Carry The Flame Tour: After The Burial, Emmure, Fit For A King, Fit For An Autopsy, Invent. Animate
The Palladium
Worcester MA
March 18 2017
The Palladium is fast becoming one of my favorite venues to catch today’s crop of new and up and coming Metal acts. his is my second show here in as many weeks, and the crowds here are rabid when it comes to metal. Compared to Hartford, well come to think of it there is no comparison.
The reason for this visit was the Carry the Flame Tour Featuring, After The Burial, Emmure, Fit For A King, Fit For An Autopsy and Invent. Animate. As usual I was late and showed up in the middle of Invent. Animate’s set. I am either getting old or these guys were young. Out of the state of Texas, they are on the horizon. I am not sure if dawn or dusk, but the crowd was enjoying them.
On the heels of what has now become their best selling album to date, “The Great Collapse” Fit For An Autopsy came to the stage. I have seen these guys before and I actually enjoyed their set and was looking forward to hearing some music I was familiar with. I am not a huge fan of Death Metal, but their stuff does appeal to me. Maybe its the fact it is 3 guitars, maybe because they’re from Jersey…. I dunno, but then why do I have to explain it. They chainsawed their way thru their set enjoying seeing the moshing that had sprung up and thanking everyone for being supportive of them. Cant wait to see them again, and will likely be soon, they dont rest at all and will hoping into another tour after this.
Fit For An Autopsy:
Now when I think of Texas and the music that has come out of it, there are really only a few bands that come to mind. Groups that cross a few different genres, ZZ Top, Drowning Pool, Texas Hippie Coalition, Double Trouble and of course Pantera. The main reason I drove the 90 minutes thru rush hour traffic on a Friday right out of work tho was for another band from Texas, a band that drew my interest not only because of their genre but because of their faith.
Fit For A King is an up and coming group that is part of a larger scene then I realized, Christian Metalcore. Now don’t get me wrong and expect them to be collaborating with Stryper anytime soon, tho Michael Sweet singing clean vocals for these boys would be interesting. The lyrics especially on their latest album, “Deathgrip” are engaging and the music mesmerizing.
Fit For A King:
Fit For A King consists of Ryan Kirby on vocals, Bobby Lynge on guitar, Jared Easterling on drums and Ryan “Tuck” O’Leary on bass and vocals. Clean cut, shorthaired (if they had hair, Ryan (“Tuck”) does sport the shaved head look), until Ryan came out on stage. A long haired, flannel wearing, hippy looking kid. Then he opened his mouth.
I started wondering what was up with these kids.
Then remembered, “Hey this is a metalcore group after all” as the screaming vocals tore thru my ears, only to be soothed by the singing that occasionally emerged from both him and also “Tuck”, can’t call him Ryan, it will confuse you as it did me when I first typed it. While Ryan is pacing back forth across the stage, I catch a glimpse of “Tuck” as he starts stomping and spinning around eventually leaping high into the air, not once thru the set, not twice thru the set but at least 3 times thru their short 30 minutes or so of stage time they had.
Jared thru this is sitting behind a rather unassuming drum set, smiling and banging away while Ryan keeps the audience going and encourages the wave of crowd surfers that start flooding the photographers pit.
Bobby is on Jared’s right, flinging hair back and forth. Bobby isn’t as animated as “Tuck” is, but he does not just stand still. In between his classic guitarist posing, you know when the guy stands there right up in front and has one foot up on the monitor while arching the back, yea that pose, He is spinning around, like a record baby, round round, sorry flashback.
Energetic band that kept the crowd moving and involved, I will be seeing them again especially since they will on tour this summer as part of the Vans Warped Tour. Hopefully so will you.
Next up on the bill, I want to say a local band, but they don’t consider themselves a local band any longer, which has drawn the ire of a few Connecticut fans over the years, Emmure.
EMMURE:
Consisting of original vocalist Frankie Palmeri and new band members, Joshua Travis on guitar, Phil Lockett on bass and Josh “Baby J” Miller on drums. They sounded good with a definite vocal response from the crowd.
I am standing there in between ducking crowd surfers, thinking to myself, what is it with the bassists tonite? They were all amped, with Phil all over his side of the stage jumping, spinning and hopping around, a definite contrast to Joshua’s stoic guarding of the cabinets.
Frankie in true front man fashion, was in a frenzy all over the stage.
Emmure is also on the Warped tour this summer, so there is another chance to catch these guys live.
The lights grew dim again, as the fog rolled out. After The Burial slowly came out to the stage in the midst of fog and bright flashing strobes to the maniacal screaming of a packed Palladium, then the show commenced. Anthony Notarmaso strolled out with mic in hand, while Dan Carle started in on the drums, Trent Hafdahl on guitar and Adrian Oropeza beating his bass.
After The Burial:
Immediately the bodies started their way to the stage lifted by the hands of so many strangers, slowly methodically passed along till that person got to the front and assisted down by the many security guards at the stage.
Anthony, took control. Standing above the crowd bellowing out. Strutting across the stage while pointing out and welcoming the crowd surfers. The grins on the faces of these kids who touched their idol, was enlightening.
On right side of the stage Trent prowled. Watching him, I was able to see how much he loved doing this, how much this has become second nature with no sign of a set list anywhere.
On the left side stood, but never for very long, Adrian. I wondered, but only for a few seconds, why with his long dark hair, that was being spun around, why was he in a band where everyone else had freakin short hair? Much like the question, is Bigfoot real, we will never know.
It was a great set with a crowd that made it that much more fun, between all the crowd surfers and the mosh pits going round, everyone had a great time.
Believe it or not, ATB is also touring with the Warped tour this summer.
Save your money kiddos, it’s gonna be a gas.