Blackout Tour Part 1 2023 | S.L.R. Magazine

At The Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ on November 25^th, 2023 with The Word Alive, Catch Your Breath and EKOH

American rock band From Ashes To New has embarked on a 20 date fall tour Blackout Part 1 to support their latest album Blackout released in July of this year. They are supported by The Word Alive, Catching Your Breath and Ekoh. On November 25th the show took place in New Jersey.

Written by Andris Jansons

First one on the stage came Ekoh. A rapper from Las Vegas that has his own style with more Rock and alternative sound, independent artist who has released eight albums to date since 2013. Ekoh enjoys strong social media presence as he has chosen it over a traditional musician / band way of conducting business and getting your work out to audience. He had DJ and drummer accompanying him on the stage. His show was fast paced and well received by fans. During the song called Villain, Ekoh “went” into the crowd and was held upwards during the first part of the song and then crowd surfed back on the stage.

Ekoh Social links

See full gallery of Ehoh performance here.

Next was metalcore band from Texas called Cath Your Breath. They are a new band on the scene and released their debut album Shame On Me last month. Their biggest hit Dial Tone drawing attention from Sirius XM and other major outlets. Conveniently one of their songs Mirror is a collaboration with the rapper Ekoh, and he joined the band on the stage for a live performance. All together you could see why the band is gathering everyone’s attention as their performance was well put together and professional.

Catch Your Breath Social links

See full gallery of Catch Your Breath performance here.

Ok, now we are entering heavyweight territory. With seven studio albums under their belt The Word Alive has become one of the metalcore / post hardcore mainstays. The last studio album Hard Reset was just released this August through Thriller Records. Previous work was done with Fearless Records. The band has undergone many changes but as long as Tyler Smith (Telle) is there, TWA will always have that unmistakable sound.

This was my third time seeing and hearing TWA live, and they did not disappoint. Telle is considered as one of the premier vocalists of the genre and he proves that every time. While Telle is not the founding member, he is the second longest active member of the band behind the lone founder Zack Hansen.

On this tour the emphasis is on the new material as five of nine songs are from the Hard Reset, as they opened the set with Strange Love and closed it with New Reality. Somewhere closer to the end of the set The Word Alive played on their biggest hits Trapped, and Telle was able to summon the nights first “wall of death”. And as I mentioned before, the live performances of the TWA are the sight to behold – bold, loud and exhilarating.

The World Alive Social links

See full gallery of The Word Alive performance here.

From Ashes To New are one of the modern rock trailblazers, combining more traditional metal and rock music sounds with now popular hip hop and rap. Yes, we have many rap rock bands and many hardcore bands like Biohazard employ more rapping than singing, however From Ashes To New really stand out as leaders of their generation.

The band released their debut album Day One in 2016 via Better Noise and followed with three more since with the latest one Blackout released on July 28^th of this year via Better Noise as well. Blackout is apocalyptic album that encapsulates the distress of the pre-apocalyptic world the band built with their groundbreaking debut album Day One, while mirroring the angst and unrest the world felt during the 2020 pandemic at which time it was written.

The stage was set with many large screens that displayed post-apocalyptic images to emphasize the theme and set the tone for their performance. Lance Dowdle, the lead guitarist and bassist is known for his love of anime, and wears masks during the show, which helps the overall setting of the bands stand-out appearance.

While vocalist Matt Brandyberry is the lone founding member of the band, the current lineup is together for a while now and on this tour are joined by the Jimmy Bennett on guitar. And they all mesh together very well.

Just as with TWA, From Ashes To New setlist was concentrating our attention to a new material from Blackout album with eight out of twelve songs played on this tour. All new and old material came together for one well put together performance that was enjoyed by all in attendance. As some would expect them being meant only for the younger audience, that was not true at all in Sayreville, as all age groups of the fans were present equally.

For the encore the band worked to get us all in holiday spirit by playing their version of dreaded by many Mariah Carey Christmas classic All I Want For Christmas Is You. Once you get past thoughts about Mariah Carey their version is actually very cool. Then they went out with a bang, one of their biggest hits Through It All.

From Ashes To New Social links