By Danny Contreras
Metal isn’t dead. That’s what I say whenever I leave a show pleased. As I Lay Dying and The Devils Wears Prada made a stop at the Webster Theatre this past Sunday to the delight of hundreds of Connecticut metalheads.
Now, I’ve seen both bands before as part of Mayhem Fest. While the festival experience is unique on its own, it’s more of a “hang out with other headbangers” event. But the Webster provides what all fans want: intimacy with the band.
As I Lay Dying is a metal-core band from San Diego, California. Their style of metal is branded by high-tuned guitars and fast riffs. The Devil Wears Prada is also a metal-core band from Dayton, Ohio. Their sound is melodic and fast, and incorporates multiple keyboards with different sounds.
The lyrics are as important as the actual composition. Both bands tell stories through their songs, and tend to release concept albums every two years. And as aforementioned, the festival setting doesn’t give fans the chance to appreciate both bands’ story telling.
While they’re both equally popular, seniority in the tour is granted to As I Lay Dying who began in the late 90s. As a result, TDWP opened the show to hundreds of screaming fans.
Unfortunately, the band’s opening ten minutes fell prey to the Webster’s crappy sound systems. The levels of the bass and rhythm guitar were too loud, forcing everyone to turn away from the speakers. But they were fixed quickly and the band began to shine.
It was a fairly nostalgic set with many old songs taking up a huge chunk of time. They opened with “Untidaled,” the opener of their latest album Dead Throne. Almost immediately, a maelstrom formed in the Webster.
“This Song is Called” played about 15 minutes into the set. For a moment I was transported to the past, the 80s in Gothenburg, Sweden, the birthplace of Swedish death metal. The piano lead that opens the song “Children of Bodom and In Flames,” while Mike Hranica’s vocal echoed through the venue demonically, as guitarist Jeremy DePoyster sang cleanly, while delayed haunting wails followed after his verses.
TDWP has a larger catalogue of music, but “Danger: Wildman” is their most popular song. It’s hard, fast paced and catchy. The breakdowns invite the listener and fans to start beating the crap out of each other. Hranica has stated multiple times that the music is meant to piss people off at concerts, forcing them to release their anger in the pit instead of on other people.
While TDWP had a solid setlist that included “Sassafras”, “Reptar: King of the Ozone”, “Anatomy” and “Born to Lose”, As I Lay Dying was far more relentless.
Before I continue with their performance, I must explain a quick concept. The band began writing a trilogy of albums in 2005 that tells a story of struggle, perfection, downfall and eventual recovery.
They cannot play every single song, so they usually play the lead singles, but they had other plans on Sunday. Of course, they played fan favorites such as “Through Struggle”, “94 Hours” and “Undefined”. But aside from that, the band had a fairly fresh setlist.
“Bury Us All” is an interesting song because it is the climax of the album An Ocean Between Us. It portrays a bloody fight for power, that leads to more destruction. The band channels the fight through their instruments. Drummer Jordan Mancino is one of the best contemporary drummers in the whole world. And this song is a perfect example of why. His blast beats were on a divine level on Sunday.
Yet, the highlight of the whole concert came with “Confined”. The song is one of the band’s most known as it received heavy attention on MTV back in 2005. The song is infamously known in the genre for having one of the most intense walls of death pits. A wall of death is when the singer tells the audience to split in half, like Moses, and to run at each other at full speed once the song begins.
While As I Lay Dying’s wall of death is not at the level of Lamb of God and Devildriver, the fact that the Webster shook as the crowd crashed into each other puts it as one of my favorites.
They promoted their latest album, Awakened by playing a couple of tracks, such as “Awakened” and the downtune “Defender”. But the show was a fan service—and not a disappointing one.
For the first time in almost two years I felt as though metal mattered to me. Over the past couple of years, I’ve been largely unimpressed with the genre, yet shows like this one, and Slipknot, reminded me why I love metal so much. To the bands: thank you.
