Tag Archives: Metalcore Music

Live Music, Live Reviews

LIVE REVIEW: WE CAME AS ROMANS DARKBLOOM TOUR 2023

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As is customary for We Came As Romans, they finished off their first tour of 2023 in Detroit, MI. They were out promoting their newest release, Darkbloom. In their first tour of the year they brought along ERRA and Brand of Sacrifice.

Written by Jessica Trail

The first band of the night was Brand of Sacrifice. They are a deathcore band with a dash of technical metal from Toronto and Manhattan, New York.  They started out their brutal seven-song set with “Dawn” from their album Lifeblood. They are made-up of Kyle Anderson on harsh and clean vocals, Liam Beeson on guitar, Andrew Kim on bass, and Mike Caputo on drums. They continued playing songs from the 2021 album and then stirred up the already enthusiastic crowd with the 2022 single “Exodus.”  They closed out the set with opening track from their 2018 album The Interstice. This was a great ending to a ferocious set.

Photo by Jessica Trail

See full gallery of Brand Of Sacrifice performance here.

Up next was the metalcore band, ERRA, from Birmingham, Alabama. They started the night with the very popular single, “Pull from the Ghost.” The moshing and crowd-surfing starting as soon as they started playing. By the time their second song, “House of Glass” started there was a steady stream of crowd surfers pouring over the barricade. To say that the crowd was into ERRA would me a massive understatement.

ERRA is made up of JT Cavey on harsh vocals, Jesse Cash on lead guitar and clean vocals, Conor Hesse on bass, Clint Tustin on rhythm guitar, and Alex Ballew on drums. These guys have a big year ahead of them still with heading out on their own headlining Europe tour just 6 days after ending the tour with We Came As Romans. They will then head out with Bad Omens to support their Will We Both Go Home Alive tour starting in May.

Photo by Jessica Trail

See full gallery of Erra performance here.

After a short pause for changeover, it was time for the headliner, We Came As Romans, to take the stage. After 23 shows in 31 days the band, from Troy, Michigan, had finally made it to their hometown for the last show of the tour. They started the night with three songs from their newest album, Darkbloom. They continued with “Lost in the Moment” from the 2017 album, Cold Like War. Before starting in on “Wasted Ages” from the same album they took a pause to talk to the audience. “Somewhere along the way on that record, we lost track of who we were as a band…. We reached out to people who we knew we could trust. People who had been there for us since day one… for a band that is our fan base. You guys helped us start to put the pieces back together… I just wanted to say thank you for that!”

Before starting “Tracing Back Roots” from the album of the same name, they let the audience know that they opened up an online poll for the audience to pick a song for the set. After that song and “Hope,” from the Tracing Back Roots album singer, Dave Stephens announced that “Fade Away” won the poll. He continued with saying, “this song goes out to my mom. It is her favorite.” They then continued the night with one more song from Cold Like War. They then closed out the main portion of the set with “Darkbloom” before coming back out with Brand of Sacrifice to perform “Darkbloom” again as an encore before ending the night and tour with “Black Hole.”

Photo by Jessica Trail

See full gallery of We Came As Romans performance here.

With this US tour over the changes to see them this year are not over. In May We Came As Romans returns to the road with the first show of the Europe tour starting in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

Upcoming Tour Dates:

11.May: Esch-Sur-Alzette LU @ Rockhal

13.May: Prague CZ @ Rock Cafe

14.May: Warsaw PL @ Proxima

15.May: Berlin DE @ Hole44

17.May: Munich DE @ Strom

19.May: Vienna AT @ Simm City

20.May: Milan IT @ Legend

21.May: Zurich CH @ Klub Komplex

23.May: Hamburg DE @ Logo

24.May: Cologne DE @ Luxor

25.May: Paris FR @ Le Trabendo

27.May: Hatfield UK @ Slam Dunk South

28.May: Leeds UK @ Slam Dunk North

30.May: Dublin IE @ Academy

31.May: Belfast UK @ LL1

1.June: Glasgow UK @ The Cathouse

Music News

Psycho Hill Premieres “Memories”

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“‘Memories’ is a song that I’ve been wanting to write ever since my grandfather passed in 2017. 

He was a really big inspiration to me growing up, living in the same house as him my whole life.

