The Southern Californian band DayShell
is the brainchild of Shayley Bourget who formed
the trio upon leaving Of Mice and Men in 2012
in which he was the bassist/clean vocalist. DayShell
joined Sumerian Records on 9 April 2013 following
the success of their first single which was released
digitally and there seems to be no stopping their
meteoric rise within the metalcore world. Parting
company with the former band to step out on his
own has proved to be an excellent decision as
his haunting vocals, reminiscent of the likes
of The Deftones and Incubus, cut through the masking
of heavy guitars producing an original sound which
has gained the band a large fanbase. Bourget writes
with an honest intensity that connects with people
and this shows in the reaction from the crowd
at the Academy 3 tonight.
Hailing from Warren, Michigan, I See Stars followed
DayShell’s brilliant first set and did not
disappoint. The band’s mix of electro, techno,
dub-step and post-hardcore sound got the crowd
buzzing from the moment the drummer came on stage
to kick things off. The clean melodic vocals of
Devin Oliver balance out the angry stylings of
Zach Johnson to produce a fresh, unique sound.
I See Stars have gained legions of new fans in
the last year or so following their North American
tour with Black Veil Brides and have recently
released their fourth full-length album ‘New
Demons’ which was well received by the crowd
tonight.
The headline act, The Word Alive, burst onto
stage with ‘Wretched’ to follow up
a brilliant set from I See Stars, much to the
crowd’s delight. The Phoenix natives have
been on the metalcore scene since their formation
in 2008 albeit with several changes of band members
over the last five years including a change in
lead singer to Tyler ‘Telle’ Smith.
Their sound is rough and heavy with bone-crushing
guitar rhythms accompanied by aggressive vocals
from Telle who never stops still on stage –
pacing around like a caged tiger. The Lifecycles
album is currently being promoted by the band
before the release of a new album scheduled for
Spring 2014 and tracks featured at tonight’s
show from the album included ‘Dragon Spell’
and ‘Evolution’ before the band finished
with the title track Life Cycles as their encore
which went down a storm.
Dayshell 3/5
I See Stars 4/5
The Word Alive 3/5
Review By Claire Whlepton
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