This evening, I had the pleasure of attending the “Tomorrow
We Die Alive” tour, featuring the bands Born of Osiris, Thy Art is Murder,
Betraying the Martyrs, Within the Ruins, and Erra. Also featured on this date
was San Diego’s own Killing the Messenger, who opened for the bill at Soma San
Diego.
Soma is a
venue I’ve attended for years. It’s where some of my best high school memories
were made; attending shows monthly, if not weekly, with friends and getting
pulverized in the pit and against the stage barricade and waking to a collage
of bruises the following morning (which I expect the morning after I write
this). Hell, I even played on the side stage with my former band, Nihilitus.
That was a childhood fantasy come true; just entering Soma is nostalgic and
comforting, insofar as the hardcore/metal scene can be comforting.
As
mentioned above, the night began with Killing the Messenger, a San Diego local
hardcore band. They’re pretty much what you expect from that style of music:
heavy, drop tuned rhythms on guitar with shouted vocals and punishing drum
lines. All in all, KtM is a great example of what hardcore can be (speaking as
someone who is not a big fan of the genre). They interspersed a good deal of
more melodic leads into their songs, with both guitarists adding their vocals
throughout the songs. They’ll definitely be a band to watch if you’re in to
such music.
Erra was
the second band up, and the first from the tour package. Unlike the rest of the
acts, which have more of a hardcore flavor to their music, this Alabama-born
band sits on the melodic side of modern metal, along the lines of Periphery and
Intervals. Like many of the other acts, they relied on a Macbook and Pro Tools
for backing tracks, though Erra is unique in also using this setup for their
bass, as they did not have a live bassist on stage. While this may seem odd,
Erra comes from a style of music that heavily emphasizes the low end on the
guitar, both through mixing and heavily detuning (drop A# in this case, I
believe). Because of this, live bass tends to get drowned out of the mix, so it
makes sense in the context that is this particular brand of djent, even if it
is still an odd sight.
Following
Erra on the stage was Within the Ruins. This is a band I’d opened for about two
years ago at Chain Reaction in Orange County, CA. A deathcore band through and
through, WtR was not particularly impressive within their style of music, but
it is also not one that I am a fan of to begin with. With this in mind, it
should be noted that the rest of the crowd was pretty riled up and energetic
during their set, so this dislike may be a simple difference in taste. I will
give their guitarist credit for having a somewhat unique setup, however; seeing
as his is the only instrument with an upper range, he chose to compensate for
the somewhat shallow leads by using a whammy pedal to add an extra harmony
line. This is certainly a novel idea within deathcore, if nothing else, which
did provide the guitar with a rather unique sound, though I didn’t find this to
be enough to make them more than mediocre to my ears.
The fourth
band of the night was Betraying the Martyrs. Coming all the way from France,
BtM is one of two bands on this tour from the international stage, as well as
one of two bands to employ a keyboardist in their lineup, who added both melody
and backing vocals to the mix. While I was not familiar with Betraying the
Martyrs before attending this show, I must say I was pleasantly surprised and
entertained by their music. They did a wonderful job balancing the heavy and
melodic aspects of their music, without slipping too hard in either direction,
and their stage presence was phenomenal. What truly made their set is their
brilliant cover of “Let it Go” from Disney’s film Frozen. They did a wonderful job
balancing the original tune’s melodious, light hearted nature with heavy guitar
riffs and guttural, screamed vocals. While the rest of the set was great, this
cover alone makes them worth watching.
Playing
direct support on the tour, and hailing from Australia, is Thy Art is Murder.
This is the only band on the bill that I was familiar with before entering the
venue, and they did not disappoint. Their heavy, aggressive death metal brought
the crowd to an absolute frenzy. In addition to inciting several large mosh
pits, Thy Art is Murder managed to create a wall of death, and the stage was
assaulted by crowd surfing fans who threw down with the vocalist before stage
diving back into the crowd. While their set was arguably the shortest with a
mere six songs, they were all among my favorite tunes of theirs, including
“Dead Sun” and “Reign of Darkness.” Theirs was also the only set where I did
not struggle to hear the bass guitar; as a bassist, this was a huge point in
their favor, as that instrument is so often lost in the mix within this genre.
Finally,
the headliner of the night was Born of Osiris. I’d tried listening to this band
years ago but they hadn’t stuck, and I was curious to know if the passing time,
and my changing/expanding musical tastes would make their music more appealing.
There is definitely something to be said for the passage of time, or perhaps a
broader musical palate (though mine is still narrow in many aspects,
admittedly). BoO was incredible. Another band with one guitarist, they compensated
by sharing melodic duties with a keyboardist who, like the keyboardist of
Betraying the Martyrs, also added his vocals to the mix. The end result is a
band that, while still heavily dependent on chugged rhythms, has a fairly broad
melodic spectrum, painted in guitar sweeps and keyboard melodies, supported by
solid drum and bass, and orbiting powerful lead and backing vocals that deliver
intelligent and insightful lyrics. If, like me, you find that you are late to
appreciating this band (they are on their fourth album), I highly recommend you
give them a listen.
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