He was truly a second father to me & the song speaks volumes on my memories throughout the good & the bad. Just how I wanted to be like him and reflecting back on memories that will never be forgotten.” – Johnny Iadevaio

About Psycho Hill:

New York/Florida based Metalcore band, PSYCHO HILL was founded in 2017 by Songwriter/Guitarist Johnny Iadevaio and Lead Vocalist Tim Curtin. With the addition of childhood friend and 2nd Guitarist Rick Devita, and newest member Shawn Gerace on Drums, Psycho Hill have found the perfect symbiotic combination!

Psycho Hill have released 2 EP’s: Wasted Youth (2017) & Composure (2020). The singles “June” (Composure) and “Dying Day” made a strong impact on Rock Radio. “June” hit #25 on Billboard’s Rock Indicator Chart, and “Dying Day” climbed even higher to #21, prompting Psycho Hill to include the song on the New Release!

Psycho Hill‘s self-titled LP is set to drop on February 3rd, 2023. “We decided to really focus on what inspires and excites us, and more importantly, our FANS in regard to our sound on this LP” states Guitarist Johnny Iadevaio. “The LP has a blended vibe of the metalcore and post-hardcore genres”

Psycho Hill has been described as “A Band with driving Guitar riffs, melodic choruses and heavy, dynamic breakdowns” and will continue that intensity with the NEW LP.

Psycho Hill, with their line-up complete, LP scheduled for release, and Tour in the making, plan to make 2023 the next level in their successful rise!!!  

Live Music, Live Reviews

LIVE REVIEW: I PREVAIL TRUE POWER NORTH AMERICA TOUR 2022 AT THE FILLMORE DETROIT

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After ten and a half weeks on the road the “True Power Tour” made its final stop in Detroit for two back-to-back sold out shows at The Fillmore Detroit. The first leg of the tour included special guests Pierce the Veil, Fit For A King, and Yours Truly. The second leg of the tour included special guests Pierce the Veil, Fit For A King, and Stand Atlantic.

Written by Jessica Trail

The Australian pop-punk band Stand Atlantic started the evening off on the right foot. The four-piece band from Sydney is made up of lead singer/guitarist Bonnie Fraser, David Potter on guitar, Miki Rich on bass, and drummer Jonno Panichi. They started the set with “Hate Me (Sometimes)” from the 2020 Pink Elephant. Singer Bonnie was a very energetic singer who was able to easily draw energy from the crowd and project that energy back into the crowd to make for a fun and lively show. After several songs there was a break for the band to partake in the Australian tradition of drinking from a shoe, known as doing a shoey. It was a great set, and they said they were grateful to join the three other bands for night one and let the crowd known the first night was their last night on the tour.

Photo by Jessica Trail

See full photo gallery for Stand Atlantic here.

Up next was Texas metalcore band, Fit for a King, who ensured that the growing crowd was wide-awake on the Tuesday night. They started their set with “Eyes Roll Back” from their brand-new album The Hell We Create. The crowd was excited to see the new music live. The band’s lineup has changed drastically over the last fifteen years but that hasn’t changed the energy and enthusiasm that they bring to the stage. The band’s current lineup is fronted by Ryan Kirby who brings the growling vocals, Ryan “Tuck” O’Leary who plays bass and provides clean vocals, Daniel Gailey on guitar and provides backup vocals, and Trey Celaya on drums. During the set they took a pause to hype up the crowd for Pierce the Veil and express their excitement to be on the tour with Ryan telling the crowd, “we’re excited to be part of such a huge tour!” They ended the night with the heavy and powerful song “God of Fire” from the 2020 album The Path.

Photo by Jessica Trail

See full photo gallery for Fit For A King here.

Pierce the Veil was up next. They are a pop-punk/metalcore band from San Diego, California. Their front man Vic Fuentes started the band in 2006. Shortly after the band started Tony Perry on lead guitar and Jamie Preciado on bass joined the band. For the tour they were accompanied by Lionel Robinson on drums. This tour was a long run and even included two stops in Las Vegas for the epic “When We Were Young Festival” on October 23rd and 29th. (Sidebar: Pierce the Veil’s set was the first one I caught of the day at the Sunday date of the festival, and they were simply amazing to put it mildly!)

They started out the night in Detroit with “May These Noises Startle You in Your Sleep Tonight” from Collide with the Sky and the crowd was loving it from the moment it started. They continued with “Hell Above” also from Collide with the Sky. The third song was “Pass the Nirvana” from their upcoming 2023 release The Jaws of Life. As the song ended, they had to take a long break to ensure someone got the medical attention. They continued the set with “Bulls in the Bronx” once everyone was ok. The crowd was very appreciative of the band’s willingness to stop and check on the crowd when needed. This amped up the crowd to finish out the set. They ended the night with “King for a Day”.

