Darkest Hour, August Burns Red – Live (Oct. 23rd, 2007)

I have always been one of those arrive fashionably late kind of people, which is cool for parties, but for reviewing concerts well it just isn’t all that effective. The show I am talking about was the Unearth, Darkest Hour, August Burns Red, and Suicide Silence.

I showed up three songs into August Burns Red’s set. Now I had never heard of, or heard a song by the band, but just by their name, I felt like I knew exactly what this band would sound like, and I was pretty much right. They had a very heavy metal core polished style, which got the faux hawks and Castro caps head banging at The Opera House. ABR had great energy, but I felt there was no separation in their music, and could not tell the difference from one song to the next. I will commend them for giving their fans a great show, and by doing so warming up the crowd like a good opener should. Just nothing new or refreshing about the band.

Next up was Richmond Virginia’s number one hardcore thrash metal (whatever you want to call them) sons Darkest Hour. As the band entered the stage I thought I was at a Cypress Hill show, so much green grass of freedom was blazing. After a brief hello they ripped into Doomsayer, and I buckled up for one of the most ferocious electrifying bands in the hardcore scene today. Darkest Hour play like a band possessed, and with that kind of energy the crowd definitely catched on. They played songs mostly from their last three albums, and because they weren’t headlining I don’t think any Darkest Hour fans got enough. They closed with Marching to a Killing Rhythm, which generated a circle pit that would make even the surliest Cro – Mags fan satisfied.

Now to really make the review incomplete, because of other commitments I had to leave, so I have no idea how the Unearth show went, but judging by all the people who were wearing their recently purchased Unearth t shirts they had a lot of fans, which usually makes for a great set.