Yet again, modest ticket sales forced a last minute venue change from Club Capitol to the smaller Amplifier Bar around the back. Perth metal heads, where are you?

Openers Psychonaut also wondered – aloud – how everyone had been since thrash metal had “gone away”, receiving a variety of responses (mostly to the negative). Their take on power metal was met with approval, the short set including a playful ode to necrophilia and a song titled Darklord – as in, the Sith variety – complete with an Imperial March section. What’s not to like?

While the stage was being prepared for Armored Saint, bassist Joey Vera came on stage to announce that vocalist John Bush was ill and would not be performing. His reassurance that they were going to play anyway, with Vera and guitarist Jeff Duncan sharing vocal duties, was met with cheers – and displaying the Aussie love for the underdog, the crowd were instantly on the band’s side.

The next hour and a half saw the reunited LA thrashers tear through a list of Armored Saint classics, starting with relatively new track Reign of Fire. Maybe it was an edge of panic, but right from the start the band were electric. Duncan took on most of the singing and did an admirable job, still finding time for some guitar-god showmanship with fellow guitarist Phil Sandoval. As the set wore on, encouraged by a largely enthusiastic crowd response, Armored Saint seemed to visibly relax and start enjoying the show, laughingly pointing out that “our guy who normally talks isn’t here” during an awkward moment of silence in between songs.

With Vera explaining their desire to dispense with the formality of a ritual encore, the band launched straight into their final two songs, Can You Deliver and the blisteringly fast Mad House, both from 1984’s debut March of the Saint, which left punters walking away seeing stars.

To say that Death Angel were highly anticipated is somewhat of an understatement. When they did take to the stage, it was with vocalist Mark Osegueda explaining that playing Australia, and Perth in particular, was “a dream come true” – a sentiment which was further explained later – before kicking off what would be an unbelievably high-energy set. As explained by the noticeably young bass player, the only new member of the band, the crowd would be getting a Bay Area Thrash Metal 101 lesson – and what a lesson it was.

Osegueda was an energy ball, jumping to incredible heights, falling to his knees, and whipping his long dreadlocks around like a man possessed. Guitarists Rob Cavestany and Ted Aguilar demonstrated flawless thrash shredding – these guys have lost nothing over the years – while drummer Andy Galeon and bassist Sammy Diosdado provided a rock solid rhythm foundation.

The room was hot and it was not only because the venue had turned the air conditioning off. In between tracks from The Ultra-Violence, Act III, The Art of Dying and Killing Season Osegueda chatted with the crowd – dedicating one song to old-school fans who had written them actual letters over the years, unheard of in this MySpace age, and thanking everyone over and over again for coming out and supporting them. A definite highlight was Seemingly Endless Time – the crowd “helping” the frontman sing. Anyone in the room who wasn’t a Death Angel fan already was well and truly converted by the end of the show.

After the band left the stage for the first time, the crowd stood for a few minutes in shock before realising cheering for an encore was not only expected but well-deserved and absolutely required – and they were not disappointed. But the highlight of the night came after the encores, when the house lights and music came up, and Osegueda requested they be turned off because they weren’t quite finished. He told the story of going to see the grave of his idol Bon Scott, of opening a bottle of Jack to share with him, and how Australians are fortunate to be brought up on a diet of rock and metal. Then he invited the Armored Saint guys to come back and help play the AC/DC classic Let There Be Rock: six minutes of pure rock n’ roll.

Then it finally was over – the last show of the Australian tour. If there was one message that Armored Saint and Death Angel brought to Perth, it was that thrash metal is all about having a fucking good time. And a fucking good time was had by all.