Terror -- Lawrence, KS -- March 26th, 2014

It might be a cliche now but last night at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, hardcore music fans came together and became one big family. One giant, aggressive, moshing, stage-diving and smiling family.

The "Fuck The Message" tour landed at The Bottleneck in the midst of a cold and rainy evening, but that didn't stop the mass of hardcore fans from coming out early to see the first band, Expire from Milwaukee. Expire's music fit in perfectly with Stick To Your Guns and Terror - short, extremely aggressive songs that make for great crowd scream-alongs, and punishing breakdowns that induce slam dancing and stage dives. Their song "Abyss" had the biggest crowd reaction, with the crowd dogpiling on Expire's vocalist to sing along. If an opening band's duty is to warm up the crowd, Expire may have done it so well that they stole some energy from the acts that followed.

The next couple of bands had more of a meldoic take on hardcore music. The first was Counterparts from Ontario. Although their music is definitely a take on hardcore, it was focused more on melodic riffing and even contained some clean vocals - the only of the night. The crowd seemed a bit more subdued for Counterparts, especially compared to Expire, but there was a small contingent of fans up against the stage singing along with every song.

After Counterparts was the South Carolina-based Hundredth. Hundredth is a band that has blown up in popularity in a very niche-genre of melodic hardcore. Again, they performed with a lot of melody and more emphasis on riffing and vocals. They had a bit more reception from the crowd, especially on their final song "Desolate," which is probably their most straight-forward hardcore song. Lots of singing along and hardcore dancing for that one.

It's been a while since Los Angeles' Terror has been around these parts - they opened for Suicidal Tendencies in Kansas City back in 2008 and the 10 for $10 tour at the Midland with a myriad of bands, but that's it. Their reception was frenzies from before the first song even started. Frontman Scott Vogel is legendary in the hardcore scene for his crowd interaction, and that night was no different. Between songs, he'd get the crowd to move in, but made sure everyone knew there would be no violence and no fights tonight. "Friendly aggression" is what he called it. More than once, he reiterated that the stage was as much the crowd's as it was the band's, and the crowd took that to heart. During "Stick Tight" it seemed there were more people in the air stage diving than were on the floor at The Bottleneck. At one point, people were using the crowd-surfers near the front of the stage as launching points for their stage dives. It was truly insane, but everyone had smiles and were high-fiving and hugging each other throughout the show. Terror ripped through classic songs like "Out Of My Face," "Spit My Rage," and the old-school "Push It Away." It was far and away the most energetic, active, and absolutely crazy crowd that a Lawrence or Kansas City show has had in a very, very long time.

It was Scott Vogel's 40th birthday that night and he said that he believes in the power of hardcore. He believes that it can bring everyone together, no matter the race, religion, hair-length or anything else, and everyone can release some pent-up aggression for a couple of hours. It seems like Lawrence gave him the best birthday present he could ask for - a perfect hardcore show with the perfect hardcore audience.

Stick To Your Guns:
Diamond
Empty Heads
Against Them All
Some Kind if Hope
Bringing You Down
What Goes Around
We Still Believe
The Bond
Life In a Box
Such Pain
D(I am)ond
Built Upon The Sand
This Is More
Amber
Terror:
Out Of My Face
Stick Tight
Spit My Rage
Push It Away
You’re Caught
Live By The Code
Your Enemies Are Mine
Always The Hard Way
Keep Your Mouth Shut
Keepers Of The Faith
Hundredth:
Weathered Town
Carry On
Demons
Ruin
Free Mind/Open Spirit
Desolate
Counterparts:
Witness
(You Think You’re) John Fucking Locke
Slave
Outlier
Reflection
The Disconnect
Compass
Expire :
Bark
Anchor
Reputation
YDN
Anxiety
Spit It Out
Pretty Low
Abyss
Focus
Just Fine
- See more at: http://millsrecordcompany.com/caught-mosh-terror-live-lawrence-ks-03262014#sthash.kGKfl7x0.dpuf

 Stick To Your Guns:

Diamond
Empty Heads
Against Them All
Some Kind if Hope
Bringing You Down
What Goes Around
We Still Believe
The Bond
Life In a Box
Such Pain
D(I am)ond
Built Upon The Sand
This Is More
Amber

Terror:

Out Of My Face
Stick Tight
Spit My Rage
Push It Away
You’re Caught
Live By The Code
Your Enemies Are Mine
Always The Hard Way
Keep Your Mouth Shut
Keepers Of The Faith

Hundredth:

Weathered Town
Carry On
Demons
Ruin
Free Mind/Open Spirit
Desolate

Counterparts:

Witness
(You Think You’re) John Fucking Locke
Slave
Outlier
Reflection
The Disconnect
Compass

Expire :

Bark
Anchor
Reputation
YDN
Anxiety
Spit It Out
Pretty Low
Abyss
Focus
Just Fine

Terror: 10/10 (best crowd I've ever seen at a show)
Hundredth: 7/10
Counterparts: 6/10
Expire: 8/10 

