New England Metal and Hardcore Festival 2011 Lineup

It's that time of the year again for New England metalheads(including myself), the annual New England and Metal Hardcore Festival is taking place April 14-16 at The Palladium in Worcester,Massachusetts. Here is the lineup for all 3 days, there are more bands to be added to Friday and Saturday's lineup in the coming weeks and as always, a few bands will drop off. Without further ado, here is the lineup.

*next to bands I think are worth seeing for each day(there are a few bands that I have never listened to mostly on Friday and Saturday's lineup, so if there is no mark doesn't necessarily mean I don't like them.)
Thursday April 14th(worst day in NEMHF history, imo. This lineup makes me sad)
Attack Attack!
MyChildren MyBride
Vanna
Our Last Night
Stray From The Path
Arsonists Get The Girls*
A Bullet For Pretty Boy
Lions Lions
Armor For The Broken
This Or The Apocalypse
I The Breather
Across The Sun
Too Late The Hero
Attila
A Plea For Purging
Dr.Acula
The Crimson Armada*
Legacy
Counterparts
Legion

Friday April 15th
Biohazard
Bury Your Dead
Terror*
Cruel Hand*
Your Demise
Thy Will Be Done*
This Is Hell*
The Carrier
Suffokate
Stick To Your Guns
Trapped Under Ice*
First Blood
Lionheart
Shai Hulud
Close Your Eyes
Legend
Monsters
The Great Commission
The Greenery
Hundredth
King Conquer
Betrayal

Saturday April 16th
Hatebreed*
Between The Buried and Me*
Job For A Cowboy*
The Ocean*
Carnifex
Oceano
Born Of Osiris*
Dying Fetus*
Skeletonwitch*
Lazarus A.D*
Beneath The Massacre
3 Inches Of Blood*
Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza
The Contortionist
Revocation*
Within The Ruins
Volumes
Molotov Solution
Son Of Aurelius*
Nails
A Life Once Lost*
Hung
Withered*
Wretched
Last Chance To Reason
Structures
Confrontation

Quick thoughts on the lineup.
Thursday: This lineup is gross. Only a couple of bands that are any good, most bands are complete shit. Attack Attack! as a headliner is just plain sad.

Friday: A lot of hardcore bands, some good and some bad. Not a bad lineup overall, but not enough to get me to attend.

Saturday:This lineup is amazing. Just about every band is amazing. I am extremely excited to see Lazarus A.D,Revocation,Son Of Aurelius,Dying Fetus,Born Of Osiris and The Ocean for the first time. Throw in some of my favorites such as Hatebreed,Between The Buried and Me,Skeletonwitch,Job For A Cowboy and 3 Inches Of Blood and you have a hell of a lineup. I am stoked for this day of the festival, this will be the only day I attend this year.

Concert Review: Summer Slaughter Worcester,MA July 31st,2010

Got to the show around 3:40. I ran to the door thinking I was going to miss Vital Remains. Thankfully The Palladium had put 1 local band on the main stage prior to the Summer Slaughter tour package. The local band was playing their last song when I got in. They sounded like a mix of The Faceless(instrumentally) and Arsonists Get All The Girls(vocally).

Anways onto the Summer Slaughter tour package. The New England Death Metal legends Vital Remains took the stage. These dudes know to put on a great show. Vital Remains should be billed higher on this tour simply on merit and experience alone, but I do understand from a popularity standpoint that they aren't very popular despite being around for 20+years. The crowd was going absoultely apeshit during their set. One of the best performances of the day for sure.

Animals As Leaders was also great. Seeing an instrumental band was a nice change of pace on a strictly extreme metal tour and the crowd was into them for the most part. It was really cool to finally see them after recently listening to their studio stuff and really digging it.

I hate Carnifex and thankfully the Over The Limit tour was playing upstairs at the same time. The only band that I liked on that whole tour is Arsonists Get All The Girls(I didn't even end up watching them they were on at the same time as Celphalic Carnage) but I figured any band on that bill is better than Carnifex. When I got upstairs, Thick As Blood was playing. They are pretty much a very average version of Hatebreed, at least middle of the road hardcore is better than shitty ass Carnifex.

Looked at the merch while Decrepit Birth was setting up. Pretty much every band has great designs and the merch is pretty cheap for every band. Onto Decrepit Birth they were pretty good. I am not a fan on disc but their material sounds a lot better live. I really have never understood why I don't like their studio stuff being a pretty big tech-death fan but I have just never gotten into them. I am glad I gave them a chance live and I enjoyed their set a pretty good deal.

Cephalic Carnage is fun as hell live. They go absoultely ballistic and they have great banter. The new songs sound really good I don't remember the names of the new ones but they are about smoking weed and watching Star Trek, and chronic masturbation.

Veil Of Maya is a severely underrated band. Their new album (id) is great and will most likely rank pretty highly on my end of the year list. The thing is with Veil Of Maya is that they are good live but they are better on album for sure. Their set was plagued with weak sound and the guitarist screwed up a few times. Despite those flaws they still put on a good show.

