Killith Fair: M.O.D., with Crisis and Jacknife

Take one look at a picture of M.O.D. leader Billy Milano, whose band headlines the Killith Fair tour, and you get an immediate impression of what the guy is all about. He's a big guy, scraggly and rough around the edges, and that cigar only makes him look like a young Archie Bunker. And like TV's most famous bigot, he has disdain for just about everything. White suburban kids who like rap, Rage Against the Machine, people who don't think America rocks -- they're all targets of his "satire." Back in the '80s, you could gloss over his more real-world stuff and just rock out to his ridiculous tirades, but the more of his vitriol you absorb, the more you realize that it is downright offensive. Lefties beware: He can be racist, sexist and highly xenophobic, and only the fact that he can thrash like few others has kept him in the spotlight this long.

The openers, Crisis and Jacknife, are somewhat different stories. New York's Crisis is a rarity in metal circles: a strong female-fronted band that melds elements of NYC hardcore, Black Flag-style riffs and classicist thrash. On the other hand, there's no punk in Jacknife's pure metal mix. This DFW band has a couple of really aggressive EPs under its belt and is progressing nicely for a relatively young band.