Words by: Matt Capitano and Tyler Bogliole
Photos: Dhruv Kumar
The night started with the Nu-metal band Tallah, who has been making quite a bit of noise in the music world the last few years, with endorsements from Knotfest (also having a recorded set for the Pulse of the Maggots Festival from 2020), Loudwire, Metalsucks and more. Featuring Justin Bonitz of YouTube fame, under the moniker Hungrylights, and drummer Max Portnoy (Tallah, Code Orange). Max was unable to perform that night so local drummer Tyler Bogliole sat in at this show, and did not miss a beat! Tallah ripped through songs such as We, The Sad, Overconfident, Placenta, and my personal live favorite No One Should Read This, from their debut album Matriphagy. Tallah brought tons of energy to the stage giving everyone in attendance a taste of what they’re all about and leaving them screaming for more. Justin had the crowd more than entertained with his onstage antics mixing his unique blend of theatre and humor into his performance and had them whipped into a frenzy. Tallah has consistently been one of the must-see new bands and makes no mistake about it, they always live up to their reputation.
Next up for the night American Hardcore Punk band Varials from Philadelphia, PA took the stage. They opened their set with South of One and got the crowd moving right away. They blasted through a set of new and old songs, their energy lasted their entire set with no sign of slowing down. Their new song “The Cycle Of Violence: Chapter 1” was high energy and the crowd loved every second. They closed out their set with their classic “Empire Of Dirt”. They are a must-see band when they come to your town.
Metalcore giants Miss May I rounded out the openers on this show and delivered a blistering set of new and old songs from the band’s catalog. Singer Levi Benton had the crowd in the palm of his hands as the band cranked out classics such as Hey Mister, Forgive and Forget, Under Fire, Lost in the Grey, and even a new song Unconquered (the band’s first new song in 5 years). Everybody in the crowd, whether they had never seen the band before, or had seen them more times than they can count, was all on board for this performance. Everybody was jumping, headbanging, crowd surfing, moshing, and the band fed off of that energy. The 11-song-set concluded with Shadow Inside and left the crowd eager for more as they left the stage and the night’s headliners were only minutes away from taking the stage.
All That Remains sit high and comfortable among Metalcore royalty. The band is currently celebrating the 15th anniversary of their third album, The Fall Of Ideals, which was nothing short of a hit parade for the band, featuring some of the band’s biggest songs such as This Calling, Six, Whispers (I Hear Your), The Air That I Breathe, and more. The band is currently performing this album in its entirety on the current tour in “back to the front” fashion, starting with the last track on the album, Indictment, working their way to the band’s biggest hit, This Calling, to close out the playthrough. The band returned to the stage to deliver a highly requested encore of more All That Remains classics, Chiron, and crowd favorite Two Weeks to end the show. Phil Labonte fronts the 5-piece outfit being joined by guitar virtuoso Jason Richardson, following the tragic death of long-time guitarist Oli Herbert in 2018 and they destroyed, firing on all cylinders until the very last note. All That Remains is easily one of the best and biggest names in metalcore and there was no doubting that on this night; they threw it down hard, and they knew it. The band wrapped up this leg of the tour in Connecticut on May 20th.
https://allthatremainsonline.com/