The local heroes from Revere,Massachusetts The Red Chord were on next. The Red Chord never fails to deliver live. They put on an amazing show every time and they look like they are having the time of their lives on the stage. Guy Kozoywk(spelled that wrong for sure) is a whirlwind on stage and he was so excited to be in front of the hometown crowd. He along with his bandmates were out and about all day talking with fans. The Red Chord is truely a class act and a fantastic band.

All Shall Perish is a band that is so much better live than they are on disc it is scary. I like them on disc but live they are 100x better. Sure they have some pig squealing and breakdowns but their guitarwork is fucking fantastic. All Shall Perish is a band that reminds me that deathcore can be done right when in the right hands. Met the singer right after their set as well, he is a really nice guy. Great performance and I will most likely see them next time they come around.

The Faceless was one of the reasons for me to come to this show. They are one of my favorite bands around right now and imo the best tech-death band to emerge in quite some time. This was my 2nd time seeing them and they are fucking great live. Derek Rydquist is a monster of a vocalist. Michael Keene hit every one of his solos to perfection. Best part was they played a longer setlist than they have been playing for most of the tour. Technically perfect,brutal and flat out fantastic. Tied for the best show of the day with The Red Chord.

I had to miss Decapitated and that killed me. Hey I had to make a small sacrifice for my friend not a really big deal. He drove me there and I know he wanted to see Decapitated as well but he wanted to see his girlfriend on her birthday so I gotta respect that. I do love Decapitated and I am sure they will tour again and I will make damn sure that I am there when do.

Great fucking show and If this is coming to your city go. With the exception of Carnifex there is not a weak band on the bill and I think every extreme metal fan will go home happy after this show.


Scores
Vital Remains 8.5/10
Animals As Leaders 8/10
Thick As Blood 5/10
Decrepit Birth 7.5/10
Cephalic Carnage 8/10
Veil Of Maya 7.5/10
The Red Chord 9/10
All Shall Perish 8.5/10
The Faceless 9/10

Setlists
Vital Remains
Dechristianize
Savior To None,Failure To All
?
Hammer Down The Nails

Animals As Leaders
Wave Of Babies
Tempting Time
On Inpulse
CAFO

Cephalic Carnage
Hybrid
Endless Cycle Of Violence
New Song
New Song
New Song
Lucid Interval
?
Kill For Weed

Veil Of Maya
(id)
Unbreakable
Crawl Back
Dark Passenger
Pillars
We Bow In Its Aura
It's Not Safe To Swim Today

The Red Chord
Demoralizer
Bone Needle
Black Santa
Floating Through The Vein
Hour Of Rats
Nihillist
Dreaming In Dog Years
Antman

All Shall Perish
There Is No Buisness To Be Done On A Dead Planet....
Stabbing To Purge Dissimulation
When Life Meant More...
Gagged,Bound,Shelved and Forgotten
Never....Again
Eradication
Wage Slaves

The Faceless
Shape Shifters
Coldly Calculated Design
Sons Of Belial
Xenochrist
The Anicent Covenant
Horizons Of Chaos I: Oracle Of The Onslaught
Legion Of The Serpent
Planetary Duality I: Hideous Revelation
Planetary Duality II: A Prophecies Fruition
An Autopsy

Concert Review: Warped Tour July 13, 2010 Mansfield,Massachusetts

Overall it was a really fun day. That being said the day did not start that way. I got into the venue pretty fast surprisingly but after walking around for a few minutes I could find no signs of set times anywhere. When I finally did it was 11:20 I found out that the main band I was there to see The Dillinger Escape Plan had already been playing for 10 minutes. After being misguided by a Comcast Center employee I ran as fast as I could to what I thought was the Main Stage and af it turned out to be the Glamour Kills Stage/AP Stage. I finally found a map and got there they already had just about finished 43% Burnt. Despite missing half their set watching Dillinger was amazing. Spot on live and off the walls energetic. The setlist was amazing as well a lot of the best new material off of Option Paralysis was played.


After Dillinger I made a promise to my friends that I would give Bring Me The Horizon a chance live. I tend to be pretty open minded when it comes to music and I will give anything a fair chance. I give Bring Me The Horizon a chance but they were still fucking ungodly awful. Oli Sykes is one of the worst metal vocalists ever. Some of his high pitched screaming he just spoke the words instead of screaming and he had some of the gayest gestures when he was on stage. Another whale of a tale from these bitches was how Sykes kept complaining about the lack of circle pits. Dude you have to realize that your fans are gold medal invisible ninja fighters they don't like circle pits. One thing these ninja fighting douchers do like though is putting together the worst wall of death I have ever witnessed. I couldn't stop laughing it was one of the saddest things I have ever seen at a show. The only compliment I can give them is that they have good energy. Besides that Bring Me The Horizon is a detriment to metal and should stop making music ASAP.


