Thursday 04/10/07 Atreyu, Haste The Day, It Dies Today, So They Say, Murder Victim @ Rialto Theater, Tucson Arizona

A palpable tension is in the air, people fill the venue till the Rialto is packed. The local metal hardcore band Murder Victim has something special: wicked, skilled instrumentals so powerful and sharp it peels our skin off. They throw a cog in our wheels with a mix of hip hop and screamo as ‘Bleed Your Venom’ turns the wall to wall mosh pit into a prickly mix of swinging arms and full force body blows. Guitarist FRZA, Pete and Tim are jaw dropping as they shred their way through ‘Better Luck Tomorrow’ and drummer Bruce Wayne amazes us with hands faster than a hummingbird’s wings. This band took us completely by surprise and renewed our love off all that is thrashy and pure.

From mid-west America the alternative metal band So They Say invokes a love of another sort, fresh metal with just a smattering of screams. They become a metal connoisseurs dream as the mournful and moving vocals of David Schroeder and Joseph Hamilton trade off perfectly during ‘Whisper Of Sin.’ David shouts “Tucson are you guys awake?” the mob gives an answering roar, closes in, tightens the mosh pit then the aggressive, punk flavored ‘Antidote For Irony’ begins it’s assault. The guitarist line up and head bang in unison, hair flies and gruff vocal harmonies resonate as ‘Wake Me Up’ makes sure no one in the building is asleep. The crowd is yelling throughout the piece, hands beat the air and they shout for more.

The Rialto is now disseminated into multiple mosh pits as It Dies Today sends a shudder through the horde with relentless brutal riffs and crashing breakdowns. During ‘A Threnody For Modern Romance’ frontman Jason Woods runs and leaps about then onto the rail and is surrounded flailing arms, surfers fly towards him but he continues to roar on without blinking an eye. Then the mosh explodes as ‘Reignite The Fires’ fuels the horde’s aggression into overdrive.