GREATEST METAL SHOW EVER? Saints and Sinners Tour 2011

I could be seen somewhere in there.
(photo courtesy of Devon M)

Felipe M

Get this album now!
(photo courtesy of Felipe M)

I don't make it a secret around here, I absolutely love the band Between the Buried and Me. To me, they can't do any wrong.  I have recently been listening to THE PARALLAX II: FUTURE SEQUENCE almost non-stop since its release and it is still in my car's CD player, where it has found a permanent place to inhabit.

Many metal fans do not like them because they're too "quirky," "serious," "presumptuous," and "ambitious."  Normally, those are great words to describe musicians, but with this band, it's a major turnoff in the metal community.  I also find it comical that these fans will go out of their way to support other, similar sounding/influenced bands such as The Dillinger Escape Plan and Protest the Hero (two bands that yours truly listens to on a regular basis).

But we're not here to defend BTBAM: they don't need any defending as the music speaks for itself!  So we fondly look back at a memorable 2011 show where the band was wrapping up the year that saw the release of the THE PARALLAX: HYPERSLEEP DIALOGUES EP. 

November 11, 2011, House of Blues Chicago, IL: Saints and Sinners Tour featuring Between the Buried and Me, Animals as Leaders, and TesseracT

First of all, this is an amazing lineup that was kicked off by British, progressive metal act, TesseracT (yes Devon and I made it on time for this show).  They started with a couple of instrumental songs before the vocalist finally came on stage to sing a song.  This is a fun band to watch live, but the vocals are somewhat annoying as the clean vocals sound sound like they were inspired by a weird combination of Sigur Ros and Geddy Lee.  Nevertheless, overall, this band makes you get on your feet and start moving.  If we would've been here to only see these guys play, we would have left the show very satisfied.

Up next was Animals as Leaders, a band that I have been waiting with much anticipation to finally see perform live.  And they did not disappoint.  We probably had the best view of the stage behind the sound board and lights' technician.  Tosin Abasi and Co. rocked it out there.  The lights' show was dead on with the mood and sound of the music and both complemented each other throughout the set.

It's very hard to imagine what it would look like when this band performs live.  We're talking about a band that incorporates complex time signatures, melodies, and rhythms into every track at a very fast tempo.  It has always fathomed me to think if they can even perform it flawlessly on stage.  And add to the fact that this band has no bassist!  Where is all this heavy sound coming from?  And then they go on stage, the lights are dimmed low and even though a setlist for this show is not readily available, it's highly likely that they kicked things off with "An Infinite Regression" from their Weightless album. The song is just captivating and surprisingly catching and was a great choice.

Below is a video of the Chicago show as the band performs "Isolated Incidents."

Animals as Leaders would finish the set with "CAFO," which is quickly becoming their closing song.  This song never really caught my attention before until I saw them perform it live and it has quickly become my favorite song from this band, dethroning "Tempting Time" and "Point to Point."  "CAFO" is truly an epic song  and don't mind putting that track on repeat from time to time.  Check out the cello version of this track which was shared on the band's Facebook page:

And then the moment we have all been waiting for, Between the Buried and Me.  I left Devon behind the sound board and made my way to the overcrowded mosh pit area.  I have never seen the pit area at the Chicago House of Blues so full before.  I wore my Dillinger Escape Plan t-shirt and got a lot of compliments from people (there is hope in mankind after all!).  That same night, TDEP and Mastodon were performing at The Riv as well and talking to a lot of fans, they were torn as to which show they would be attending that night.  I love TDEP, but I never got into Mastodon.  For a lot of people, however, it really was a tough choice to make, but overall, their love and appreciation of BTBAM ultimately won out.  