Every Time I Die was up next for me. After Bring Me The Horizon it was refreshing to see a band that knows how to work the crowd properly. Anyone that is going to Warped Tour for the remainder of the tour should watch these guys. They are a great live band and they were a lot of fun to watch. One of the standout performances of the day.


While walking over to the Altec Lansing Stage to watch Whitechapel I watched Four Year Strong's last two songs. They weren't particularlly good but they weren't bad.

Whitechapel was up next. They were a lot better than they were at the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival in April but they still had shit sound and they need to make some setlist changes. They play the same songs non-stop. Whitechapel played pretty well but they still aren't as good live as they used to be.Parkway Drive came on right after them.

I got to say Parkway Drive is a great live band. The vocalist Winston McCall is fantastic and he is hillarious. Great performance all around by them and I was surprised that they had circle pits going for almost the entire set.

After Parkway it became a waiting game for me untill Alkaline Trio came on as they were 0 bands that I wanted to see during this so me and my friends sat at the Glamour Kills and AP stage for a little bit simply because there were seats. During that span I witnessed this band called Artist Vs Poet. Holy shit they were one of the worst bands I have ever heard in my entire life. Beyond whiney pop-punk that made All Time Low sound like Iron Fucking Maiden in comparison. After that shitshow Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band came on. I could not stop laughing at these guys. I understand they are trying to make fun,brainless music but they were just ridiculous. They had some talent but they sounded like music Borat would listen to. After that Sparks The Rescue played. They were still pretty weak but in comparison to the other bands that I just endured they weren't that bad.

Finally after the horrid array of sounds ended I watched Alkaline Trio. It has been a while since I had seen Alkaline Trio but they played pretty well. I will say the setlist was not the strongest mainly due to the lack of songs off of Crimson my favorite record by them. Despite the issue I still enjoyed there set a good amount and Armegeddon and 97 are two of my favorite songs by them.
I didn't watch any bands for another hour and a half after that because during the span In Fear and Faith,Alesana, We The Kings,Hey Monday,Never Shout Never,Emarosa,Emmure,Mayday Parade and a few other awful bands were occupying their respective stages.

I made a very bad choice to watch Suicide Silence over Sum 41. Sum 41 i'm sure would been a lot of fun for the nostalgia and I highly regret not watching them. I am not even a big Suicide Silence fan at all. I am take it or leave it on them on disc but they do put on a pretty good show. They were still pretty decent but Mitch wasn't on the top of his game vocally. His voice kept cracking when he was doing his highs. That being said the crowd was really into it and besides the final act of the night(who I will be getting to in a moment) they got the best reception of the entire day. My friends that I went with all had their minds blown and just kept talking about they blew everyone else on the bill out of the water but they went back to the car prior to the last act who was.


...........Andrew W.K!!!!! I knew Andrew W.K was going to be good and fun live but I didn't think he was going to be that good. He was fucking unbelieveable. I have rarely seen a crowd so excited to see an artist in my entire life. He had circle pits going from the barrier all the way back to the Vans VIP Tent. Andrew W.K is such an amazing performer and he played the best show of the entire day. I was speechless after his performance and rarely had as much fun at a show then I did during his show.Overall a good show with a couple of letdowns and long waits with no bands I wanted to see but it was still worth it.

Scores
The Dillinger Escape Plan 9/10
Bring Me The Horizon 1.5/10
Every Time I Die 8.5/10
Whitechapel 7.5/10
Parkway Drive 8/10
Artist Vs Poet 1/10
Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band 2.5/10
Sparks The Rescue 3/10
Alkaline Trio 7.5/10
Suicide Silence 6.5/10
Andrew W.K 9.5/10

Setlists

The Dillinger Escape Plan(missed half the set due to the aforementioned incident)
43% Burnt
Room Full Of Eyes
Chinese Whispers
Good Neighbor
Sunshine The Werewolf
Farewell Mona Lisa

Every Time I Die
No Son Of Mine
The Marvelous Slut
Ebolorama
After One Quarter Of A Revolution
She's My Rushmore
The New Black
Floater
Apocalypse Now And Then
Bored Stiff
We'rewolf

Whitechapel
Of Legions
The Darkest Day Of Man
Posession
Vicer Exciser
Breeding Violence
Eternal Refuge
Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation
This Is Exile

Parkway Drive
Samsara(Intro)
Unrest
Idols and Anchors
Romance Is Dead
Sleepwalker
Dead Man's Chest
Carrion
Boneyards

Alkaline Trio
Cringe
Armageddon
Emma
Dine,Dine My Darling
Stupid Kid
In Vein
Private Eye
This Addiction
97

Suicide Silence
Wake Up
Lifted
Smoke
Unanswered
Disengage
No Time To Bleed
No Pity For A Coward

Andrew W.K.
It's Time To Party
Girls Own Love
You Will Remember Tonight
She Is Beautiful
Tear It Up
Ready To Die
We Want Fun
I Love NYC
I Get Wet
Party Hard