deathcore

Arch Enemy & Trivium // Vogue Theatre

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Arch Enemy & Trivium // Vogue Theatre

Swedish melodic death metal group, Arch Enemy who released their tenth studio album, Will to Power, on September 8, 2017 via Century Media co-headlined alongside Orlando heavy metal band Trivium, who released their eighth studio album, The Sin and the Sentence, on October 20, 2017 via Roadrunner.  Support was provided by English metalcore band While She Sleeps and American deathcore act Fit For An Autopsy at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver last night (Nov 23).

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Voivod x Guests // Rickshaw Theatre

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June 13, 2016 - Reblog from Aesthetic Magazine.

"Quebec-based heavy metal band Voivod, who released their newest album, Target Earth, on January 22nd, 2013 via Century Media Records, which serves as the band’s first studio album to feature Daniel Mongrain on guitar (replacing the late Denis D’Amour) and the only album since 1991’s Angel Rat with Jean-Yves Thériault on bass, performed at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver on June 13th with thrash metal band King Parrot, post-punk band Child Bite, and more!"

Expain

Voivod setlist was unfortunately all I could obtain:

  1. Ripping Headaches
  2. Tribal Convictions
  3. Overreaction
  4. Kluskap O'Kom
  5. Inner Combustion
  6. Killing Technology
  7. Post Society
  8. The Prow
  9. We Are Connected
  10. Physic Vacuum
  11. Forever Mountain
  12. Voivod
  13. Astronomy Domine (Pink Floyd cover)

Texas In July (The Final Tour) // Rickshaw Theatre

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November 25, 2015 - Metalcore has a very peculiar spot in Vancouver.  A few weeks back, Parkway Drive played a sold out show at the Rickshaw Theatre - lineups stretching down Vancouver's worst neighbourhood to circle pits spanning the length of the venue.  Unfortunately tonight wasn't the case, despite an incredibly low ticket price of $30 for six bands.  Top that off with relatively decent marketing for a final tour, it should have been a recipe for success.

When I walked into the venue (expecting it to be relatively busy as it was an all ages show) it was dead.  The seats and the balcony were blocked off and at its peak, maybe 150 people filled in the pit near the stage.  Despite the poor attendance, the show was beyond heavy, having a greatly appreciated variety of genres be it deathcore to hardcore to technical, progressive metalcore.

To start things off, The Hallowed Catharsis, is often the local opening metal act for Vancouver gigs and to boot, they kick ass too.  Sean Ip's explosive energy on stage makes it appear as if he took some industrial strength stimulants and evoked his stage alter-ego.  Coupled with such intensity, his humour pokes through with his goofy faces and interactions with the rest of the band - guitarists Kyle Bains and Chris Turner, bassist Nick Savoie and drummer Kevin Emms.  I am 110% sure that I will see them again sooner than later, and I encourage everyone to support this local act where there is a wondrous blend of musicianship and stage presence.

A large portion of the audience definitely came for popular local act, Galactic Pegasus.  Many thanks to the band for access to the show; they definitely kept the energy flowing in their with their open chord chugging, breakdowns and technical complexity inspired by modern "core" greats such as Northlane and Veil of Maya.  Unfortunately it was the last show for drummer Dallas Turner as he has put his main focus on new self proclaimed "electronic metal music" act ev0lution.  Fortunately, it was a well done farewell with massive stage presence, particularly from guitarist Andrew Baena, vocalist Andrew Hockley and bassist Johnny Ciardullo.

3rd on the docket was Invent, Animate, hailing from Port Neches, Texas.  A relatively new metalcore act, forming in 2012, I feel they have a lot of room to mature and grow as myself, the other photographers and maybe half the crowd wasn't really feeling it.  It's difficult being a new band on the scene, especially with your first date in a city when you don't know what kind of energy they're going to bring - which goes back to the beginning of this article, metalcore acts are so hit or miss with the fans of the genre in this city.  Hopefully the rest of the tour has been a bit more kind to them than this date was.

To the Wind has been making some more appearances in Vancouver, and I'm seeing their name a lot more as of late - probably due to the close proximity of them being located in Seattle.  It was definitely nice and relieving to get a different kind of vibe in the venue with the metal-influenced hardcore genre that they have going on.  The last time they opened for Wovenwar and Unearth, they had a lot of fun jumping and spinning around and they kept the audience's energy high.

Reflections is the heaviest thing I've seen in while.  7-string guitars downtuned to drop F with inspirations drawing from After the Burial to Pantera to The Tony Danza Dropdance Extravaganza - pushing them away from the generic sound that has plagued modern metalcore.  You can hear influences of djent, deathcore and progressive elements in their sound.  Despite virtually no crowd interaction, probably due to everyone's faces being melted off by their thick wall of sound, everyone was mesmerized and constantly in a statis of headbanging.  These guys have something going for them and I await their newer releases as the Minnesota band evolve.

And finally, headliners Texas In July took the stage and absolutely slayed it.  The band, forming in 2007 while in high school decided to end the life of the band to pursue other musical endeavors.  I would have guessed the morale would have been super low with the poor attendance that night, but TIJ didn't disappoint. If anything, they got some fans screaming into the mic, cracked jokes with the crowd and absolutely wrecked with their setlist which was riddled with fan favourites.  An explosive show, particularly coming from vocalist JT, I'm sad that they chose to have their final tour so quickly after 8 years but I'm glad that they did on a good note.

