The Fall of Troy made sure their first full U.S. tour since reuniting early last year was a landmark event. The Seattle-based post-hardcore/math rock act celebrated the 10th anniversary of their breakout release Doppelganger by playing the album in its entirety. Last night this tour made its way to the Royale in Boston and the recently reformed act delivered a show that was worthy of its special event billing.
I arrived at the Royale about halfway through opener Slothrust's set. Slothrust is an act with a sound that is incredibly difficult to describe. They had a bunch of really slow indie moments that were reminiscent of the music every sad white kid with an acoustic guitar plays at open mic nights across the United States, but also had some instrumental sections with really fast drumming and crunchy riffing that wouldn't sound out of a place in a stoner rock song. Adding to the enigma was the awkward stage banter from vocalist Leah Wellbaum. Between songs she kept mumbling off-color comments, made stupid jokes and just look like she was exremely uncomfortable on stage. Slothrust's lack of musical direction and odd stage presence made their performance one of the strangest shows I've ever seen.
Irish instrumental band And So I Watched You From Afar came out shortly after and returned a sense of normalcy to the room. I hadn't heard a single note of their music going into this show, but they managed to grab my attention almost immediately and hold it for the duration of their performance. The guitarwork was extremely intricate, the drumming was exceptional and the moments of melody beautifully contrasted the blistering technicality that drove a majority of their compositions. And So I Watched You From Afar was generally really solid instrumental post-rock/hardcore and I plan on digging deeper into their catalog in the near future.
After a pretty brief changeover, The Fall of Troy hit the stage around 8:20. Given their extended hiatus and spastic nature of their music, I was somewhat worried that their live show would be underwhelming. While the sound mix and the vocals from both Tom Erak and Tim Ward were a little suspect at times, The Fall of Troy was very impressive on the whole. The band was incredibly tight, nailing every single note of their mindbogglingly chaotic music and the group's energy level perfectly synched up with the intensity and unpredictability of their music. As expected, the material from Doppelganger made up a majority of the setlist. The Doppelganger tracks sounded excellent live ("Mouths Like Sidewinder Missiles" and "Laces Out, Dan!" were the standouts) and hearing these songs live gave me a greater appreciation for the subtleties that are buried within the many layers of the studio version. Seeing Doppelganger performed from start to finish serves as a reminder of just how special and criminally underrated of an album it is. However, being the shameless whore for technical guitar playing that I am, the clear highlight of the show for me was watching Erak play. He's one of the most technically-sound and downright wild guitar players I've ever seen play in person. He not only nails the ridiculously complex parts that appear on the studio recordings, but throws in some really cool improvised parts that further bolster the song's quality and aura of chaos. Erak's guitarwork is what made Fall of Troy's music click with me in the first place and his playing stands out even more in a live setting. The 5 years The Fall of Troy spent away from music appears to have done them a lot of good and I fully expect their upcoming album to be an absolutely triumphant return to the spotlight.
Side Notes:
-Erak confirmed at the the end of the set that Fall of Troy will release a new record in 2016.
-This kid in a wheelchair crowdsurfed multiple times throughout the set. Unfortunately, this poor bastard was signaling for 10 minutes for people to put him down (Erak asked the crowd to put him down on his behalf four times) until someone actually did.
-Some crowdsurfer stopped and hugged Erak and bassist Tim Ward before they started playing "Macaulay McCulkin".
Scores:
Slothtrust WTF/10
And I Watched You From Afar 7.5/10
The Fall of Troy 8/10
Setlists:
The Fall of Troy (order may be a little off):
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I Just Got This Symphony Goin' (w/ The Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face" outro)
Act One, Scene One
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F.C.P. R.E.M..I. X
You Got a Death Wish Johnny Truant?
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Mouths Like Sidewinder Missiles
A Whole New World (instrumental version of the Aladdin song)
The H(oly) Tape
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Laces Out, Dan!
We Better Learn How to Hotwire A Uterus
New Song
Whack Jacko Steals the Elephant Man's Bones
Tom Waits
Macaulay McCulkin
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