Stick To Your Guns:
Diamond
Empty Heads
Against Them All
Some Kind if Hope
Bringing You Down
What Goes Around
We Still Believe
The Bond
Life In a Box
Such Pain
D(I am)ond
Built Upon The Sand
This Is More
Amber
Terror:
Out Of My Face
Stick Tight
Spit My Rage
Push It Away
You’re Caught
Live By The Code
Your Enemies Are Mine
Always The Hard Way
Keep Your Mouth Shut
Keepers Of The Faith
Hundredth:
Weathered Town
Carry On
Demons
Ruin
Free Mind/Open Spirit
Desolate
Counterparts:
Witness
(You Think You’re) John Fucking Locke
Slave
Outlier
Reflection
The Disconnect
Compass
Expire :
Bark
Anchor
Reputation
YDN
Anxiety
Spit It Out
Pretty Low
Abyss
Focus
Just Fine
- See more at: http://millsrecordcompany.com/caught-mosh-terror-live-lawrence-ks-03262014#sthash.kGKfl7x0.dpuf

Between The Buried And Me -- Lawrence, KS -- March 7th, 2014

This isn't your grandpa's progressive music.

Between The Buried And Me headlined a progressive music package at the Granada Friday night that included three other bands that are continually pushing the package for conventional music, and ever pushing the "progressive" moniker to places it hasn't been before. A very full Granada Theater was extremely receptive of all four bands, filled with lots of singing, lots of moshing and lots of smiling faces.

The first band of the night was Canada's The Kindred. The Kindred is normally a progressive metal band in the vein of Last Chance to Reason and maybe even Protest The Hero. However, they were performing without their vocalist, so everything was instrumental. Their performance without vocals didn't take anything away from them at all, and actually might've even benefited them in some places. Definitely a modern take on progressive music, they combined the breakdowns and palm-muted riffing of djent with the technicality of guitar solos and keyboards to great effect. However, it seemed like without their vocalist, the music was catchy enough to stand on its own for a bit, but it was obvious the songs were written to have a singer carry it along. They didn't have the outrageous riffing or heaviness that Animals As Leaders has, but they could get there if they wanted to. A respectable first band of the night.

California's Intronaut was up next, and personally it was my first time seeing them since 2008 with High on Fire at the Bottleneck. They've changed since then, mellowing out a bit and really embracing the stoner and progressive sides of their music. Their half-hour set included mostly cuts from their latest album "Habitual Levitations." The song "Milk Leg" showcased their incredible bassist - he even had a couple of solo's during their performance. Definitely one of the highlights of the set. Overall, Intronaut was a different kind of heavy from the rest of the night, but their sound was very welcome.

There isn't a more polarizing metal band today than Deafheaven, but you wouldn't have noticed it at this concert. As soon as the band started their opening song "Dream House," the crowd barely let up with moshing and headbanging. At one point during the song, vocalist George Clarke hopped down into the crowd and everyone screamed along with him. Deafheaven's set comprised of material solely from their latest album "Sunbather," which took the metal music world by storm last year. Deafheaven is obviously influenced by shoegaze and post-rock bands such as Explosions in the Sky and My Bloody Valentine, but the majority of their sound is extreme, blast-beat laden and shrieked-vocals black metal that they do just as good as the Norwegian masters of the genre. George Clarke is one of the most impressive frontmen I've ever seen, not only from his impeccable black metal vocal abilities, but he was constantly bounding around the stage, acting like a man possessed. An explosive performance and the best of the night.

Between The Buried And Me are at the center of this new-school progressive metal movement, and they proved it Friday night by performing all of their new album, The Parallax II: Future Sequence, which has enough twists and turns to make even the staunchest of Dream Theater supporters' heads spin. However, for the uninitiated, playing through all of their latest album might be too much. "Parallax II" might be the band's most ambitious release yet, with interludes and movements-within-movements everywhere and music genres going from metalcore to death metal to pop music to everything in between in the span of one song. Luckily for BTBAM, they have some of the most talented musicians around today to keep things interesting for those not vested heavily in their music. Guitarist Paul Waggoner and bassist Dan Briggs provide enough jaw-dropping moments per song that is worth the price of admission alone. There were several moments during BTBAM's set that stood out from the rest, particularly the songs "Telos," "Lay Your Ghosts To Rest," and "Silent Flight Parliament." However, the encore performance of the brilliant "Sun of Nothing" from the equally brilliant "Colors" album further cemented it as maybe the best progressive metal song of the 2000's.

All in all, the lineup of this tour is proof that progressive metal is no longer just confined to Rush and Dream Theater and is quickly moving to the heavier side of things. Based on the performances from all four bands, that's undoubtedly a good thing.

BTBAM:

1. Goodbye To Everything
2. Astral Body
3. Lay Your Ghosts To Rest
4. Autumn
5. Extremophile Elite
6. Parllax
7. The Black Box
8. Telos
9. Bloom
10. Melting City
11. Silent Flight Parliament
12. Goodbye To Everything Reprise
====
13. Sun of Nothing

Deafheaven:

1. Dream House
2. Irresistible (over PA)
3. Sunbather
4. The Pecan Tree

Intronaut:

1. The Literal Black Cloud
2. Vernon
3. Harmonomicon
4. Milk Leg
5. The Welding

Between the Buried and Me: 7.5/10
Deafheaven: 10/10
Intronaut: 8/10
The Kindred: 7.5/10

Primitive Man -- Lawrence, KS -- March 5th, 2014

A small review of the Primitive Man show from last night. My full review is here:

http://blog.millsrecordcompany.com/hate-scorn-brevity-primitive-man-live-jackpot-lawrence-ks-030514