Reunion shows have a special atmosphere that just can't be duplicated by a majority of normal concerts. The audience at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts was treated to a pair of high-profile extreme metal reunion last night, as Canadian deathcore titans Despised Icon and the Bay State's own abrasive icons The Red Chord played their first shows in the United States since 2010 and 2011 respectively.
After the parade of local bands that had been playing since mid-afternoon finished upstairs, New York's Extinction A.D. opened the downstairs stage just before 7:00. As a thrash band, they were undeniably out-of-place on a bill loaded with deathcore/death metal acts. However, that didn't stop them from putting on an energetic and relatively enjoyable show. Their vocals were strangely clean for thrash and they were a little too mid-paced for my liking, but they had enough solid riffs and solos to make their flaws forgivable. Extinction A.D. was a respectable opener that successfully got the crowd warmed up for the rest of the bands on the bill.
Deathcore upstarts The Last Ten Seconds of Life hit the stage next. In short, they sucked. They play the type of one-note, laughably predictable deathcore that I previously thought had died out years ago. Every song featured an abundance of subpar guttural vocals and delayed slow breakdowns with the trademark crash cymbal hit in between each drawn-out chug of the guitar. Their 25 minute-set seemed like one long song which only paused so the vocalist could say a few words to the audience to take a breather from the relentless monotony of the music. If you enjoy early Chelsea Grin or Carnifex, you will LOVE The Last Ten Seconds of Life. If you don't, steer clear: There's no shortage of other bands in the genre that do the exact same thing a whole hell of a lot better.
As bad as The Last Ten Seconds of Life were, they didn't come close to touching the musical flatulence Lorna Shore produced right after them. Everything that The Last Ten Seconds of Life did poorly, Lorna Shore did much worse. If Impending Doom made music about worshiping the devil instead of Jesus, they would be Lorna Shore. Not since the aforementioned Chelsea Grin have I heard a band with worse vocals, blander song structures or an overall aura of faux-hxC bro toughness than Lorna Shore. I have to gave Lorna Shore credit because their piss-poor use of breakdowns and pig squeals provided me a lot of laughs, which made their set about as entertaining as it could possibly be. Lorna Shore is a comically terrible band that without question put on one of the worst shows I've seen in quite some time.
After dealing with The Last Ten Seconds of Life and Lorna Shore for the past hour and change, just about anything would've sounded great in comparison. Thankfully, the next band slated to perform was the always enjoyable Within the Ruins. I don't know if it was because the previous two bands were so god awful or they were just in top form, but Within the Ruins was even better than usual. The growth these guys have shown over the last few years is really impressive. They continue to become a more confident and efficient live band , and that improvement has never been more evident than it was during this performance. Joe Cochi's blistering guitarwork will be always be the centerpiece of the band, but vocalist Tim Goregen and drummer Kevin McGuill are also incredibly gifted musicians who are largely responsible for their recent noticeable improvement as a band. Their setlist was basically the same as it was the last time I saw them on Summer Slaughter this past August, which is completely fine because it's a solid collection of songs that exposes their strengths as a band. The lone addition they made to the set was "The Other" off of their new album Phenomena. I was pretty stoked about this as "The Other" is my favorite song on Phenomena and as expected, it translated beautifully to a live environment. Within the Ruins is a consistently fun band to see live and if their upward trend continues, they'll only become formidable as time goes on.
After an agonizing half-hour wait, The Red Chord finally hit the stage. While I had no doubt that The Red Chord would eventually end their hiatus, I didn't think they think they would reform for a show. I honestly haven't been this amped to see a band since the System of a Down reunion show in 2011. Even with my unreasonably high expectations, they didn't come close to disappointing. The band ripped through a perfectly balanced set of staples ("Antman", "Black Santa", "Dreaming in Dog Years") and lesser-played material ("Lay the Tarp", "Tread on the Necks of Kings") without any semblance of hesitation or signs of visible rust. They truly have not lost any of the grit and ferocity that made them such a force back in the day. Not only did they sound excellent, they were even funnier than usual. Guitarist Mike "Gunface" McKenzie introduced their new song (which was excellent) as an "unreleased Eagles track that they re-recorded because the Eagles asked them to" and after their bass drum pedal broke and needed to be replaced, bassist Greg Weeks went on an absurd rant about killing a squirrel with a shovel and how this event made him question his morality while the drummer switched out the pedal. I am well aware that The Red Chord will never be a full-time band again, but with the tease of new material and strength of this performance, I really hope this isn't the last we've heard from them.
Despised Icon hit the stage pretty promptly after The Red Chord finished up. While they weren't quite as important to me as The Red Chord, Despised Icon was still a pivotal band in forming my love of extreme metal when I was in my early years of high school. Despised Icon only played a couple of shows in the United States during their run of reunion shows this year, and Massachusetts was one of the the lucky two cities to land these exclusive shows (Alex Erian said in a genuine statement near the end of the set that they knew we're only going to be able to play a few shows in the U.S. and they wanted Massachusetts to be one of them.) Just like The Red Chord before them, Despised Icon was incredibly cohesive as a unit, and put on a damn fine performance. What makes them standout from the deathcore pack is their two-vocalist attack and the drumming of Alex Pelletier. Erian gives the band a hardcore punk vocal edge to contrast the straight-up heaviness of the music and a commanding stage presence that can incite chaos at any moment while Steve Marois has some of the most ferocious high-pitched screams and pig squeals I've ever heard. The two complement each other perfectly and their two very different styles allow them to cover a lot of diverse ground vocally. While the diversity of their vocals is a big plus, the most impressive aspect of the band is Pelletier's drumming. There is pretty much no one in the business that does extreme metal drumming better than Pelletier. His blast beats are inhumanly fast and it's utterly captivating to watch him play this material live. About the only downside to their set was the length. Their music isn't overly dynamic on the whole, so it got a little bit stale towards the end of the set. That being said, pretty much every aspect of Despised Icon's performance was great and any of their fans should take advantage of the opportunity if they play a show in their city.
Scores:
Extinction A.D. 6.5/10
The Last Ten Seconds of Life 4/10
Lorna Shore 2/10
Within the Ruins 8/10
The Red Chord 9/10
Despised Icon 8/10
Setlists:
Within the Ruins:
Gods Amongst Men
The Other
Invade
I, Blasphame
Feeding Frenzy
Calling Card
The Red Chord:
Nihilist
Hour of Rats
Bone Needle
Tread on the Necks of Kings
Demoralizer
Clients
Black Santa
Hymns and Crippled Anthems
New Song
Fixation on Plastics
Lay the Tarp
Antman
Dreaming in Dog Years
Despised Icon:
Furtive Monologue
A Fractured Hand
Day of Mourning
Sheltered Reminiscence
Compelled to Copulate
All for Nothing
The Sunset Will Never Charm Us
Retina
Warm Blooded
In the Arms of Perdition
Les Temps Changent
Sleepless
MVP
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