Images: As I Lay Dying, Of Mice & Men, Winds Of Plague, Motionless In White Decmber 17, 2011 at the House of Blues

Visiting from Great Britain, Sylosis made the most of their 25 minutes of stage time, with back-to-back intense, harmony-driven thrash. Making sure that everyone’s hearing was adjusted, the locally popular Motionless In White brought a positive message through melodic, aggressive pieces and a taste of synchronized dancebanging (new word, use it!). Additionally, I must point out that, it was during Motionless’s set that I realized that you have to be pretty badass to look like you’re having an all-out amazing time playing keyboard in a metal band. Later in the evening I had about a minute to say hello to singer Chris Motionless who, like most “metal guys”, is way nicer than the growling and thrashing may lead us to believe.

Thirsty for New York style hardcore inspired metal? Hello Winds Of Plague, and welcome back to Vegas. Don’t wanna dance?? These guys will just throw music AT YOU. I hesitate to compare these champs of the heavy stuff to any band we know, but understand that everything they do is sided with a taste of 80’s thrash, 90’s hardcore and 1600 and something or other harpsichord. Stir and enjoy.

With an apparent absolute hatred of The Buckeye State (see the song Ohioisonfire), Of Mice and Men showed up to say “get violent, but sing along a bit”. With mandatory audience participation, this LA 5-piece showed off guitar spins, air kicks and stage dives. They also brought a lengthy, energetic set including an offer/threat to As I Lay Dying singer Tim Lambesis to come on stage and fight him. This never happened, making Tim the winner. We’re all adults, mostly.

For 10 years, As I Lay Dying has set themselves apart from the Metalcore scene by bringing spice to the genre. Both innovative and true to their origin, they celebrated the close of this tour with songs from all albums, many of which were chosen by fan votes. Honorable and awesome, they thanked those who support them. They even had a local fan join them on stage to sing “Forever” early in the set. Drummer Jordan Mancino, likely wearing a parachute, played from a riser near 35 feet above the stage, surrounded by pure walls of half-stack speakers. It was 60 minutes, a whole darn hour of As I Lay Dying, including classics “94 Hours” and the more recent album’s title track “An Ocean Between Us.”

This show was Metalcore at its best with low chugging riffs and delicate, yet abrasive melodies. It managed to be dark, but uplifting.

-Mike Law

Photos by Tyler Newton | http://500px.com/spottedlens