Record Release! Frolic, Blind Illusion, Broken Glass Sanctuary, Hemotoxin
- Hectic
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Neck of the Woods
San Francisco, CA
July 3, 2026
Frolic’s record release party! On a Friday night starting off the July 4th holiday weekend, Frolic celebrated the release of their 2nd album Legacies of Cybernetica. Vinyl LPs are out now on Hectic / Bleeding Priest records and CDs/Cassettes at merch.frolic.band.
Despite it being a holiday weekend when a lot of people leave town, the Neck of the Woods was fairly crowded. Luckily it was in the upstairs space, where there is more room. People were ready for this four band metal bill.
Starting out the night was the East Bay’s Hemotoxin, who I had somehow never seen, though they have 4 albums out. I was really impressed by their performance, death metal on the technical side with some real aggressiveness. Michael Chavez is a great guitarist / vocalist frontman, and there was some real emotion behind his songs and performance.
I’d definitely see Hemotoxin again, assuming they play out more frequently, and bought their most recent record When Time Becomes Loss for the Hectic office.
The second band of the night was Broken Glass Sanctuary from the Central Valley. They had more of a modern death metal sound, a 5 piece with a pretty good traditional death metal vocalist. Some of their compositions were a bit odd, with quiet drum parts or sudden endings that confused me, but overall they were good.
Broken Glass Sanctuary’s bass player had a 6 string bass, something you don’t often see. To prove the instrument wasn’t too big for him, he did a few pit rotations on the shoulders of an audience member, playing the whole time, played bass behind his head, etc. Impressive AND entertaining.
In the support slot were legendary thrashers Blind Illusion, founded by lead guitarist and vocalist Mark Biedermann in Richmond, CA way back in 1978. These days there is a new lineup supporting him, featuring the impressive Martin Lacour on second Lead Guitar, Avery Thurman on Bass, and Phil Cosentini on Drums.
This was an unplanned label showcase of sorts, in addition to a record release. Hectic / Bleeding Priest records will also be releasing a Blind Illusion live album in a few months, the amazing Stage Flight: Live at the UC Theatre, featuring a 2025 live performance that took place opening for Exodus’ 40 years of Bonded by Blood concert. At that show the new lineup performed songs from demos the band recorded in early 1980s, with original singer David White (Heathen) joining.
Anyway, Blind Illusion’s performance this evening was positively electrifying, and seeing them up so close in a smaller club did not disappoint. Although they played a few classic songs, much of the set (3 songs) were from the new album they have been working on, Crushing the Universe (due out in 2027).
There was a ton of energy onstage, from the impressive young rhythm section to the dueling guitar solos of Biedermann and Lacour. It was a fantastic set of progressive thrash metal.
Finally headlining their record release show, one of the standouts of the new generation of Bay Area thrashers, Frolic. They started with all 7 tracks of their new record Legacies of Cybernetica, which evolves their furious thrash attack and death style vocals to some new dimensions with the addition of more classic and prog guitar sounds.
The crowd was ready, and it was a circle pit all around. It was great to hear the whole record live, its been on my turntable on the regular since I got the shipment a few weeks before the release.
After the new record played live came to its glorious conclusion, they did a cover of Judas Priest’s “Painkiller” as a palette cleanser of sorts, and then played about 4 more classic tracks off their earlier releases to round out the evening.
I’m hopeful more people get to know Frolic, including some outside the Bay Area, as they really are a great live band. And of course I’m biased, but the new album sounds great, all the sci-fi art looks great, overall something the band should be tremendously proud of.
–Hectic