Setlists

Unfortunately none for The Hallowed Catharsis or Galactic Pegasus

Invent, Animate

  1. Naturehold
  2. Nocturne: Lost Faith
  3. Luna
  4. Native Intellect
  5. Dark Bloom

To The Wind

  1. Trapped
  2. 21
  3. Growing Numb
  4. Vacant Home
  5. Through My Eyes
  6. Iron Rain
  7. Hollow
  8. Hands of the Clock

Reflections

  1. Sadist
  2. Limbo
  3. Shadow Self
  4. Butterfly Effect
  5. Amulet
  6. Actias Luna

Texas In July

  1. Cry Wolf
  2. Magnolia
  3. Bed of Nails
  4. Broken Soul
  5. Aurora
  6. Nooses
  7. C4
  8. Bloodwork
  9. 1000 Lies
  10. Hook, Line and Sinner
  11. Elements (Encore)

Parkway Drive, Miss May I & Thy Art is Murder // Rickshaw Theatre

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November 3, 2015 - Oh the day has finally come.  I have waited since my early years in high school for metalcore kings Parkway Drive to come by with this amazing roster consisting of Miss May I and fellow Aussie acts Thy Art is Murder and In Hearts Wake.  

Upon arriving to the venue, I was flabbergasted when I saw that the line went almost a whole city block down hitting the corner of Main and Hastings.  Never have I seen a show so busy or hyped as this one for the Rickshaw Theatre!  Perhaps it was the fact that it was both sold out and all ages - regardless, due to the line-up I was unable to make it in in time (we were waiting for almost half an hour) for In Hearts Wake, so I apologize ahead of time.

Despite catching the tail-end of IHW, their setlist had changed up a bit since the last time they were here with Northlane and focused less on their latest release of Skydancer and was more Earthwalker focused.  Their super bass-heavy open power-chords got the crowd jumping, and even those who hadn't seen them before couldn't help but to "mother fucking bounce" to the beat.  Fan favourites "Survival", "Breakaway" and "Divine" really demonstrate the juxtaposition of clean and unclean vocals, rhythm versus melody.  It was a breath of fresh air when they closed with enlightening remarks to help preserve our environment - us humans belonging to the earth and not vice versa.

Up next was Thy Art is Murder, the only deathcore act on the night's roster.  TAIM consists of vocalist Chris "CJ" McMahon, guitarists Andy Marsh and Sean Delander, bassist Kevin Butler and drummer Lee Stanton.  These Aussies have had their success in the ARIA and AIR charts, reaching #1 on AIR and #2 and #4 on the US and Canada iTunes metal charts.  Controversial since day 1, they've been known for their misogynistic lyrics in their earlier days but still remain particularly anti-religion and anti-Christian.  

Between all the blast beats and crushing guitars; however, CJ kept the crowd on their toes - eventually landing on top of a bar before being dragged back to the stage.  His commentary on musicians needing weed to survive touring to naming the Rickshaw the second shittiest venue he's been to (the first being somewhere in South America) was priceless and gold.  With such a barrage of split-personas, CJ definitely is the cherry on top of the band.

Ohio's Miss May I is Levi Benton (vocals),  Justin Aufdemkampe (guitar/vocals), B.J. Stead (guitar/vocals), Ryan Neff (bass/vocals) and Jerod Boyd (drums/percussion).  Although I haven't personally gotten into them, they've established themselves as a staple in modern metalcore and are known to tear it up at festivals with their high energy.  Although not necessarily my cup of tea, the crowd just grew more and more wild as each band came on, MMI not being an exception!  The set list itself was pretty varied, taking in classics like "Hey Mister" to tracks of their latest album, Deathless.

And finally, Australian metalcore legends Parkway Drive arrived at the stage and the hype train was at full speed.  The show was built up for years coming and disappointment would be the last word I would use to describe this experience.  The pits were among the largest I've seen in a long time.

Starting with track one Destroyer off their latest studio effort Ire and streams of confetti led to more of the new album before switching to fan favourites like "Idols and Anchors" and even swapped out "Bottom Feeder" for the classic "Romance is Dead".  The show was made even better with lead guitarist Jeff Ling rocking out in a wheelchair due to a torn hamstring right before the tour's debut - it was either cancellation or dealing with it, and let's just say Parkway didn't disappoint.  Furthering this was frontman Winston McCall being the hypeman and getting the crowd constantly moving - never was there a moment of calm for their 13 song set.  

I have never been so happy to see a band in Vancouver since Architects in September 2014 or Ellie Goulding at the Commodore in 2013 (weird change of pace, I know).  The night exceeded any expectations I could have had, despite it being an all-ages show, knowing that everyone in the room was just as psyched as I was to see Parkway made it all that much better.

Setlists

In Hearts Wake

  1. Gaia (Intro)
  2. Earthwalker
  3. Survival (The Chariot)
  4. Badlands
  5. Healer
  6. Afterglow
  7. Breakaway 
  8. Divine

Thy Art is Murder

  1. Absolute Genocide
  2. Coffin Dragger
  3. Shadow of Eternal Sin
  4. The Purest Strain of Hate
  5. Reign of Darkness
  6. Light Bearer
  7. Holy War

Miss May I

  1. I.H.E.
  2. Relentless Chaos
  3. Bastards Left Behind
  4. Our Kings
  5. Deathless
  6. Masses of a Dying Breed
  7. Turn Back the Time
  8. Hey Mister

Parkway Drive

  1. Destroyer
  2. Dying to Believe
  3. Carrion
  4. Dark Days
  5. Karma
  6. Vice Grip
  7. Idols and Anchors
  8. Deliver Me
  9. Wild Eyes
  10. Romance is Dead
  11. Swing
  12. Crushed (Encore)
  13. Home Is For the Heartless (Encore)