When you’re gonna name a tour the World Battle Tour, you higher earn it, and Present Me The Physique, Jesus Piece, Scowl, Zulu, and Tripp Jones completely did. The USA leg of the tour wrapped up in Present Me The Physique’s hometown at Brooklyn Metal final evening (3/24). It was one of many largest venues of the tour (if not the largest), and it was very bought out–Brooklyn Metal was as packed as I’ve ever seen it, each on the ground and on the balcony, and the place was a madhouse for each band.
Tripp Jones, a rapper/singer who’s a part of SMTB’s Corpus collective, kicked issues off at 8 PM, backed by DJ Bearcat. He opened the present lifting weights whereas rapping, and proceeded to ship an lively set that combined it up between aggressive rap songs and melodic goth songs, and he introduced out LustSickPuppy for a track too. It was an important be aware for the present to begin out on, and it solely acquired approach crazier from there.
Zulu hit the stage subsequent, and the LA band instantly whipped the group right into a frenzy with the intro of their new album A New Tomorrow. The band was wreaking havoc on stage, the pit was gigantic and livid, and Zulu had solely been on stage for a minute or two. Then technical difficulties threatened to kill the momentum, however Zulu stayed in nice spirits, and as soon as every part acquired working once more, they picked up proper the place they left off. The present had a barrier, however Anaiah Lei inspired the group to leap over it and rise up on stage, and that began a continuing barrage of stage divers that continued for each band of the evening. It was infinite fury, the band was so tight, and so they introduced out tons of visitor vocalists all through their 20-minute set, together with Jesus Piece’s Aaron Heard and–in what was an incredible surprise–Soul Glo’s Pierce Jordan for his visitor verse on A New Tomorrow spotlight “The place I am From.” Additionally they broke up the insanity by enjoying a SZA track over the PA mid-set (as they do quite a bit), and so they expressed on stage how grateful they have been to be a part of this superb tour bundle and the way bittersweet it was that the tour was ending final night–a sentiment that every one the opposite bands shared as properly.
After Zulu, their Flatspot labelmates Scowl saved issues simply as insane, each on and off stage. It was my first time seeing Scowl since they launched the extra melodic singles off their upcoming Psychic Dance Routine EP–“Opening Evening” and “Shot Down”–and the melodic songs work completely with the extra aggressive How Flowers Develop materials reside. Kat Moss’ singing voice is as highly effective as her piercing screams, and as at all times, her stage presence and crowd-work is subsequent stage.
One of many many nice issues about this tour is that it has three very totally different varieties of hardcore bands. Zulu have the powerviolence and the groove-based songs, Scowl lean on the punk facet of hardcore, and Jesus Piece provide up bone-crushing, breakdown-infused metalcore. They placed on the evening’s most purely heavy set, with a mixture of established fan faves and singles from their upcoming LP …So Unknown, and it was simply nonstop depth. Aaron has superb stage presence, the band shreds, and the group gave again all of the power that Jesus Piece was placing on the market. Aaron took a second to particularly shout out his Zulu fandom on stage, and a number of Zulu members joined JP on stage for a track. It could’ve been one of the crucial superb moments of the evening regardless, however a ten/10 second shot as much as an 11 when flames shot up from a firebreather on stage after which once more within the crowd. Provided that the present was in an actual venue and never, say, a Sonic drive-thru, the venue turned on the intense lights and minimize the PA, and after Jesus Piece completed out their final track with simply their on-stage amplification, the venue’s normal supervisor informed the group he’d be pressured to close down the present if flames went up once more. It was a second I do not suppose anybody in attendance is gonna neglect.
In any case that, the headlining act lastly took the stage. Present Me The Physique opened up with virtually no lights on, with the brooding, atmospheric “Out of Place.” It was the calm earlier than the storm, as SMTB rapidly switched gears and went right into a set that matched the power of all of the openers, full with stage divers, big mosh pits, visitor vocalists from different bands, and essentially the most quantity of individuals singing alongside to each phrase of any band all evening. With a banjo participant as a substitute of a guitarist, and a sound that is not possible to pigeonhole into any particular style, Present Me The Physique are a kind of bands who slot in inside a number of totally different musical environments, and a hardcore present is an ideal place to see them. They don’t seem to be precisely a hardcore band themselves, however the affect and the spirit of hardcore is clearly there, and so they have been loud, tight, and reckless all evening. They are a utterly distinctive band, and that comes throughout reside much more than it does on their nice albums.
