The Metal Alliance Tour 2012 feat. DevilDriver – REVIEW

The Metal Alliance tour featuring DevilDriver came thrashing to the Chicagoland area at Mojoes in Joliet. The other bands include: The Faceless, Dying Fetus, Job For A Cowboy, 3 Inches of Blood, Impending Doom, and Wretched. You can check out our review after the break.

The Metal Alliance tour is a formidable beast to be reckoned with and I certainly hope it starts to become a tradition of having so many big name metal bands crammed onto one tour. I don’t think Mojoe’s in Joliet even knew what it had coming.

Unfortunately due to a scheduling conflict I had missed the opening band Wretched’s set. Wretched are a incredibly talented quintet with blazing fast songs and are at a high level of proficient shred. Rivaling Born of Osiris’ technicality, Unhollowed era Black Dahlia Murder’s straightforward blackened thrash sound, and mixing in their own blend of hooky riffs makes for a fantastically heavy listen. You absolutely have to check out Wretched as I’m sure you’ll be hearing about them just around the corner.

Impending Doom was up next and they brought a ruckus. Breakdowns and blasting that sent the crowd into a frenzy, their down-tuned chug with grinds underneath was a huge energy booster for the night’s early start. Playing tracks from their newest release Baptized In Filth as well as rounding out their set with songs from their previous release There Will Be Violence.

3 Inches of Blood took stage next and started off right away with an awesome blend of thrashy riffs with an older-school vibe than any other band there that night. Singer Cam Pipes certainly has pipes; singing his lyrics in a falsetto blast that made every fist in the house reach up to the sky and sing along with him in classic power metal stance.

Job For A Cowboy has continued to be on the forefront of technical death metal for the last several years and there is good reason for that. With an absolutely brutal sound that is just punishing and debilitating to listen to with an untrained ear, the crowd lost their minds during their thirty-minute set. Drummer Jon “The Charn” Rice is a hit-for-hit recreation of their recorded works. Guitarists Tony Sannicandro and Al Glassman (formerly of Despised Icon) has skull crushing tone; thank god there is still someone out there that uses tube amps. Bassist Nick Schendzielos kept the bass tight and thick probably causing several miscarriages in the crowd that night. Singer Jonny Davy is still in my opinion one of the more unique sounding singers in the overpopulated sea of heavy music singers out there. It’s hard to put yourself apart as a singer and Jonny does a phenomenal job of that as well as riling up the crowd into a frenzy, sometimes without even saying a word. JFAC’s newest effort Demonocracy is set for an April 10th release on Metal Blade Records. You should definitely plan on checking this out and taking advantage of the pre sale packages that are available.

Dying Fetus is and always will be a classic example of American death metal. Razor blade guitars and machine gun drums set the crowd into an uproar. Dying Fetus always seems to have the amazing ability to get all the ladies dancing and for that, I thank them.

Without even knowing you could just tell that The Faceless was up next by looking at the sea of fans surging towards the stage. Ash Advilsen must have saw an unlimited amount of potential in The Faceless, being the first band to have a official release through his labelSumerian Records. The Faceless are at the absolute peak of the technical death metal game with an incredible level of talent and tons of devoted fans. Their release Planetary Duality debuted at #119 on the Billboard Top 200. The Faceless played a perfect blend of tracks of their debut release Akeldama, Planetary Duality, and even included a few new songs that will be on their yet to be titled 2012 release. The Faceless has had a few issues with members in the past few years but the current line up seems like the best thus far. The only remaining original member and main visionary Michael Keene wowed the crowd with his disgustingly proficient guitar wizardry and a lead tone that would make any grown guitar enthusiast pour tears. Keep an open eye out for their next release!

Devil Driver was back in town for another dose of American brand metal for the good people at Mojoe’s and they certainly didn’t disappoint. Playing a great selection of tracks from all of their releases the crowd was at a peak of movement during the Devil Driver set. The entire floor turning into a bombardment of people surging back and forth. At some point during the night a highly inconsiderate patron decided to steal one of guitarist Geoff Hendricks red ESP Horizon but through the loyal support of the metal community and working together through Facebook they were able to find the culprit and as of press time the guitar was returned to the local Joliet police station.

The Metal Alliance tour was a skull crushing experience and I hope that it makes it rounds through the Chicagoland area again with another killer lineup. Catch it in your town if it hasn’t already passed you up!

Information about the review…
Tour: The Metal Alliance Tour 2012 feat. DevilDriver
Bands: DevilDriver, The Faceless, Dying Fetus, Job For A Cowboy, 3 Inches of Blood, Impending Doom, and Wretched
Reviewer: Shaun Andruchuk
Date: March 26, 2012
Venue: Mojoes in Joliet, IL