The Highline Ballroom was hotter than hell on Thursday, July 20th. Not only was the wrath of summery weather upon the city in full force, but both Once Human and DragonForce were there to give a proverbial “Ultra Beatdown” upon the venue. And that they did.

Upon entering the venue, there was a sign posted saying NO MOSHING NO MOSHING NO MOSHING NO MOSHING.

Obviously the management were trying to make a statement. Of course, even though there didn’t look to be much of that going on at all due to the size of the venue’s floor, the fans seemed pretty busy soaking up the musical entertainment for the evening even without a proper mosh pit breaking out.

The venue’s website stated that doors were 7:30pm and the bands started at 8:30pm. When I arrived at 8:27pm the opening act Gothic Knights had already completed their set. It’s hard enough for small bands to make it in the modern music economy, but I honestly hate when venues don’t post proper times for the bands. And with that being said, Once Human took the stage with much anticipation shortly after I got to the show.

For those not familiar with Once Human: They are the current band of former Machine Head guitarist and producer-extraordinaire, Logan Mader. He, along with guitarist Max Karon, create a melodic cacophony of guitar sounds which intertwine with a baseline melody from Damien Rainaud and a seamless drumline from Dillon Trollope. And then came the pure gutteral vocals of Lauren Hart which just don’t seem possible from such a small framed woman. Lauren has the sweet looks of a young Renée Zellweger, but she’s a bad ass in her own right who can probably bench press most of her fans all the while unleashing a growl that echos influences of Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy while retaining her own style and flair.

While playing their short set, a few technical issues caused a few delays but Lauren and the band did their best to make light of the situations and persevere onwards. One of the breaks actually was because Fred and Mark from Dragonforce came out with a candle taped to a bottle of Jack Daniels along with a VERY interesting hat for Max Karon, in celebration of his 28th birthday. After having a swig and singing Happy Birthday, the band went on to crush their final original song “Flock of Flesh” before capping their set off with a cover of Machine Head’s “Davidian”.

Ten o’clock came and Dragonforce hit the stage with the title track of their latest album “Reaching Into Infinity”. It’s hard to believe the band has been in existence for almost 20 years because there is a real genuine fresh energy given off by all the band members.  Singer Marc Hudson has only been in the band officially for about 6 years but he seemed like he’s been in the band for it’s entire existence. He’s no longer the “new guy” in the band, that honor goes to Gee Anzelone, drummer extraordinaire. The man behind the kit who never stops smiling all the while pounding out rhythms at amazingly fast speeds keeping precise time like that of a fine European wristwatch.

Sam Totelman and Herman Li, Dragonforce’s guitar duo worked their magic all night long making long fast leads seem to effortlessly emanate from their fingers. Seeing them play up close is just a thing of beauty. As they played songs spanning their discography, including a number of tunes from their latest album “Reaching Into Infinity”, my personal fave of the new album “Judgement Day” was among the night’s setlist. They also made time for bassist Frédéric Leclercq to improvise his own “solo” not on the bass, but on the guitar. He effortlessly shredded on his Sonic The Hedgehog guitar while singer Marc Hudson played bass, even though Marc’s bass was having issues for a few moments. Then it was time for the drum solo from still smiling Mr Anzelone, all the while having the Green Hill segment of Sonic The Hedgehog playing on the background screen, with no sign of Dr Robotnik anywhere in sight.

Also missing for this tour was Dragonforce’s keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov, who stayed home this tour for family reasons. And by the way, congratulations on the new little one on the way.

As the night concluded, Dragonforce tore through their very uptempo version of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” and finished the night with the song that helped make them a video game household name “Through the Fire and Flames”.

A great night for music… again.

Review and photos by Bryan Bardes

#Dragonforce #OnceHuman #NewYorkCity #NYC #HighlineBallroom #LoganMader #MachineHead