The Palladium, Worcester, MA

Once again it was time for my annual sojourn to the northeast’s premier destination for all forms of metal in one crazy weekend. Every year they have tried to improve aspects of the show and this time was no different. Western Massachusetts has its very own Svengali of metal in Scott Lee. Lee runs several venues, promotes the scene to the fullest, helps manage bands like THE ACACIA STRAIN via Crimson Management and has a bunch of other ventures he’s into. He makes this fest happen and all the fans and myself appreciate it. Now expanded to three days, I missed day one on Thursday night. Early arriving fans got to see performances by DR. ACULA, STRAY FROM THE PATH, MY CHILDREN MY BRIDE, VANNA and ATTACK ATTACK. I met fans from all over the world on Friday including one couple who came in just for the show from Australia because they have never seen BIOHAZARD or the teenage girl who made her parents bring her from Indiana only to see TERROR and CARNIFEX which is amazing if you think about it. I made into the venue and strapped myself in for the first full day of non-stop metal madness. Dominated mostly by bands that were mostly either hardcore or deathcore, I figured today would be packed to the gills and I was right. (Extra special thanks to Rev. Aaron Pepelis and Return to the Pit for the photo usage where noted.)

As I walked into the the upstairs part of the building to where the second stage was I got to see and hear the end of the set by THE CARRIER. They were playing their asses off as usual with their “hit” song “Alcatraz”. A good way to start the weekend by catching them and their heads were definitely there to represent which was good to see.

Brian Fair goes off!

Next up was quasi super-group DEATH RAY VISION. Despite having such local notables like Brian Fair (SHADOWS FALL/OVERCAST), Mike D’Antonio (KILLSWITCH ENGAGE/ OVERCAST) and Pete Cortese (SEEMLESS/OVERCAST) I was surprised by the initially soft response the crowd had. During the first song, however Brian got the crowd going with his usual awesome antics. Since the DRV material is brand new with Get Lost or Get Dead just coming out a week ago, perhaps it took people awhile to feel it, but as the set wore on the pit filled up a little and people were digging it. Every song was good with “Not For Glory” and “Drown the Light” being the very best. They played excellent, rocked out and showed a lot of promise for the future with this, only their second show. Brian made a short speech about hardcore not being a fashion statement before they closed with a sick old school cover of “Grifter”.

About the only downside to an alternating stages show is sometimes you end up missing bands you want to see. So in order to catch a few main stage bands I missed SHAI HULUD who is strong live, but I have seen a bunch. I caught the end of MOLOTOV SOLUTION and their proggy, tech, death-core style. I hadn’t really heard them much besides a few songs and I really liked their live delivery, especially frontman Nick Arthur. They had a few too many bass drops for my taste, but I was impressed enough with their talent in just a few songs, especially “Harbinger”. I’m definitely going to keep tabs on them since they are releasing a new album later this year.

Then it was time for THY WILL BE DONE to hit the stage. I was really excited to see them as I feel they are really coming into their own after a pair of solid albums. With their blend of PANTERA style power-groove, hardcore and thrash they differentiated themselves apart from most other bands of the early going. Frontman Jay Costa, wearing a TYPE -O-NEAGTIVE shirt in memory of Peter Steele set things off as usual with an electric performance. As usual the crowd ate it up and TWBD has the best pits of the the early day. Songs like “Preserve the Sacred”, “Cast the Crown” and “Earth’s Final Embrace” just crushed and their positive pro-Christian lyrics are more in line with old school hardcore than preachy sermons. This is a band that could be a headline act in a another few years here and I am excited for what their next record will bring.

TRAPPED UNDER ICE was the next band I caught and as usual they were insane. The excellently named band falls more on the hardcore side of metal with a ton of old school influences. The entire floor was a giant clusterfuck of a circle pit with everybody slamming and jumping on stage to grab the microphone to scream. Stage divers galore too! As usual they played unforgettable jams like “Believe”, “Soul Vice”, “TUI” and their anthem “Stay Cold”. It is great to see a band come along and embody what really used to mean something in music, add something modern and new to it and keep it going. Great job guys!

I had made the smart move staying in the boiling hot upstairs area of the venue because about ten minutes before TERROR’s set security cut off letting people in. I have seen many shows at the Palladium and the upstairs has never been so packed in tight and crowded. When the band hit the stage it was pure mayhem! The tiny stage was crammed with fans and friends plus the band when they started with “Stick Tight”. Playing a set chock full of hardcore anthems they just jammed their asses off and it was awesome to see so many heads in the room, crowding the microphone and knowing every word. They played a really tight and long set with great cuts like “Betrayer”, “Out of My Way”, “Lowest of the Low”, “Hell and Back” and the title track off of their recent album Keepers of the Faith (Century Media). They delivered live as always and put on a main stage worthy set.

Johnny Plague whips up the crowd

After waiting in the sweaty upper room for things to clear out I needed to step outside to get some fresh air and decompress a little so I ended up missing STICK TO YOUR GUNS which bites. By the time I made back to the downstairs part of the venue WINDS OF PLAGUE was about to start. They have been slowly growing on me and they always put on a great show. They certainly didn’t disappoint because they went nuts live as usual and the crowd was definitely feeling them. Opening with “The Impaler” the energized the crowd that may have started to sag as day turned into night. Front man Johnny Plague jumps around like crazy, winds up the fans and has an awesome vocal delivery. It was cool to hear the entire place singing “One Body Too Many” which is always a crowd pleaser. Also interesting was the hot reception for new songs like “Drop The Match” and “Refined In the Fire” off of Against The World (Century Media). People were feeling it and moshing their asses off. Closing with reloaded they finished up strong with one of the best sets of the day by far.