The setlist is as follows:

• Mirrors
• Obfuscation
• Foam Born (B): The Decade of Statues
• Disease, Injury, Madness
• Specular Reflection
• Old Material Remix
• Alaska
• All Bodies
• Arsonist
• Shevanel Cut a Flip
• Aspirations
• Fire for a Dry Mouth
• Lost Perfection
• Viridian
• White Walls
• Encore: Mordecai

As you can see, the first two songs from The Great Misdirect kicked off the show.  The video below will attest to that.  From the video's vantage point, I was crammed behind and to the right of the person shooting this.  The video, I don't think, really depicts just how tight we were packed at the pit.  We were literally shoulder to shoulder:

The "Old Material Remix" or "Old Stuff Medley" is a trick that this band has used before as they attempt to compress as many of their old songs into an approximate, 10 minute, effortless, complete song.  It is a real treat to finally see this live.  The video below is their performance from Boston:

There were a few other "firsts" that we experienced at this particular show.  I already explained the "Medley" portion as a "first" for us.  The others were: 

• Mirrors performed
• The Decade of Statues performed (a song I so desperately wanted to see live.  It definitely lived up to my own hype)
• Viridian performed
• Mordecai performed (another song I desperately wanted to see live).

The Show of the Year took place on 11/11/11
(photo courtesy of Felipe M)

I went crazy when I heard "Decade" and "Mordecai" has a special place in my heart as the guitar outro of that track still gives me chills and I'm still convinced that it was the best outro to a song of the previous decade: at least for this band it was (you're probably thinking, "what about Selkies?" but I did not stutter!). 

I was also happy that the show did not end with "White Walls."  I'm hoping that this band does not make "Walls" their signature, finisher song.  It's a good song, but I think it's overrated in the BTBAM community.  I much would rather see "Swim to the Moon" as that finisher song, but coming back out with "Mordecai" was a  great way to end the set.

That concludes our 2011 concert calendar.  We're a bit late with it, but better late than never.  We didn't go to a lot of shows in 2012 so we should be caught up soon.  If you haven't noticed already, this show gets awarded 2011 SHOW OF THE YEAR honors.  

For more on Between the Buried and Me, click here. 

For a very cool interpretation of the Parallax EP and LP, check out this awesome website.

For a video review of this show, check out this guy.

Check out Chandler Owen's website.  He's the artist who gets credit for the album art in Parallax II. 

Go out and purchase Weightless and Parallax II if you haven't done so already. 

Rocktober 2011: Bayside/Saves the Day

Solid lineup! What can possibly go wrong?

Felipe M

Pathological Hate continues to review the music shows they have attended in the last year-and-a-half or so.

BAYSIDE/SAVES THE DAY: OCTOBER 13, 2011, HOUSE OF BLUES, CHICAGO, IL

Bayside and Saves the Day are one of the coolest, more respected punk (pop-punk?) bands out there.  Admittedly, I have not listened to a new Bayside album since The Walking Wounded.  This could be attributed to perhaps a change in listening preferences. Or it could be that I have been left disappointed with their live shows before as Anthony Raneri has a bad habit of delaying and elongating lyrics on stage, making it difficult to sing along to ("If the sun... don't....shine tomo...rrow...we'll...surviv.....veeeeee.")  Also, because of this, songs that normally have a steady beat and tempo, get painstakingly and inexplicably slowed down.  

Most frustrating is that outside of the song "Masterpiece," they really don't play songs from the superb Sirens and Condolences album. Are the complaints petty?  Perhaps, but is it too much to listen to "Phone Calls from Poland," "Poison in My Veins," and/or "A Synonym for Acquiesce" in their entirety? Nevertheless, Bayside has a reputation for having some of the most loyal fans in the scene and their shows at the House of Blues have always been kind of crazy with the whole floor shaking to near earthquake levels.

However, as much as I enjoyed listening to Bayside during my college years, this night was supposed to be about Saves the Day who I finally gave another chance in 2011 when my friend, Chirs Orsini (R.I.P.) urged and convinced me to give them another listen and let me borrow some of their albums.  I was hooked and unhesitantly when out and bought Daybreak. When I found out about this show, I couldn't wait to see Bayside, but especially Saves the Day to play some of their newer songs from the newer album. 

What I didn't count on was that this was a co-headline tour and the show would start a bit early to accommodate both bands to play for an hour.

So I was late and missed more than half of STD's set, getting to the show as they were finishing up "My Sweet Fracture." One of the highlights was seeing them perform "Daybreak" in its entirety, so that was a treat in itself.  And of course, they finished with "At Your Funeral." Chris Conley's voice, is worth mentioning, sounds just like the version you would hear on the record. It is simply amazing how his voice has "Benjamin Buttoned." It's not as loud and authoritative as the early albums, but it's more precise and versatile and it's quite astonishing to listen to it live. 

