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Its very rare that I go t oa big time package tour and be most excited about seeing the opening band, but Cellador had me very eager to check out their fun brand of power metal and tight musicianship. The crowd seemed overly excited for them as well, as there was a loud ovation once the lights went down and a Halloween styled intro blasted through the speakers. The cheers got even louder once the band actually took the stage, and it didn't stop until they left.
Despite an unsurprising shoddy mix (dums and bass were too loud while the guitars pretty much became buried in the mix), Cellador played an incredibly tight and enjoyable set. The vocals (which sounded great) quickly made me forget about the sound woes, and it was awesome watching these guys go to town on their instruments, especially the drummer, who looked like he had four times as many arms.
Protest the Hero were the odd band out on this tour (though each band played a different style of metal), as they take influences from modern metalcore as well as older metal. This led to a less than enthused crowd response and some heckling from people in the front row. The singer had comebacks for everything, telling an unhappy heckler that they would leave the stage when he took his "stupid armbands off."
In addition to the humorous banter, Protest the Hero played a decent set, a set again tainted by the sound mix. The guitarists put on quite a clinic, flying up and down the fretboard at a breakneck speed. The singer had a wide vocal range, and he made good use of it on each song. Their set wasn't the most memorable I've ever heard, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless.
The Sword had people chanting and clapping along to their drum sound check, so I knew that their set was gonna be nuts. I got up as close to the front as I could, which was a few rows from the stage, on the edge of the pit that I thought would be nonexistant due to the heavy stoner riff style of metal they play. The crowd proved me wrong, as the pit was one of the most brutal I've seen in awhile. It was pretty crazy, and actually made sense with the music (a realization I made during their set). I was only able to catch about four songs due to an interview, but they were four incredible songs from one of the best up and coming live bands.
Trivium sounds a lot like Metallica. I've read that a lot and heard some simularities on Ascendancy, but they sounded like an updated Metallica on stage. Thats not a bad thing at all; I was just surprised that they sounded that much like Metallica. I only caught about half of their set, but they were very tight and had the crowd eating out of their hands. They played a couple new songs that sounded pretty good, but they didn't sell me on the album. They were the band I was least excited to me (I'm not sure why my interested in them has dwindled recently), but their set made me glad that I didn't leave right after The Sword.
Written by: RF