Images: The Ghost Inside, Every Time I Die, Architects November 11, 2014 at the House of Blues

Earlier this month, the House of Blues played host to one of the year’s heaviest and best tours – The Ghost Inside and Every Time I Die with Architects, Hundredth and Backtrack. Just looking at those names on the tour poster got my adrenaline going and made me want to start a pit at my computer screen. Clearly, I was not alone.

Getting off work later than expected, I entered the House of Blues after a longer than normal absence to see that even though the venue was nowhere near capacity (I’d go as far as to say surprisingly sparse) the people there were already sweaty and raw voiced after moshing and singing along with Backtrack and Hundredth. The first band of the night for me was a band I’ve been waiting to see for years, Architects from the UK. The kids in the front row were going absolutely insane during their set, with tracks from their Epitaph debut Lost Forever // Lost Together like “Gravedigger” and “C.A.N.C.E.R” eliciting the biggest response. Their set was a brutal assault of technical guitars and drums, with edgy vocals. Damn, why do they have to live so far away, I’m already jonesing for another Architects fix!

Anyone who knows me knows that Every Time I Die lands pretty high on my list of best bands of all time, so I felt like I was in perfect company after spotting several visible tattoos honoring the hardcore band before their set. There was an army, and we were ready to sing along with Sergeant Keith Buckley and company. By the time they hit the stage the place was finally looking appropriately packed (on the bottom floor, at least.)

The band opened the show up with three face-melting tracks from their latest album From Parts Unknown – “The Great Secret,” “Thirst” and “If There Is Room to Move, Things Move” – and they sounded fantastic. In fact, this was my third time seeing them, and they somehow continue to get better with age! Their sound, perfectly demonstrated on the uncompromising new album, takes me back to the time where rock n roll was raw, enigmatic and had stage presence. Buckley is just so cool up there and the rest of the band compliments him perfectly with their fiery intensity. As for the rest of the set, you could tell that the fans, myself included, appreciated the fact that the band also tried to pull from as many of their seven studios albums as possible in the amount of time allotted a co-headliner, with Hot Damn’s “Ebolarama” and New Junk Aesthetic’s “Roman Holiday” earning the biggest reactions.

Now how do you follow up a band as good as Every Time I Die? I wasn’t envying The Ghost Inside one bit as they came out last to finish off the night. The Ghost Inside was the band I was least familiar with, but they more than lived up to the challenge. The band, no surprise, is heavy. They possess the technical prowess of Architects mixed with the speed of Every Time I Die and a brash attitude all their own. They opened with “Avalanche,” a track from their then-still-days-away-from-being-released fourth album Dear Youth and then spent the rest of their set bouncing around between albums. The highlight of the band’s set came at the close, with “Engine 45,” an epic track from the Get What You Give LP. If you’re a slightly older music fan like myself going to this tour for ETID don’t make the mistake of leaving before TGI.

-Tyler Newton | http://500px.com/spottedlens

The Ghost Inside setlist:

Avalanche
Unspoken
Dark Horse
Faith or Forgiveness
The Great Unknown
Between the Lines
This Is What I Know About Sacrifice
Outlive
Out of Control
Dear Youth (Day 52)
Engine 45

Every Time I Die setlist:

The Great Secret
Thirst
If There Is Room to Move, Things Move
Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space
Typical Miracle
Ebolarama
Bored Stiff
Floater
We’rewolf
The Marvelous Slut
No Son of Mine
Roman Holiday
The New Black
Moor

Architects setlist:

Gravedigger
C.A.N.C.E.R
Naysayer
The Devil is Near
Dead Man Talking
Broken Cross
These Colours Don’t Run