WELCOME/AUGUST 9TH SHOW REVIEW

so this is the first entry in hopefully a long run of entries that will be known as the seen&heard webzine...this idea started a few years ago and was meant to be in paper form but real life/band life/lazy life took over and made that a less and less realistic task to take on alone. this is me giving this a small shot, if not anything more than a place to hear about shows and whatnot.

i was re-inspired (if you can say that) to venture into this by a long conversation today with nate from at half-mast that was jokingly referred to as an interview multiple times by both of us. hopefully that can take place sometime in the near future, but until then here is my first shot at a show review.

AUGUST 9TH @ LUCKY'S PUB in WILMINGTON, NC - SHAI HULUD, REIGN SUPREME, THE CARRIER, ADVENT, SIGNS OF HOPE, WHERE IT ENDS, AT HALF-MAST

this was a pretty big event, scottie p the promoter had been hyping this one up for quite some time, and with good reason to. a stacked lineup including one of the biggest hardcore bands ever, or at least of the past ten or so years. luckys is a relatively smaller venue as far as venues go so it wasnt hard to pack this one out, even though the amount of paying kids didnt break a hundred (EDIT: im a dirty fucking liar and was corrected, 130 people paid for this. fuck me right?). we came up in a packed car and made sure to get there early to catch our good friends at half-mast who were playing first. anyways, on to the recap...

AT HALF-MAST played first, this was their second to last show of an almost eight week full US tour that took them all over for the second time in the past year. in a word, they were TIGHT, playing together night after night for that long will do that to you. a good mix of the newest material with plenty off of their latest full length. nate has definitely found his niche as a frontman, not just with his stage presence but also with things to say. people need to take note of this band for sure, their new 7" will blow you away.

WHERE IT ENDS was up next, these semi-locals from columbia were on a short weekend and this was day number 2 i believe. new stuff is fucking heavy, this band used to remind me of in this defiance-era strife but they are definitely giving off a disembodied feel now, mixed in with a little later era NYHC. resonate isnt a bad ep, but it seems they have really found their sound and are writing their strongest material yet. anthony (the old drummer) made the switch to bass awhile back and is definitely fitting that part much better. never a bad drummer by any means, but playing a string instrument definitely seems to suit him much better. brandon the latest drummer seemed to fit in perfectly, shame that he will be moving and no longer playing with these guys.

SIGNS OF HOPE was up next. never got into this band and their revolving door lineup, paul is a nice enough guy but the whole played out youth crew thing never did anything for me.

ADVENT was up next, the christian heavy hardcore band featuring ex-BELOVED members from NC. i had never listened to or seen this band prior, so i went into their set expecting nothing and getting blown away. probably some of the best stage presence ive seen in a band in awhile. despite their beliefs they got on stage and did their thing, nothing but respect for this band. very heavy and very loud, a good mix of mosh parts along with experimental parts and the like. hard to pin a good description on these guys that wont give them too much credit or make me seem like im talking out of my ass...check them out, thats all i have to say.

THE CARRIER from boston was up next, and they are easily one of the best bands in hardcore. if you didnt know, they play heavier melodic hardcore with an emotional edge. they opened with a new song that was purely made to bang your fucking head to, and then ran through a slew of songs off the full-length, 7", and even the demo. incredibly tight, kids going nuts diving and singing along...exactly like a hardcore show should be. this is one of the best live bands out right now, even if you cant get into them on recording, do yourself a favor and catch them live.

REIGN SUPREME played second to last, and while i am not really into the music this band makes, they are an extremely tight and good at what they do. very moshy heavy hardcore with pretty overtypical lyrics about unity and love and hate etc etc etc. moshlords were in full effect as expected.

last up was motherfucking SHAI HULUD who i shouldnt have to introduce or even describe at all. this band was incredible, played maybe 2 songs off of misanthropy pure and then a clusterfuck of pretty much their entire catalogue. set your body ablaze made me want to do just that..no words to even describe this band. perfect set.

august 10th review coming soon, probably tomorrow

-ian