Second concert in two nights, both featuring 5 acts. I was thinking this may have been an error in judgment, but that thought quickly dissipated once the show started. The one downside was the size of the crowd, it was rather small, it would grow as the night wore on, but it never reached the size of the Mushroomhead crowd the night before.
The first act was Among the Sick. They were pretty good, featuring dual singers they ripped through a 30 minute set of hardcore. They have room to grow, they looked young and weren't terribly tight. A few times their timing was off, but they hung together. It was during their set that I started to wonder how much more I could take of these generic screaming singers. That was the weakest part of their act. The guitar playing was good, the rhythm section decent. The Also need to show as much energy onstage as they do in the pit for the other acts.
Next up was Nothing Remains. As announced by Chuck, they have been around for awhile, but always seem to disappear for awhile. They took to the stage and gave us a dose of their brand of chaos, which wasn't all that chaotic. The riffs were good, but there wasn't much to them, plus they had even less energy than the act before them. Again, they were fronted by a generic screamer. The highlight of their set was probably when they had an instrumental called "Drop and Give Me Twenty" where they invited audience members on stage to do 20 pushups in exchange for drinks, there were three takers.
Keeping the show going was Rot in Pain. I have seen these guys once before, back in April when they opened for Machine Head. They have gotten much better, they have grown tighter over the past seven months. Still fronted by another generic screamer, but their sound was much more original, plus their act was a lot tighter than any of those that have come before them. They tore through a half hour set as the small pit crew tried to get some action going on the floor. These guys are still developing, may be nice to see where they go in the future.
Now it was time for a step up in quality, although I didn't know it before they went onstage. The next band to take the stage was Cortez, which I believe has former members of Ill Nino. These guys were impressive, mixing Lain rhythms and metal reminiscent of Ill Nino and Puya. They were tight, heavy, yet very original. A combination of singing and screaming at the head of their act. The crowd was really into this act as they went through their set, which included a great cover of Puya's "Oasis." I hope to hear more from this band.
Lastly, the moment we were all waiting for, Dry Kill Logic takes the stage with a fury, opening with "200 Years" and "Paper Tiger" off of the new album. They played for early an hou mixing up songs from both of their albums, but clearly favoring the second, and rightly so. While the songs off of the fist album were excellent, the new material really demonstrates the band's growth. You can just tell the writing is better, more complex, intense, and heavy, Cliff Rigano's vocals are strong, mixing a great growl with a singing voice bringing more depth to their sound. New additions Jason Bozzi and Dan Horboychuk prowl the stage wielding their weapons of choice, while Phil Arcuri keeps time beating away on the drums. I last saw them in 2001 as the first opening act of a Fear Factory concert, between then and now they have really come into their own. The energy they had was off the chart, keeping the crowd involved and amped up. Even though the crowd was small, they still played at full throttle. These guys are poised to make a big impact, I look forward to future stops from them. See my review of their latest album, The Dead and Dreaming, here.
See photos from the show: here.
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