MONSTROUSLY MESMERIZING: MONSTERS OF OZ TOUR HAUNTS CHICAGO WITH A WICKED TWIST

Words and photos by Jim Helmecy

Night number two of our back-to-back metalcore weekend brings us back to Radius Chicago. The Monsters of Oz tour set out on a path of destruction across the country with some of the heaviest metalcore acts Australia has to offer. Parkway Drive was headlining this tour, one of metalcore’s founding pioneers, along with The Amity Affliction, Northlane, and Make Them Suffer. This was going to be a night of total carnage.

MAKE THEM SUFFER

Perth, Australia’s Make Them Suffer opened this evening with a dose of their symphonic/progressive metalcore. Starting out with their newer hit song “Ghost of Me”, it was finally time for us to see what new keyboardist/clean vocalist Alex Reade could do. She did not disappoint, the band is definitely more elevated with the new edition. During song two of the set “Bones” is when the crowd took over. Back at it again were our barricade guards from last night’s show, catching the crowd surfers. One guard made eye contact with me during all this and just shook his head and laughed, “We’re back at it again” and off he disappeared into the sea of surfers. With frontman Sean Harmanis’s brutal lows and deep growls mixed with Alex’s clean vocals, make for one hell of a 1-2 punch for this band. Songs included in this set were “Hollowed Heart”, “Ether”, “Contraband”, and “ Erase Me”, and finishing off the set with “Doomswitch”. With the crowd we’ll warmed up, Northlane was up next.

NORTHLANE

Sydney’s Northlane, which started in 2009 and toured mainly in Australia and Europe, finally made their way stateside for the first time in 2013. With numerous tours across regional Australia over the years, we were definitely excited to see them on board with Parkway Drive on this tour. With the anticipation of the crowd building, Northlane hit the stage with their opening number “Clarity”, and the crowd erupted. Northlane has one of those distinctive sounds that kind of chills you at the beginning and then will hammer the hell out of you for the next 2 minutes of the song. As we watched the pit ensue after the opening of this song, the die-hard fans took over and were frantically thrashing around in the circle pit they started. Lead singer Marcus Bridge called for crowd surfers on the next song “ Bloodline”, and the crowd did not disappoint. Sending wave after wave to the front of the venue. This set was filled with some heavy bangers and some of the most elaborate strobe lights, at times seemed like the sun was right there in the venue. Songs included in this set were “Freefall”, “4D”, “Carbonized”, and “Clockwork”, and finishing the set with “Talking Heads”. The crowd was amped up and still ready to go even harder.

THE AMITY AFFLICTION

The Amity Affliction which has been around for a better part of 20 years is definitely no stranger to the metalcore world. With multiple line-up changes to the band over the years, the band has a solid lineup with original members Ahren Stringer (Co-lead vocals/bass) and Joel Birch (lead vocals) leading the charge. The band opened up with “Devil’s Hand”, and the crowd went crazy, at times singing over both vocalists. Now before I continue on with this, if you are prone to seizures from flashing lights, I definitely recommend wearing a pair of sunglasses. During song two of the set “All My Friends are Dead”, the band used white strobe lights for the whole song. Now from a distance, this looks cool, but being a photographer right at stage level being literally blinded by these lights does not make for good pictures or maneuvering through the photo pit while seeing spots. Just a fair warning you will take a beating from the strobes for a couple of songs. All in all, The Amity Affliction puts on a killer show for the fans, which is no surprise for a band that’s been around for as long as they have. Some of the songs included in this set were “Fade Away”, “Don’t Lean Me”, “It’s Jell Down Here”, and “Soak Me in Bleach”.

PARKWAY DRIVE

“Staying Power” is definitely a term used for Parkway Drive. 7 studio albums, 1 EP, 2 DVDs, a book (Ten Years of Parkway Drive), Three #1 albums on the Australian charts, and a massive crowd following around the world, is definitely something that is a well-accomplished term for a band that’s been around or 20 yrs. Boasting a full pyro setup when the tour started, and what we have seen from previous shows this was going to be an insane set. I’m sorry what was that…News flash! Chicago has a ban on all indoor pyro shows, unfortunately, we will not be getting any fire tonight. So, the show must go on. Opening with their latest release “Glitch”, everyone in the audience jumped right into singing along. Again this crowd put so much effort into singing so loud, front man Winston McCall paused during one of the choruses and let the fans take over. The hits kept coming, hitting the crowd hard with “Prey”, the crowd came unhinged and was in full mosh mode. This is who they came to see, and they wanted to give it all they had left in the tank to the band. Who needs pyro when you have a wall of the most elaborate lighting behind you? Regardless of the show having no pyro, Parkway Drive put on an epic show for their fans, and the fans were definitely exhausted and happy they were here. The set included some newer songs, with some deeper cuts for the old-school fans. Some of the songs included in this set were “Carrion”, “Darker Still”, “Bottom Feeder”, and finishing off the set with “Wild Eyes”. There are still plenty of dates left to catch the carnage. You don’t want to miss this one.