Photo by Jessica Trail

See full photo gallery for Pierce The Veil here.

If there is one thing to know about, I Prevail it is that Michigan and specifically metro Detroit is their hometown show; they made sure to make special call outs to the venues and fans who come out to support them. The five-piece band consists of Eric Vanlerberghe on growl vocals, Brian Burkheiser with clean vocals, Dylan Bowman on rhythm guitar, Steve Menoian on lead guitar, and Gabe Helguera on drums. They also played the “When We Were Young Festival” on October 23rd and 29th. Their set was later in the evening for those dates and played their hearts out on the Stripes Stage.

After being on the road from early September until late November they still brough a solid performance to The Fillmore Detroit that in no way indicated they were at the end of 10-and-a-half-week tour. They came out swinging with their newest single, “Fear of Letting Go” from their 2022 release True Power. The next song up was “Body Bag”, a fast-paced song with a lot of harsh vocals that make it worthy of all the headbanging and moshing that had picked up by this point. As they continued, they started playing the opening riffs of “Raining Blood” by Slayer before going into “Judgement Day”. The next two songs, “Breaking Down” and “Paranoid” were notably slower than the rest of the set. These songs were very well received as it shows the band’s great versatility.

Singer Eric took a pause to shout out to Stand Atlantic for their last night on the tour and wanted to “send them out with a fucking bang.” And wished them “much luck and success on their ventures” He also asked the crowd to “make some noise for our good friends in Fit for a King.” Then he continued with “last and certainly not least make some noise for those handsome motherfuckers in Pierce the Veil!” He then welcomed anyone who had never seen I Prevail before to the family.

The band continued to play three more songs from True Power including “Choke”, “Fake”, and “FWYTYK”. Eric then took a pause to address the crowd again saying “Goddamn, it’s good to be home!” and mentioning how they grew up coming to shows at the venue and showing love for the Midwest and especially Michigan. They ended the main portion of the set with “Come and Get It” from the 2016 album, Lifelines. They left the stage and came back out for an encore of heavy hitters and “Gasoline” and ended the evening with “Bow Down which the whole crowd sang and growled along with. It was really a great ending to an amazing evening of a seemingly perfect blend of metalcore and pop-punk music.

Photo by Jessica Trail

See full photo gallery for I Prevail here.

All Rights Reserved by Jessica Trail / JETRAIL Photography, LLC

Music News

Crooked Royals Release “Ill Manor” and Accompanying Video

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Crooked Royals, the Kiwi metalcore band who recently signed to 3DOT Recordings and will release their debut album, Quarter Life Daydream on Oct. 21, have released a new song, and video, from the forthcoming collection: “Ill Manor”

The band, collectively, explained the theme behind the track: “We’ve all believed during our formative years that adults know what they are doing, especially the ones that are closest to us and care for us. But those adults who care, are wrong, and what they view as ‘caring’ is manipulative and toxic, a product from someone who cared for them when they were in their formative years. ‘Ill Manor’ is a play on words about growing up in a house with lessons that make your brain sick, and how you become more shut off because of it.”

Crooked Royals previously released the song and video for “Glass Hands”, a track Heavy Magazine said “storms out of the gate on a flurry of double bass and fret-searing lead guitar as the melodic vocals ring out.”

Recorded and mixed by Zorran Mendonsa (Coridian), Quarter Life Daydream follows the release of two EPs: Intertwine (2018) and Rumination (2019) and a pandemic-era single: “Copacetic.” The standalone single racked up half-a-million streams.

Quarter Life Daydream track list:

1.    Glass Hands

2.    Ill Manor

3.    Waypoint

4.    Counterfeit

5.    Owed To You

6.    Copacetic

7.    Paper Warrior

8.    Between You And I

Crooked Royals is Christian Carstensen (clean vocals), Lee Mackley (heavy vocals), Jake Andrews (guitar), Keane Gilles (drums), and Conor Lawson (bass).

