Friday, December 12, 2014

Concert Review: The Ghost Inside/Every Time I Die-- Boston, MA-- December 11th, 2014

When it comes to modern hardcore/metalcore, there are few bands that have as much clout as Los Angeles' The Ghost Inside and Buffalo's Every Time I Die. These heavyweights brought their co-headlining tour to the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday night and showed an almost sold-out crowd exactly why they've risen to the top of the crowded metal/hardcore scene.

After a delayed start due to the doors opening an hour late, Backtrack came on to kick things off at 6:30. I'd heard nothing but great things about these guys over the past few years, so I was excited to get the chance to finally check them out. After seeing them, I can honestly say that I'm confused where all the hype for this band came from. Backtrack plays the same aggressive, relentless beatdown hardcore that countless other bands play with none of the personality that's needed to make it work. More than any other genre in metal, hardcore lives and dies by the vocalist and Backtrack frontman James Vitalo just doesn't cut it. While he certainly has the energy to be a hardcore frontman, his vocals are below-average at best and his stage presence is obnoxiously over-the-top with faux-macho bullshit. It must be noted that I was definitely an outlier for Backtrack. The hxC bros in attendance were going crazy throughout their set and flocked to the pit in droves to show off their sweet spin-kicks and two-stepping moves. Backtrack isn't a completely worthless band, there's just a ton of others bands that do the exact same thing much better than them.

Hundredth hit the stage next. Their combination of melodic and traditional hardcore fit the bill perfectly as they bare a striking musical resemblance to the show's co-headliner The Ghost Inside. Their 30-minute set pretty much flew by as they tore through a mix of songs from their 2011 LP Let Go and pair of recent EP's Revolt and Resist at a brisk pace with practically no breaks. These guys are easily one of the top up-and-comers in the genre and based on the reception they got here, people seem to have finally taken notice. Hundredth set the tone for the rest of the show with a consistently fun, high-energy set, and I look forward to (hopefully) seeing these guys again on Warped Tour this summer.

Britain's latest highly popular metalcore export, the Architects, were due up next. I'm not going to lie, I was dreading their set. The first time I saw the Architects all the way back in July 2010 on The Cool Tour with As I Lay Dying, Between the Buried and Me and Underoath, they put on one of the absolute worst performances I've ever seen. They were so mind-numbingly dull and repetitive that they made the lifeless, sloppy set the Cancer Bats played directly before them seem triumphant. I don't know if it was because my expectations were so low or they've just grown as a band over the past four and a half years, but I can honestly say the Architects weren't bad. Actually, they were pretty damn good. Their music still has basically no variation and Sam Carter's clean vocals need some serious work, but the nice groove of their songs, respectable screams from Carter and towering stage presence made their set relatively enjoyable to watch. The quality of their performance was only aided by the explosive reception they got from the crowd. Though they weren't headlining, you would have never of known that based on the audience reception. Their fans were every bit as present and passionate as those in the room for The Ghost Inside and Every Time as they sang along to every song (every time Carter held out the mic for people to finish a lyric, more than half the room would scream it back at him) and turned the floor into a warzone for the duration of the set. While there's certainly still some major flaws in their music, the Architects are much a more formidable band than I previously thought they were. I'll never be a big fan of theirs, but I have to give them a lot of credit for transforming from an embarrassingly awful live band to a pretty solid one.

Every Time I Die had the honor of being the first of the co-headliners to play last night (this is a true co-headlining tour as ETID and The Ghost Inside are rotating who closes the show each night) and per usual, they flat-out destroyed. Their hour-long set perfectly showcased the band at their crushingly heavy yet fun as hell best. As expected, the band played a ton of material from their new album From Parts Unknown. From Parts Unknown is easily the heaviest album they've put out in over a decade and the raw, gritty nature of these tracks really come alive live. "The Great Secret" and "Idiot" can go toe-to-toe with anything from Hot Damn! for the title of heaviest song in their catalog, "Decayin' with the Boys" is just an absolute blast and "Moor" was a stirring and appropriately hard-hitting closer that served as the finest moment of the entire set. The older selections were solid as well as set staples "We'rewolf", "Bored Stiff" and "The New Black" remain some of my favorite songs to hear in a live setting. They even sprinkled in some deeper old cuts ("Roman Holiday", "Cities and Years" and best of all, "Champing at the Bit" ) alongside their more well-known tracks, which was a nice and unexpected touch. Of course, it wouldn't be an Every Time I Die show without random, hilarious riffings from vocalist Keith Buckley. Buckley dumped on the hometown Bruins (being from Buffalo, he's a huge Sabres fan) and dropped a ton of deadpan jokes before starting a song ("If you have a head bang it". "If you don't, borrow one from someone else. he told the crowd before "No Son of Mine"). Buckley is clearly having a great time performing and his lighthearted stage demeanor makes their shows that much more enjoyable. Every Time I Die is one of the finest live acts in all of metal right now. The whole band sounds phenomenal and they put 200% into every single performance. If you're a metalcore fan and you haven't seen these guys live, you need to remedy that the next time they play in your area.

The Ghost Inside closed out the evening. In typical Ghost Inside fashion, they lit the room on fire with an immensely passionate and energetic performance. This was the first time I'd seen them outside of a festival setting (the previous two times I'd seen them was at Warped, while the first time was at New England Metal and Hardcore Festival) and this was the easily best performance I've seen out of them to-date. The Ghost Inside's melodic-tinged hardcore really thrives in a club setting. Vocalist Jonathan Vigil is an ace at working the crowd and has the genuine emotional edge and vocal capabilities that are needed to succeed in this genre. The music perfectly supports Vigil's spirited presence, with perfectly timed breakdowns and soaring melodic riffs that maximize the band's emotional impact. Their setlist focused heavily on 2012 album Get What You Give, which isn't exactly surprising given the fact that it was their breakout album and they have a tendency to not play (their newest record Dear Youth was just released in November) a lot of material off their newest record directly after it's released. Tracks like"Dark Horse", "Outlive" and "Engine 45" were amazing as always, but hearing the emotionally-charged "White Light"-which is dedicated to vocalist Jonathan Vigil's late brother- for the first time live was awesome and it ended up being the finest moment of the set. My only complaint for their set was the general lack of new material in the set. Dear Youth is a pretty great record and it deserved way more recognition in the set than it got (they played a mere three songs from it during this 12-song, nearly hour-long set). The Ghost Inside's success is more than warranted, and their live shows are only getting better as time goes on. Every generation has its great hardcore band and The Ghost Inside very well could be the torchbearers for their generation.

Scores:
Backtrack 6/10
Hundredth 7.5/10
Architects 7/10
Evey Time I Die 9/10
The Ghost Inside 8.5/10

Setlists:
Hundredth:
Carry On
Free Mind/Open Spirit
Shelter
Live Today
Retain & Sustain
Weathered Town
Soul

Every Time I Die:
Thirst
Decayin' With the Boys
Ebolarama
The Great Secret
Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space
Pelican of the Desert
Bored Stiff
Wanderlust
Champing at the Bit
The New Black
Cities and Years
Floater
Roman Holiday
The Marvelous Slut
Idiot
No Son of Mine
We'rewolf
Moor

The Ghost Inside:
Avalanche
Unspoken
The Great Unknown
Between the Lines
Faith or Forgiveness
Dark Horse
Out of Control
This is What I Know About Sacrifice
Outlive
Thirty Three
White Light

Encore:
Dear Youth (Day 52)
Engine 45 

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