Spring, and in the case of this show, metal, is in the air these days. What more could a metal fan ask for with a lineup like this. Inhabitatants of Minneapolis and surrounding areas turned out for a sold out show at the Triple Rock Social Club on a Sunday night.

The lines got moving a little late, so by the time I got in the door, Dead to Fall was halfway through their set. As fans streamed in, the band got more and more intense. The high point of their set was definitely the lead track off their new album The Phoenix Throne; “All My Heroes Have Failed Me.” It sounded great live too. I wouldn’t have minded hearing a few more new tracks, but opening band sets are always short. Even though I only caught part of their set, I vowed to listen to more of Dead to Fall based on this performance.

Grade: B+

Up next was The Acacia Strain. By now the Rock was about at capacity. This was the only band on the bill that I wasn’t familiar with before the show. After seeing their set, I may have to pick up their album. Their sound was definitely metal, almost thrash. One of their guitar players kind of looked like Steve-O, but it might have just been his shaved head. I can’t say much for the songs the played, but overall, they were impressive and fit right in on the bill. And Vincent, the lead vocalist, made sure to let the whole place know A Life Once Lost likes to smoke weed.

Grade: B-

A lot of people came to see A Life Once Lost. A lot more than I thought would have. After hearing what Vincent of The Acacia Strain had to say about them, I was none too surprised to see they had a projector showing trippy colors on the wall behind them and came out to chants of “smoke weed” from the crowd. Continuing with the Jackass theme, I thought their lead singer looked somewhat Ryan Dunn.

Most of their set was material from their latest album, though I believe they did play some older material. The crowd was definitely feeling a more hardcore vibe. There were quite a few people stage diving, crowd stomping, and rushing the stage. I found this particularly stage as the last time I saw a metal show at the Rock, they weren’t even letting the kids hardcore dance.

Grade: A-

The mighty Himsa took the stage next. Being that Hail Horror was released last month, their set consisted of a heavy amount of material from that album. Though, they did throw in a couple old ones for good measure.
I must say, Derek, their bassist is killer at hair whips and Johnny is good at bringing out the energy of the fans. Nothing notable happened during Himsa’s set. It was just straight up rocking out.

Grade: B+

During Darkest Hour’s stage setup, I noticed how simple Ryan’s drum kit is. Just a tom, snare, bass, 2 cymbols, and a high hat. You see these drummers that come out and their kits are huge [ link to taste of chaos review ]. It goes to show that you don’t need a huge kit to play metal. There are punk drummers with larger setups.

As the opening riffs of “With a Thousand Words to Say But One” gradually faded in, the band took the stage to an enormous crowd response. The room literally erupted with headbanging and moshing, hardcore dancing, and crowd diving. They immediately followed with “Sound the Surrender.” It may be hard to believe, but the crowd only increased their intensity.

Being this was kind of a local show for Dead to Fall, guitarist Logan’s father was in the audience. John, Darkest Hour’s vocalist, sounding very sarcastic, told him to stage dive. The next thing I know this grey haired man, probably in his 50’s, is flying overhead. He actually did it! The kids managed to gracefully bring him down and he headbanged a few notes and threw some devil horns up for good measure.

One thing about John is that he’s the last guy you’d expect to be fronting one of the best metalcore bands around today. Make no mistake, he’s every bit as ferocious on the mic as some of his trendier looking coworkers.

The band continued their set and worked through “Tranquil, Accessible Losses, and Convalescence” just to name a few. I was a little surprised they didn’t play an encore as the crowd was more than deserving. Maybe it was due to local curfew. As Johnny of Himsa said, there’s a reason that Darkest Hour is headlining this tour. They’ve been doing this type of music for a long time and they do it exceptionally well.

Grade: A

There was not a weak band on this tour. I’d have a hard time saying anything bad about any of the performances tonight. For a metal fan, there was plenty to be enjoyed.

Overall Grade: A-