Many heads were there just for BLOOD FOR BLOOD

BLOOD FOR BLOOD was next and I haven’t seen them in about ten years and it seemed like the entire place was amped for them to come on. Hitting the stage hard they went right in to the old school joint “Mother Dear” and the entire floor erupted. Bolstered by Bill Graziadei on guitar and backing vocals (filling in for “White Trash” Rob Lind who is taking care of personal issues) then entire band put on an explosive performance worthy of their reputation. They played memorable songs like “Ain’t Like You”, “Dead End Street”, “Revenge on Society”, “Wasted Youth Crew” and “Piss on Your Hopes and Dreams”. Singer Erick Medina was funny as ever insulting the crowd and making fun of himself as well. Killing it live is what these guys do, long layoff or not and the core band of Ian McFarland on bass and Neal Dike on drums was augmented by Graziadei and Craig Silverman (ONLY LIVING WITNESS) also on guitar. They are everything a band from this genre should be about and I’m proud to be a fan.

Certainly the most anticipated set of the entire fest from a local standpoint was the return of  BURY YOUR DEAD with original singer Matt Bruso. In the four plus years since Bruso quit they scaled new heights of popularity toured bigger tours and in my opinion made more daring and inventive music. Apparently forces around the band would prefer the Tom Cruise- movie inspired, gimmicky deathcore of their beginnings return and so Bruso is back. Upon hitting the stage the band announced themselves as back with “Top Gun” . The whole floor opened up with an insanely brutal circle pit and Bruso prowled the stage like a wild animal as the band played. They were in fact really good live and seriously heavy as ever. The crowd of crazies loved it and there was practically people walking and moshing on the tops of the bodies of other people to get to the stage to sing a long. Right before playing “Mission:Impossible” Bruso addressed the crowd. He said he wanted “to punch himself in the face” for how bad the bands’ music and former singer was without him all these years. I thought this was totally unnecessary and classless. Wasn’t he the one that quit? And why dump on the guys who took you back? BYD is a decent band, but they are not reinventing the wheel musically here and I thought changing their sound took a lot of guts. At this point I lost whatever respect I had for them and didn’t care much for the rest of their set. If you were a fan you probably loved them, but I have seen my last BYD show ever.

As I predicted earlier in the day most of the BYD fans left before BIOHAZARD even took the stage. When I came up in the scene years ago you always stayed for the last band, especially one deserving the respect BIOHAZARD does. Many bands all day long acknowledged that they would be around with the kings of Brooklyn. I saw the band just a few months ago and they were tight so I was expecting big things. Adding to the fact that the band had not played anywhere in New England in a long time made it very special from those who stayed. It proved to be an interesting show indeed!

"The Skull" is back!

The band hit the stage and went into their old standby opener “Shades of Grey” and they were killing, but the crowd was only half into it. Considering Billy had just played with BLOOD FOR BLOOD an hour ago he was full of energy, singing and playing and even customarily jumping into the crowd at one point early. The bands’ blend of hardcore influenced metal, which 1000 bands have ripped off sounded great on the big stage. My favorite song of there was next in “What Makes Us Tick” and it was equally well done. Whether it’s Bobby “The Skull” Hambel’s bluesy guitar solos, Danny Schuler’s sick beats or Evan Seinfeld’s bass playing, this reunited line-up is maybe tighter sounding now than it was back in the day. Bobby was getting pissed at this point and he admonished the crowd to get more into it with an awesome “don’t make me look like a dick” comment. He also told security to let everyone on stage that wanted to come up and dance- guys and girls. Well that did it because for “Urban Discipline” a bunch on of true fans stormed the stage and stayed there the remain set. The band was enveloped the rest of the show by fans who sang back-up, moshed and even got a circle pit going. The remaining crowd on the floor used this as a cue to mosh harder and sing along more which was cool.

They pulled out all of the stops with the set list with old jams like “Howard Beach” and “Survival of the Fittest” as well as typical hits like “Down For Life”. Another favorite of mine “Five Blocks to The Subway”. Doing their great cover of BAD RELIGION’s “We’re Only Gonna Die of Our Own Arrogance”, everyone on stage singing a song about unity that is thirty-one years young. For “How It Is” Evan handed his bass off to someone and just sang and rapped the remainder of the show. He is a natural frontman, but I enjoy his bass playing a lot so that kinda bummed me out a little. He’s really quite underrated when you get right down to it. Finishing up with the metal classics of “Punishment” and the bands’ theme song “Hold My Own” they closed out an amazing first day of bands. I was spent but happy to do it all again in less than twelve hours.

Brooklyn was in the house!

Set List:

Shades of Grey

What Makes Us Tick

Wrong Side of The Tracks

Urban Discipline

Howard Beach

Black and White and Red All Over

Down For Life

Survival of the Fittest

Love Denied

Five Blocks To the Subway

We’re Only Gonna Die of Our Own Arrogance

How It Is

Punishment

Hold My Own

by Keith (Keefy) Chachkes