For some reason, I just couldn't make it out of work in time as I not only was looking forward to seeing both bands, but bands Transit and I Am the Avalanche were also touring as well.  My tardiness sealed my fate in watching these two bands perform, however, I did see Vinnie Caruana provide guest vocals for the Bayside song "The Walking Wounded."  He looked great.  

Bayside came on to finish off the show and were up to their tricks of slowing down songs and Anthony messing around with the lyrics and playing "Masterpiece" once again.  It was still an enjoyable show, just nothing out of the ordinary.  Bayside also released another album in 2011 called Killing Time. One day, I might listen to it, but this show definitely did not make me all too enthusiastic about it. 

Please check out the rest of our MUSIC articles.

TEN YEARS IN THE MAKING: Thursday Performs FULL COLLAPSE!

Felipe M.

If you don't know about Thursday and their album Full Collapse, then what are you waiting for?  It wasn't a very popular mainstream album and it did not make a dent in the charts back in 2001 (reaching #178 on the Billboard charts), but the imprint that it has left in the world of music is very prevalent, as it has become a fan favorite in the punk/hardcore/underground scene and has influenced many bands that followed its release.  It is truly a landmark of a gem in independent music.  

So earlier this year, Thursday had announced that they would be touring in support of Underoath where they would play Full Collapse IN ITS ENTIRETY!  I so happened to be there on February 9, 2011 at the House of Blues, Chicago, Illinois.

These old songs are still amazing and they have not aged a bit.  They're as cutting edge as anything that's being released by other bands today.  Thursday playing them live just justifies and confirms that belief.  Another thing that stuck out as these memorable songs were being played live is the fact that, as intense as these songs are, they make you move.  I'm not much of a dancer, but something in these songs just made me want to dance and as I was looking at the crowd, I wasn't alone in this thinking.  I mean, even the song "Concealer," which starts out as a simple head-bobbing tune, eventually becomes a song that you want to dance to.  

The crowd was pretty tamed, but that's at any Thursday show.  Thursday is the only hardcore act where the entire crowd is mesmerized by the band's lead singer (in this case, Geoff Rickly) as there are no cirlce pits, no moshing, and no need for elbows to be up at all times.  It is truly a sight to behold as the entire crowd is usually looking at the stage in awe.  

The band finished their set with a new song from their new album No Devolucion, "Turnpike Divides."  The song was so good, that I had made up my mind that I would go ahead and buy the album on its release date without listening to the other tracks (very rarely do I buy an album without listening to a few tracks first).  

This album will always have a special place for me and I was glad that Thursday decided to pay homage to it.  Outside of the very popular "Understanding in a Car Crash," the other songs are not played very regularly as they should be.  But "Autobiography of a Nation" ("WRITE THESE WORDS BACK DOWN!"), "Cross Out the Eyes," and "Paris in Flames" never gets old ; Hearing songs "A Hole in the World," "I Am the Killer," "Standing on the Edge of Summer," "Wind-Up," and "How Long Is the Night" for the first time live was definitely a treat.  

I wish more bands had the ability to play the 10 year anniversary of any albums.  Albums released in 2001 that I wish would be played live in their entirety are as follows:

• Thrice--Identity Crisis
• Rise Against--The Unraveling
• Strike Anywhere--Change is a Sound
• Rufio--Perhaps, I Suppose...
• Hot Water Music--A Flight and a Crash
• Brand New--Your Favorite Weapon
• The Bouncing Souls--How I Spent My Summer Vacation (which they actually did in select cities this year.  Obviously, I missed the Chicago date).
• Alkaline Trio--From Here to Infirmary
• Against Me!--Crime as Forgiven

To read the 50 GREATEST BAD RELIGION SONGS OF ALL TIME from the very beginning, click here.

Feel free to listen to the greatest NEW YEAR'S EVE song of all time, Thursday's "Jet Black New Year."

Also, check out Devon's interpretation of Thursday's "Autumn Leaves Revisited," along with other Song Facts