The Metal Alliance Tour 2016

Remember last week when I said I saw Entombed A.D. once before?  Turns out it was at the Metal Alliance Tour last year with Deicide and Hate Eternal.  Black Crown Initiate was also there.  I was unfamiliar with Black Crown Initiate prior to that show but my friend was personal friends with the members of the band and he had a lot of great things to say.

As it turns out, Black Crown Initiate ended up being one of my favorite bands and I was bummed when I missed them the following two times they played here last year.  Then, I found out my other friend was going to be performing two solos on their upcoming record so I became even more stoked about this show and their upcoming album (July 22).

To make matters even more intense, my friend’s band Harvest the Murdered was permitted to open this show and play.  I wasn’t able to see them perform because I couldn’t make it to the venue in time but I was excited nonetheless.  My friend was telling me it was a lot better than playing bars because he could actually hear his guitar instead of searching through the amp to get it right.

I arrived to see Systemhouse 33 play.  They were a decent band.  Black Crown Initiate played shortly after.  They played a thirty minute set including the new song “For Red Cloud” which features one of the solos my friend performed.  Naturally, he didn’t perform it live but he said it was kind of cool seeing how they improvised around his solo live.  They finished the set with “A Great Mistake”, which is probably their most well-known song.  As usual, it was a powerful and energetic performance.

Jungle Rot played next.  Even though they were on the 70,000 Tons of Metal in 2015, I missed both of their sets having not been familiar with their material before.  I was pleasantly surprised with their blend of thrash and death with (what my friend described was) “slammy bass and dive solos”.  That seemed pretty accurate to me.  I also learned that one of the members in Black Crown Initiate used to also play in Jungle Rot for a few albums.

We’re going to skip over The Acacia Strain because I run a positive page here.  Dying Fetus headlined and they were really good.  I always enjoyed their studio work but I didn’t expect their live set to be so strong.  It reminded me a lot of the time that I saw Cannibal Corpse for the first time.  They had a strong stage presence.

Next week I will be looking at the Aesop Rock concert and telling you all about that.  See you then.

-Ryan