The Rockstar Frozen Flame Tour featuring five of metalcore's biggest names and hottest up-and-comers including August Burns Red, Miss May I and Fit for a King rolled through the House of Blues in Boston last night. This lineup is basically a dream come true for fans of modern metalcore and based on the response from nearly-sold out crowd in attendance, they didn't leave disappointed.
My friends and I got into the venue a little after 6:00 and the first opening band Erra had already started playing. In just a few years of national exposure, Erra has quickly become one of the most lauded young bands in the genre. Both of their full-length albums (2011's Impulse and 2013's Augment) appeared on a number of year-end best lists and have received extremely positive responses from genre enthusiasts. Despite this nearly universal acclaim, the little of their music I'd heard previously didn't make much of an impression on me, and their live show did nothing to change my mind. Outside of the occasional nice melody, nothing about their music stands out. The instrumentation and screamed vocals are pretty average and the cleans are amongst the most grating and obnoxious high-pitched singing I've ever heard. There are just so many bands in the scene right now that play this type of progressive-tinged metalcore better than Erra does. If you're a fan of Erra, you'll love them live since they sound nearly identical to their studio recordings, I just don't really understand the hype around these guys in the slightest.
Fit for a King came roaring onto the stage about 10 minutes later. Their popularity level has surged over the past year and that was evident by the super positive reaction they got from the crowd last night. While I didn't share crowd's immense enthusiasm for Fit for a King, I can completely see why they've blown up so fast. They play a type of crowd-pleasing Christian metalcore a la For Today and The Devil Wears Prada with breakdowns and catchy choruses galore that audiences just eat up. The samey nature of all of their songs prevented me from getting really into them, but there's no denying that these guys put on an engaging, high-energy show. I definitely wouldn't go out of my way to see them again, but they were a respectable opener that were able to hold my attention for the half-hour they were on stage, which is more than I can say for a lot of other bands I've seen open shows over the years.
Northlane took an abnormally long time to set up and didn't end up starting their set until approximately 20-25 minutes after Fit for a King wrapped up. The long wait ended up being worth it as Northlane put on on the first truly notable performance of the evening. New vocalist Marcus Bridge did a more than commendable job with the older material, demonstrating a pretty impressive vocal range and showcasing much better clean vocals than previous vocalist Adrian Fitipaldes. The hardest task for any new vocalist is tackling the band's older material and Bridge was able to overcome that obstacle pretty easily. While Bridge did a good job on vocals, the instrumentation is still the standout element of Northlane. Guitarists Jon Deiley and Josh Smith know how to lay down a solid groove (though the melodic elements could use work) and their drummer Nic Pettersen is an absolute savage behind the kit. They certainly aren't one of the torchbearers for the genre, but Northlane is talented group who puts on a very solid live show.
Miss May I hit the stage next. Unlike the previous three bands on the bill, I'd seen Miss May I before, so I knew exactly what I was getting into and they didn't stray from the precedent they had set the first two I saw them. Miss May I's studio material isn't anything about decent, but they sure as hell know how to put on a show. Vocalist Levi Benton is an elite frontman who prides himself on getting the crowd pumped up and delivering the best vocal performance he possibly can. The rest of the band is certainly engaged in the performance, but Benton is the undeniable spark plug for their live shows. Aside from Benton's showmanship, the other thing that really stands out about Miss May I live is how cohesive they are as a band. The tightness of Miss May I's performance can certainly be attributed to the fact that they've had basically the same lineup since their inception. A lot of young bands can't hold down the same lineup for long, so it's pretty damn impressive that Miss May I has only had one member change since their formation. The level of consistency in their lineup has built up a special chemistry that really comes through in their live show. Miss May I's catchy, energetic music thrives in a live setting and it makes every one of their shows a boatload of fun to watch.
After a pretty quick changeover, August Burns Red came on to close out the evening. To be honest, they were a bit underwhelming the last time I saw them at Warped Tour in July 2013, so I was kind of nervous that they were going to disappoint again at this show. Thankfully, I was proven wrong as August Burns Red killed it. Out of the five times I've seen them, this was probably the best setlist I've ever seen them play. The presence of rarely played older material like "Up Against the Ropes" and "The Eleventh Hour" alongside heavy-hitting staples like "Marianas Trench" and "Composure and a few choice cuts from their most recent album Rescue & Restore was just great to see. August Burns Red is typically fairly predictable with their setlist choices, so it was cool to see them break out a handful of tracks that I've never seen them previously play live. Further bolstering the performance was the overall sharpness of the band. The whole sounded consistently excellent throughout their 75-minute set. Vocalist Jake Luhrs is a severely underrated vocalist with remarkably powerful high and low pitched screams, guitarist JB Brubaker is a versatile powerhouse who excels in both fast and melodic riffing, and drummer Matt Griener continues to become a better player as times goes on (his massive improvement was reenforced by his mightily impressive drum solo before the encore.) August Burns Red has been one of the best metalcore bands around for a long time, and this performance only reaffirmed that position.
Side Notes:
-While this show was pretty good overall, it takes the cake for highest number of assholes I've ever seen at a metal show in Massachusetts. At least five kids got kicked out for starting fights and there was an alarming amount of people going out of their way just to be dicks to people that were just standing around enjoying the show. That type of senseless violence and macho bullshit has no place in metal ,and it sickened me to watch these jackasses ruin the experience for people who were there just to have a good time.
-The bassist/clean vocalist for Fit for a King is one of the most absurdly energetic musicians I've ever seen in my life. Dude did seriously not stop jumping around for more than 10-15 seconds during the whole set.
-Jake Luhrs got the crowd super pissed off when he a dropped joke about the Patriots and the whole "Deflate-gate" scandal. He did manage to quickly win them back by saying he was a Boston Bruins fan.
-Some kid came up to me when Erra was playing and complemented me on my Fallujah sweatshirt, and made a point to say to me that it sucked that there was probably only "20 other people in the room who know who they are". Amen brother.
Scores:
Erra 6/10
Fit for a King 6/10
Northlane 7.5/10
Miss May I 7.5/10
August Burns Red 8.5/10
Setlists:
Erra:
Dremcatcher
Warrior
Frostbite
Pattern Interrupt
Hybrid Earth
Fit for a King:
Hollow King (Sound of the End)
Ancient Waters
Forever Unbroken
Young & Undeserving
Slave to Nothing
The Resistance
Warpath
Northlane:
Quantum Flux
Worldeater
Windbreaker
Rot
Genesis
Scarab
Masquerade
Miss May I:
(At Heart)
Hey Mister
Masses of a Dying Breed
Forgive and Forget
Gone
Our Kings
Hero with No Name
A Dance with Aera Cura
Relentless Chaos
August Burns Red:
White Washed
Beauty in Tragedy
Thirty and Seven
Spirit Breaker
The Eleventh Hour
Up Against the Ropes
Marianas Trench
Provision
Back Burner
Fault Line
Meridian
The Seventh Trumpet
Composure
Drum Solo
Encore:
Carpe Diem
Empire
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