Photos / Review: Summer Slaughter Takes Over The Worcester Palladium

Who: Summer Slaughter – Between The Buried And Me, Born Of Osiris, Veil Of Maya, Erra, The Agony Scene, Allegaeon, Terror Universal, Entheos

Where: The Palladium, Worcester, Massachusetts

When: July 21, 2018

The most extreme tour of the summer made its way to the Worcester Palladium on Saturday, July 21. This year’s lineup included Entheos, Terror Universal, Allegaeon, The Agony Scene, Erra, Veil of Maya, Born of Osiris, and headliners Between the Buried and Me.

Entheos was impressive from the minute they took the stage. Vocalist Chaney Crabb was one of the more impressive vocalists of the entire package. She took command of the audience with no effort and the amount of energy that the band managed to pack into such a short set was unforgettable. Terror Universal was on stage next and they turned out to be one of the best bands of the night. The horror metal group had masks to match their description and their stage presence was incredible. The band had a great grasp on the sizeable audience that was clearly enjoying their set but would have just as easily been able to handle a sold-out venue.

Allegaeon was no less energetic than the bands that had gone on before. Their music was interesting, melodic metal with some black metal mixed in there, along with a bunch of other influences; their sound is fascinating because superficially it will appeal to any fan of metal, but it has so many layers and intricacies to it that even the most hardcore music nerd could spend hours listening to it. Their live show, unlike some other bands that are so technical, did not fall flat at all. Towards the end of the set, vocalist Riley McShane’s microphone cut out completely. The band went on playing and McShane instead focused on making sure the audience was having fun, so they were able to finish just as strong as they started, despite the sound issue. The Agony Scene went on next and the sound problems continued, making it hard to be able to fully judge the quality of their music; the vocals came in and out, the guitar was not clear, and the sound was overall not the best mix that it could have been. The Agony Scene did their best despite the challenges, however, and the audience enjoyed their entire set. Erra put on another solid performance, again despite the sound challenges. While I am mostly unfamiliar with the music of most of the bands on the tour, I did recognize Erra performing “Disarray,” which is a lot better live than the recording – which the audience seemed to agree with based off of the moshing and headbanging that was going on.

Veil of Maya’s turn on stage was very highly anticipated and they did not disappoint. Veil of Maya is a band that needs to be experienced live at least once; they are high energy from start to finish and their music is insanely good live. “Punisher,” “Pillars,” “Mikasa,” “Lisbeth,” and more were performed while crowdsurfers were going over the barrier and a nice-sized mosh pit had opened up. Veil of Maya had one of the strongest performances of the night.

Arguably the best part of the night happened while waiting for Born Of Osiris to hit the stage. The soundtrack during changeovers had been random all day; one changeover, Ricky Martin was playing; the next, we were listening to remixes of pop songs, and another had instrumental music that was broken by “Killer Queen” before going back to instrumental music. Right before Born of Osiris took the stage, System Of A Down’s “Chop Suey” came on and the entire audience came together to sing it. People were hugging each other and jumping up and down; it was without a doubt the best part of the night and a great example of how music brings people together. Born of Osiris even waited for the song to finish before taking the stage. Just as good as Veil of Maya, they had plenty of crowdsurfers. The audience screamed along to “Machine,” “The Other Half Of Me,” “Empires Erased,” “Abstract Art,” and more. Born of Osiris has the advantage of two vocalists, which made for a lot of fun moments when Joe Buras left his position behind the keys and joined Ronnie Canizaro at the front of the stage. Born of Osiris is another band that absolutely needs to be experienced live; it is an experience like no other.

Between The Buried And Me’s turn on stage was the most highly anticipated of the night. In my opinion, the intro was overly long, but the audience disagreed with me; it seemed like the longer it took for the band to come on stage, the more excited they became. “Informal Gluttony,” “Famine Wolf,” “Condemned To The Gallows,” and even “Selkies: The Endless Obsession” were performed to a rabid audience, where fans all the way in the back of the venue were headbanging just as hard as fans in the front. While I have tried several times to get into Between The Buried And Me’s music, I never fully succeed; that being said, their live show is much better than any recording that you hear on an album and did sway my opinion towards their music positively. At the end of the night, the audience all seemed to enjoy it and that is the only thing that really matters.

Summer Slaughter was a great night of metal music and reminded everyone in the audience about the true power of music.

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Post and photos by Karen Shalev

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