IRE Tour – Parkway Drive, Miss May I, Thy Art Is Murder, In Hearts Wake – Silver Spring, MD – 11.21.15
Australia is home of some of the finest metal bands around, one of them being Parkway Drive, the powerhouse group that has been around for a while touring all over the world and finally making their way to North America after some time. Flying halfway across the world with them is In Hearts Wake and the all so brutal sounding, Thy Art Is Murder. To complement this lineup, was the only American group being Miss May I to bring some “local” sound to mix. The Noise put together this tour that was not be missed this fall selling out in numerous cities across the map.
In Hearts Wake took to the stage first as fans were still rolling through the doors. Their lighting was spectacular with a wide array of white lights up front and the perfect mix of greens, blues, and purples around the whole stage. Your eyes were surely glued to the stage for the entire set. With a flawless mix of cleans vocals and powerful screaming, their vocalists Jake Taylor and Kyle Erich, also on bass, blended very well together and were sync for the entire show.
Thy Art Is Murder followed up with a mission, to wreak havoc. That is exactly what happened in the pit with crushing sounds of this deathcore group. Moshing was without a question, violent as ever along with crowd surfers coming from every direction trying to get a high five or a handshake from CJ McMahon, the vocalist. With brutal sounding breakdowns and crushing guitars, there was nobody in the venue that wasn’t moving. With a band of this style, it was no surprise that they had an ominous stage set up to match the music. Lights were down to minimum, yet still bright for the big moments like strobes to match the blast beats and breakdowns and a spotlight for the long screams. Thy Art Is Murder is the band not to be missed next time they come around.
Miss May I, being the only “local” band on the tour, did not disappoint during their time on stage. Opening up with ‘I.H.E.’ from their latest album ‘Deathless’ quickly got everybody fired up and Levi Benton was already running around the entire stage like the frontman he is known to be. The songs “Relentless Chaos” and “Bastards Left Behind” was next to balance out the new and the old songs that everyone knows and loves. There wasn’t a single dull moment as Levi fed off the crowd’s energy to put on a great show. Even though there was one moment of technical difficulties during one of their songs, that did not stop Jake and B.J. from throwing down on guitar as the crew quickly figured out the problem and Miss May I continued to finish off their set with “Hey Mister.”
Parkway Drive, the moment that everyone was looking forward to. The Australian power group that flew halfway across to the world to give North America a proper tour, Parkway Drive came on with Jeff Ling finally out of his wheelchair after a surfing accident right before the tour. They opened up with “Destroyer” and shortly after shot out confetti into the crowd which made for a very vivid scene. The light bars at the back of the stage almost made it look like a giant equalizer and with lights coming from every direction, they made sure they were visible. The setlist was nothing short of expectations either, playing a 12 song set with 2 additional songs for the encore made it like a “best of” show which played everybody’s favorite songs such as ‘Carrion,’ “Wild Eyes,” “Home Is For The Heartless,” and “Romance is Dead” to go even further back to the long time fans. Winston McCall even took a moment to recognize The Ghost Inside and their recent accident that claimed two lives and ten more injured. All in all, this tour was phenomenal and nothing less, this is must see show for anyone for the upcoming cities.
