All That Remains/Lacuna Coil w/ Bad Omens, Toothgrinder, and Uncured @ Hard Rock Live in Las Vegas

A stacked line up hit Hard Rock Live on the Strip on September 28th. *5 bands*, none of which were bad whatsoever.

The young bucks in Uncured reminded me of the early days of Gojira with a drop of Deathcore. The drop only being in occasional breakdowns, but tasty ones. Otherwise, musically it was just some groovy Death Metal. Curious to see where they go!

Toothgrinder hit the stage and while I’ve known about them for the last couple years, their name doesn’t necessarily fit their sound, or even their look for that matter. Not a negative or anything. I enjoyed their set. I could tell they may have gained some news fans, while others didn’t seem to care either way. I can say I like Toothgrinder more than Beartooth!

Bad Omens had some fans in the house. This was my 1st experience seeing them, and while they sounded fantastic, I have to air my 1 grievance, and that was the very obvious vocal track(s) throughout the entire performance. I feel like vocalist Noah Sebastian has enough talent, along with the other members of the band providing backup, didn’t need that. Just my opinion. Otherwise, I would see them again or sure.

Lacuna Coil had a little technical blunder early on, but it wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle. Aside from that, they absolutely killed it. They continue to get better and better with time. Any fan will tell you how much their sound has evolved since their early Gothic Metal roots, to the now heavier more straight forward Alternative Metal. In many ways I’m disappointed I never saw them until 2016, but in other ways I’m almost glad I didn’t see them until after 2016’s “Delirium”. I LOVE the new direction they’ve taken, and feel that on record and live they’ve become the band they always wanted to be. It just took nearly 20 years to get there. We all know Cristina Scabbia is the star, but it wouldn’t be the same without Andrea by her side. Their chemistry is undeniable and you can tell they’ve been through so much as bandmates and friends over the years. They gave us a choice in either hearing “Swamped” or “Heaven’s a Lie”. The choice was very clearly Heaven, which was the oldest song they played. 2 songs from their new album were played, “Layers of Time” and “Reckless”. Little bit of everything, minus their old old stuff. Surprisingly, they did not play the title track from “Delirium”. They must come through Vegas more often!

All That Remains played a mostly heavy set, along with some of their radio hits. They opened with “This Calling”, which is as good of an opener as it gets, followed by “Chiron”. We were pummeled with those, along with “Fuck Love”, “Blood I Spill”, “Wasteland”, “Not Alone”, “The Air That I Breathe”, and “Six”. All of which got Hard Rock Live to fucking move and get the pits roaring. And in balance, we had the softer songs like “Just Tell Me Something”, “What if I Was Nothing”. I know I’m not alone (lol) in being happy that All That Remains got heavy again on their latest album. I’m not at all opposed to bands experimenting and changing their sound. But if there’s 1 things this band does right, it’s being atop the Metalcore mountain. Check out that Taylor Swift shirt on Phil Labonte. You already know what ended the night. You don’t need me to tell you. Even if it takes me “Two Weeks” to tell you, I’m not telling you. Ah fuck…

This was a great night of music. A lot of bands. A lot of songs. I can’t imagine anybody left feeling like they didn’t get their money’s worth, or a forgettable experience. Full package tours for the win!