I caught the July 1st show at the Trocadero in Philadelphia. It was kind of hot inside, but generally I like it at the Troc.

Now for the show... UNEARTH opened and they are a metalcore band from Massachusetts. I should say, "the best metalcore band". Because they are killer. In fact they are probably one of my top 5 favorite bands at the moment. Awesome leads/melodies, tight as hell playing and a great stage presence. They have a short set but it definitely gets you pumped up for the show.

Next up is CHIMAIRA... i've never really had a problem with these guys. Their drummer rocks. I like the cold hard double bass, super crunch style. And with their new cd they have varied up the vocals and added some really good riffs and solos so their progression gets a thumbs up from me. Their live performance sounded really good as well. My only criticism would be that they don't use synth/sample guy Chris Spicuzza enough.

Then we have SOILWORK. As Mark said, they really have a lot of charisma. They suffered from sound problems at this show as well. The drums were too loud and some of the leads weren't loud enough. Strid's vocals however sounded very good. Aside from the obsessive volume, the new drummer was amazing. He put on a great performance, despite the fact that he had to play on Chimaira's drum set. Personally, I think SOILWORK should play a few more songs off of their "Predator's Portrait" disc. Basically their whole set is from their last two cds... aside from the song "Needlefeast".

Last up was IN FLAMES. I saw them once before and they rocked so I figured they'd be good again. They were even better this time. Their sound and mix was perfect and they played a good selection of songs. The longer set time allowed them to play a lot of new songs and still mix in a selection of old favorites.

Definitely a fun show, I always look forward to seeing any of the bands again. Mostly I'd like to see SOILWORK play a headlining show where they had better sound and a longer set.

Not sure who Unearthed was or where they came from, but they didn't do too bad. The vocalist was pretty flatline bear on the mic style, but the band made up for his lack of diversity. Not the best I have ever heard, but I have seen way worse opening bands at shows like this. The whole band put everything they had into it to make it the best show they had in them. So although I am far from becoming a new fan of the band, I will give them the award for the most alive opener on a four band bill that I have ever seen. I am curious enough to watch for the band in the future and see/hear how they progress.

Chimaira however gets the award for the most improved band ever! You have all heard my rants about how much I hated this band. I have called them every name I could think of (Chubby me rah, Cum Mirror a), made fun of all their synchronized dance moves, and the singers out of control ego. This is a new band! Only a few seconds of synchronized crap on what I think was the second song. That mixed with the spit take was the lamest part of their whole set. However, beyond that the band was a massive improvement. The singer seemed a little more down to earth and even seemed a bit humble at times. The guitarist is still no Jeff Lomis and could use a little work on the solos. For one their just wasn't enough fancy fret work for my tastes and when he tried the energy dropped like a ten ton ball of steele. The vocalist, although way better than only a year ago, still needs to work on putting some fluctuation and depth to his vocals. So if this band keeps improving at the rate they have in the past year, they could become my favorite band. If they just work on a few things, they could at least become as good as the hype that surrounds them.

Soilwork tried harder than I have ever seen a band work to make their set go off well and put on a good show for their fans. However, their soundguy needs to have the shit kicked out of him after tonight. I have never seen a set so plagued with technical problems and I've been watching shows for well over two decades! Strid did his best though by changing the unheard clean vocals into the more thrash vocal. This worked better than I would have thought. They seemed to get the background vocals working by the second to last song and Strid's vocals were working at a tolerable level by the final song. Since this was the band I came to the show for I was truly bummed that I didn't get to hear the band at their best. Come back soon guys.

Last up is In Flames. I have never liked the vocals on this guy or even the production on any of their albums. However, they didn't sound too bad. Of course the vocals were still pretty buried, so maybe that was the reason I enjoyed their set? Although I don't like his vocal style, I must admit that he is one hell of a frontman. His connection and control of the crowd was a vision to see. The stage lights kept going right into my eyes, but from what I did see this is one hard working band. It's clear why they attract such a rabid following.

For my first show in almost a year this was pretty decent. Of course it could have been better, but it also could have been worse. All the bands seemed to work their collective asses off harder than any show I have ever seen. The soundman should be shot though.

Oh yeah, I saw our good friend Stephanie Cabral (click here) at the show, so you know that she will have exclusive photos up from this show soon as well. Click here to see if they are up yet.

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