Venue: Brighton Music Hall, Allston, MA
Date: September 19th, 2017
Ghost Bath: Tapping a melodic black metal act to fill the opening slot on a bill that features two of the more buzzed-about young death metal/core acts in the scene right now was a bold move by the promoter who booked this tour. While it was definitely a strange choice considering the musical styles and fanbases of their tourmates, Ghost Bath managed to be a tolerable opener that brought a nice dash of rawness to this otherwise polished, technical affair. Their reliance on repetitive melodies/riffs caused them to get a little stale around the 20-25 minute mark of their set, but Ghost Bath was still pretty alright overall.
Fallujah: After voluntarily skipping their previous two Massachusetts shows with The Black Dahlia Murder and Between the Buried and Me/Devin Townsend, I finally got the chance to see Fallujah on the touring cycle for their latest album Dreamless. Since I'm an unapologetic fanboy of this band, this performance unsurprisingly filled me with a borderline sad level of joy. The setlist was damn near perfect (they legitimately played every single one of my favorite songs from Dreamless), their musicianship was flawless and above all, fill-in vocalist Monte Bernard (The Kennedy Veil, ex-Alterbeast) did an excellent job of capturing the tone of the band's material without mimicking former vocalist Alex Hoffmann's style. While Bernard's involvement with The Kennedy Veil makes it unlikely, I'd be completely cool with him becoming the permeant vocalist. I'm not going to pretend like I'm not very concerned about how this vocalist search will end up panning out, but for now, I'm just happy that they were able to put on a great live show without Hoffmann as their frontman.
Thy Art is Murder: If you're looking for someone to blame for the resurgence and/or continued relevance of the deathcore movement in extreme metal, Australia's Thy Art is Murder should be the band you direct your anger at. How they were able to pull off the miraculous feat of reviving a genre that had pretty much died once genre leaders Suicide Silence and Whitechapel decided to take their music in new directions in the early 2010's becomes abundantly clear when you see them in a live setting. Their knack for establishing an atmosphere of pure, visceral devastation with their music is a gift that only a small number of bands in the scene right now possess. The Land Down Under's finest export since Crocodile Dundee backed up their terrific track record as a live act with yet another high-energy performance that showcased their ability to reduce a room into complete ruination.
This hour-long headlining set combined the more straightforward death metal-inspired style they introduced on their newest album Dear Desolation-which was released last month-with a healthy amount of crowd-pleasing, breakdown-heavy favorites from their previous two LP's (2012's Hate and 2015's Holy War). Despite the slight stylistic differences between these releases, the band managed to compose a setlist that featured a majority of the most crushing tracks in their catalog, which sent the near sell-out crowd at the Brighton Music Hall into exactly the type of chaotic frenzy metalheads live for. Adding to the madness was the always imposing presence of vocalist C.J McMahon. McMahon, who recently re-joined the band after a year and a half away, was as sharp as ever vocally and did a great job of inciting the crowd without ever coming across as a hxC douchebag. While they'll never be among my personal favorites, Thy Art is Murder's live shows are always a ton of fun and do an excellent job of reaffirming why they've gained such a rabid following over the past six years.
This hour-long headlining set combined the more straightforward death metal-inspired style they introduced on their newest album Dear Desolation-which was released last month-with a healthy amount of crowd-pleasing, breakdown-heavy favorites from their previous two LP's (2012's Hate and 2015's Holy War). Despite the slight stylistic differences between these releases, the band managed to compose a setlist that featured a majority of the most crushing tracks in their catalog, which sent the near sell-out crowd at the Brighton Music Hall into exactly the type of chaotic frenzy metalheads live for. Adding to the madness was the always imposing presence of vocalist C.J McMahon. McMahon, who recently re-joined the band after a year and a half away, was as sharp as ever vocally and did a great job of inciting the crowd without ever coming across as a hxC douchebag. While they'll never be among my personal favorites, Thy Art is Murder's live shows are always a ton of fun and do an excellent job of reaffirming why they've gained such a rabid following over the past six years.
Scores:
Ghost Bath 5/10
Fallujah 9/10
Thy Art is Murder 8/10
Setlists:
Fallujah:
Cerebral Hybridization
Adrenaline
Abandon
Amber Gaze
Carved from Stone
Sapphire
Scar QueenLacuna
The Void Alone
Thy Art is Murder:
Dear Desolation
Slaves Beyond Death
The Purest Strain of Hate
Shadow of Eternal Sin
Violent Reckoning
Emptiness
No Absolution
Absolute Genocide
The Son of Misery
Puppet Master
Coffin Dragger
Holy War
Light Bearer
Encore:
Reign of Darkness
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