Friday 14/09/07 Escape The Fate, blessthefall, LoveHateHero, Before Their Eyes @ The Rock in Tucson, Arizona

Located next to the University Of Arizona mega campus, The Rock is the hub of musical night life for the students and locals. Tonight it’s the punk Black On Black Tour and the surprisingly huge line outside equals an instant packed house inside. The bands hit the ground running as Before Their Eyes begins. The screamo awesome song ‘Why 6 Is Afraid Of 7’ is a quality piece and Nick’s high caliber vocals are more than impressive. He says “We just spent 3 days in Las Vegas, broke, walking the strip, hoping and wondering how we were going to get here tonight.” We’re happy they did.  It takes something special for an opening and relatively new band to win a mob over and they do just that as ‘The Journey Down South’ grumbles and erupts into a hard harsh thunder. The crowd loves them.

Next up is LoveHateHero. Like a righteous metal train wreck the post-hardcore ‘Amity’ crashes into our senses. Intense strobe lights drive the pushing moshing mob mad. Pierrick Berube’s vocals are plaintive and compelling whilst the band puts on a head banging spectacle that’s absolutely first class. A sudden intense driving roar fills the air then ‘The Last Farewell’ electrifies us, drops down to a whisper, surges then charges onward at high speed. Their music can be best described as urgent, out-of-control insanity. Two thumbs up, indeed.