen's music, an inbreed of mostly punk mixed with metal and hardcore. Chaos digs deep within himself in Amen's music and lyrics to show and tell the world about his personal demons and hatred for society. With songs on topics such as Fascism in religion and Government, a hatred for authority and parents, and an overall disgust with fashion, popular culture and society in general, Amen aren't afraid to tell it how they see it, which is why they scare so many people.

With 2 full live albums under their belt, Amen only recently have had problems with their records label, Virgin Records. It seems Virgin paid for Amen's as of yet unreleased album to be recorded a few months ago. When the album was finished, and Amen looked forward to a release of the album, but Virgin decided to drop the band because they were not 'commercial enough'. This pissed off Amen's producer Ross Robinson, and he demanded that the band be released from their contract. It also gave Casey and the rest of the band, (which includes guitarist Paul Fig, bassist Sonny Mayo, and drummer Shannon Larkin) even more to be pissed off about. But even though the legal issue is still pending, Virgin only agreed to release Amen and let them have their recorded songs, if they paid the $200, 000 cost of recording the record, which Amen simply do not have. These turmoil's and problems caused many rumors of a break up. Luckily though, none of them are true, yet. This is why then I heard the news that there was even a slight possibility, that Amen would break up, I decided that their May 24th show at the Troubadour was a show not to miss.

Amen are known to get violent at their shows, especially Chaos, who is accustomed to breaking things on stage and self mutilation. After witnessing the mayhem live, first hand, I can testify that it is all true. Amen are not only the angriest bands on the scene, they are also one of the most violent, honest, and yet humble bands to hit the scene in a long time.

Playing songs with titles like 'Dead on the Bible,' 'Calvin Klein's the Killer,' and 'Coma America,' Amen released their fury on the audience at the Troubadour as well as themselves. During their fist-pumping anthem, 'Mayday,' Chaos leaped from a ladder on the legendary Troubadour Stage and propelled himself into the drum set where he was cut on the left temple by the snare drums. He continued singing with a bloody gash on his face. Further into the song, he broke a bottle of Tequila on his chest, and went on to burn a page from the Bible, as well as a dollar bill, a symbol of his protest and hatred for society, capitalism and the fascism in organized religion. He finished the song by yelling the last verse along with the audience gathered at the front of the stage:

Then the song ended with an explosion of punk and metal beats, during which Chaos dropped to the floor like a Jim Morrison, convulsing and kicking on the floor, all while sill maintaining his loud, angry and raspy voice.

During the night, Amen even debuted some new songs, on their still unreleased album. Highlights included, "Fuck in LA," and "Buy American," which got an amazing response from the crowd. After over an hour of playing live, the members of Amen and the crowd was beat. Chaos had a few words for the crowd. He said that through all the bullshit the band faced with their label, he personally thanked all the fans for their undevouted support. He also let out a big FU to the record label, and said that it would be their last show for a while. This is a shame, considering that it was truly one of the most intense live shows ever witnessed. For those who have not heard of Amen, there are only two words I can tell you: be afraid!

Opening band, Mondo Generator* was a side project featuring members of The Dwarves, Queens of the Stone Age and Dave Grhol on drums. I had never heard of these guys, but their music blew my mind. All I can say is that they sound like a mix between Nirvana, Black Flag, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin. They are wild, sludgy, and heavy as hell, and they put on a crazy live show, Check out these guys if you like pure hard heavy rock music in your face.