Music News

Weeping Wound Unleash New Single + Music Video “fourthh.love”

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Announce Upcoming EP Out September 16 via Blood Blast Distribution

Hailing from South Florida, atmospheric metalcore trio Weeping Wound have released their new track and music video for “fourthh.love“. Blending crushing ambiance with haunting visuals, “fourthh.love“ is taken from Weeping Wound‘s forthcoming new EP ‘idontbelonghere.’ out via Blood Blast Distribution on September 16. Speaking on the track, the band shares:

“‘fourthh.love’ is our expression of A God manifested in the body, for better or worse. An anchor to a release of dopamine that cannot be confronted by the logical mind and leads us as people down a path of patterns, compulsions, and addictions. The total encapsulation of castration and trauma breaching the spirit and forcing itself out into our physical world. In this case, the voice of The Mother – woman as lord. The constant reach for comfort. The intention audibly was to recreate the chaos, ebbs and flows one feels with the separation of the self and their attachments – that being drink, chance, sex, or other substances and the innate need to hold on to them. A stream of heavy consciousness in revolt of the control these things can hold over the psyche and behavior in their daily life. Its visual takes place in a limbo of sorts between the initial intoxication, the joining of the death drive and action (as shown in our video for ‘idontbelonghere.’), and being one with the obsession.

Lost with it as it becomes all there is. ‘fourthh.love’ ties directly into ‘idontbelonghere.’ and what’s to come, being a shining example of the future of Weeping Wound and who we’ve grown to be – musically, spiritually and as artists.”

idontbelonghere.

WEEPING WOUND

Track Listing:

1. idontbelonghere.

2. dreaming room

3. dirty.goeldn

4. fourthh.love

5. fromm.here on

Weeping Wound are an atmospheric nu-metalcore outfit whose purpose is to tell their personal stories of occult & esoteric spirituality, mental illness, and substance abuse through sonically intense, genre-bending music.

After touring relentlessly since conception, releasing an EP in 2017, a single the following year, and their debut Billboard charting full-length “P A I N” in late 2019, they are now collectively entering a new chapter as artists and people; more honest and true to themselves than ever before – feeling like they’ve found their own voice.

Their upcoming EP of six tracks, ‘idontbelonghere.’, is a truly collaborative, cohesive effort between the family the band has become, along with their trusted mixing engineer, George Lever.

With Loren Whitaker’s dynamic sound design and agile drumming, Dylan Torre’s powerful voice and word placement, and Patrick Dowling’s innate sense of structure and barebones heavy riffing, ‘idontbelonghere.’ is a fresh and bold take on a style of music that as of now has deep roots around the globe.

Music News

NEXT DOOR TO HEAVEN Release Music Video For Emotional Metalcore Track “Disguise”

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L.A.’s Next Door To Heaven is a potent metalcore combo that brings vulnerability, strength, and focuses to another level of melodic and heavy music. To date, they have released two full-length albums and an EP and their latest offering is a music video for the new song “Disguise”.

According to vocalist Daria Mazunova, this track has more extreme vocals compared to their previous material, and she kept that in mind when writing the lyrics. Very honest and straightforward, Mazunova jokes that it’s a bit simpler than their regular stuff, but not for drummers, she continues to explain the track:

“Our new track “Disguise”, yet unreleased, inspired us to make a music video for it. It’s rare when all your thoughts at the moment can be put together into music and lyrics this well. It is about the process of finding out who’s a friend, and who’s a foe. It’s a way to look at the people you thought you knew and understand what has changed. For sure, this song and video are going to be released in due time therefore should be well received by fans.”

The band is in the process of recording and mixing an EP and “Disguise” will become a part of it. In most cases for them, music comes first, followed by the lyrics. In the case of this song, the mood came first and the rest followed.

A truly international band, partners Mazunova and Evgenii “Gene” Mazunov (guitar/vocals) come from Russia and have been playing music for years. Once they relocated to California, where they are based now, they met up with Mexican bassist Jorge Romo and local drummer Michael Moore.

Together the four of them have been amazing audiences in Los Angeles and other parts of the country showing off their eclectic mix of metalcore.

Next Door To Heaven is a progressive metalcore band based in Los Angeles, CA. Next Door To Heaven’s debut self-released album “Let’s Dream” made it to the top 20 on Google Play. Next Door To Heaven has supported RED, TESSERACT. The band released the second full-length album in 2019 via Sliptrick records and supported it by playing gigs worldwide. “Dance with me” – a sensational single, was released in 2020 followed up by a music video.

In spring 2021 Next Door To Heaven released a new EP “Inside” followed up by a music video for “Calibrate”. One of the tracks from the EP was recorded with Lord Nelson (ex Stuck Mojo).’ Currently, Next Door To Heaven works on a new EP and is up to release a new music video for an upcoming track “Disguise” with new band members in just no time.