Lineup: Periphery/Veil of Maya/Covet
Venue: House of Blues Boston
Covet: With their instrumental math rock roots and guitar prodigy Yvette Young serving as the focal point of the trio, Covet is like if Animals as Leaders decided to drop the djent elements and go all in on their lush, mellow side. They definitely need add to some songwriting dynamism to complement their ridiculous technical chops and there isn't always enough memorable melodies to sustain the 5+ minute runtime of many of their songs, but their set made for a pleasant, easygoing start to the evening's festivities nonetheless.
Veil of Maya: What a difference a quality sound mix makes. The previous time I saw Veil of Maya on last year's Summer Slaughter Tour featured such annoying issues as Lukas Maygar's lower-pitched vocals being completely inaudible and Marc Okubo's guitar to go in-and-out that prevented them from reaching their peak as a live act. Without any audio issues holding them back this time around, their performance ended up being an electric ride from start to finish. Maygar is a sensational frontman whose ability to keep a crowd hyped up matches his vocal prowess and the bouncy, hooky nature of the songs from their past two records (2015's Matriarch, 2017's False Idol) that dominated their setlist established a warm atmosphere that evoked memories of the community feeling that made metalcore shows so much fun to attend when I was in high school a decade ago. As much as I miss the crushing, odd-metered chaos of the Brandon Butler-era, Veil of Maya has seamlessly transitioned into an excellent traditional metalcore band without losing the relentless energy and gift for writing chunky riffs that made them a clear standout in the early days of Sumerian Records.
Periphery: Finally getting to see Periphery headline after being a fan of theirs since the release of their 2010 self-titled debut LP was a really cool experience. Spencer Sotelo remains an absurdly gifted vocalist that makes switching from beautiful falsetto singing to vicious guttural screaming on a whim look super easy and the material from their new record Periphery IV: Hail Stan, which made up over half of the set, sounded terrific live. Only real complaints I had were some of the baffling older song choices ("Psychosphere", "Lune") that resulted in the buzz that filled the room taking a notable albeit temporary dip and the fact they could've played at least three of their normal-length songs in place of the nearly 17 minute "Reptile" kind of irked me. Regardless, this was a great reminder of Periphery's immense talent that also happened to be just the kick in the ass I needed to rework Periphery IV into my regular listening rotation after an unjustifiable layoff.
Grades:
Covet: B
Veil of Maya: A-
Periphery: A-
Setlists:
Veil of Maya:
20/200
Whistleblower
Nyu
Leeloo
Ellie
Punisher
Overthrow
Three-Fifty
Lisbeth
Unbreakable
Doublespeak
Pool Spray
Lucy
Mikasa
Periphery:
Reptile
CHVRCH BURNER
Garden in the Bones
Follow You Ghost
Scarlet
Marigold
It's Only Smiles
Psychosphere
Blood Eagle
Encore:
Lune
No comments:
Post a Comment