Killswitch Engage perform for Dallas
Bianca Montes
Issue date: 3/11/10 Section: Music For College Students
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With their lead singer off the tour, who knew longtime friend Phillip Labonte from All That Remains filling his slot, it was a wonder what to expect when the fathers of Metal-core stopped in Dallas on their headlining tour.
Storming onto the stage like super heroes, Killswitch Engage met face-to-face with a packed house of diehard fans that were willing to stand loyal to the band regardless of the impromptu line-up change.
While one might imagine a lack of chemistry, or possibly a moment lost due to Howard Jones departure, this was definitely not the case on Feb. 26. From left to right, this band covered the stage, not missing a moment to interact with the crowd.
A fun and vibrant stage presence coupled nicely with pounding bass lines and face- melting guitar riffs rounded out what was nearly a flawless performance. An outsider would barely be able to tell that the lead singer stalking around the stage was a last- second replacement.
"We wanted to strip everything down and just go for the throat," said Bassist Mike D'Antonio.
"A lot of metal-core bands play songs that are nine and 10 minutes long, which tends to get a little wordy for us."
In between gym shorts, green capes and topless women, Killswitch Engage took every advantage given to unleash their uniquely developed sound on the crowd.
If the over-the-top performance by Killswitch Engage was not enough, their opening bands, Dark Tranquility and The Devil Wears Prada, cemented this show as one of the best so far in 2010.
Opening the evening, Swedish-metal band Dark Tranquility assaulted the crowd, in a good way, with their own particular blend of metal and melodic vocals. With the ability to seemingly melt two completely different musical worlds' into one, utilizing their front-man's animal growls to operatic melodies, Dark Tranquility was a refreshing experience.
Wasting not a moment of time before unleashing an explosion of sound on the crowd, America metalcore band, The Devil Wears Prada, took hold of the crowd and stole a very large part of the show. Their set was filled with gut-wrenching screams, hard-driving guitar and drums and one kick-ass keyboardist.
Following the superb performance from all three bands, all I have to say is, watch out summer, you have a lot to live up to.
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