Bleeding Through, Born Of Osiris, Sleeping Giant, Oceano, Stray From The Path @ Opera House (Show Review)

Bleeding Through
with Stray From The Path, Oceano, Sleeping Giant, Born Of Osiris
April 26, 2010
Opera House

Long Island’s melodic metal-hardcore upstarts Stray From The Path kicked off the Toronto installment of the Spring Breakdown Tour with singer Andrew Dijorio’s crowd-waking stage presence, marking his territory by constantly pacing back and forth between bassist Ryan Thompson and guitarist Tom Williams. The band slipped into the ferociously fast “Damien” off their latest album Make Your Own History, and got some help from a dedicated fan on the breakdown vocals. After giving props to the rest of the bands on the bill, Stray From The Path punched out “White Flag” off their 2007 release Villains which instigated high-raised leg-slams from all three frontmen. “You guys havin’ a good fuckin’ time tonight?” asked Dijorio after a quick two minute breath catcher intermission. Then the guys offered a cover of “Bulls On Parade” by Rage Against The Machine that saw the whole dance floor hopping along and huddle jumping toward Dijorio’s outstretched mic hand. The set ended with “Comrades,” inducing a telltale hardcore rant from Dijorio of “Male, female, black, white, I don’t give a fuck. You can joint this shit, be a part of music.”

Next was renowned four-piece Chicago death metal powerhouse Oceano who unleashed a quick twenty-five minute, yet wildly impressive set. Singer Adam Warren’s gut-wrenchingly low growls sounded like those of an angry froth-mouthed hellhound looking for a rage outlet. The distortion drenched drop-A tuned bass and lead guitars manned by Kevin Colabuono and Andrew Mikhail (respectively) provided a perfect match for Warren, pulling out of him the most intimidating underworld growls and high-pitched metal spews of the night. After a couple numbers Warren demanded “Let’s open this fuckin’ pit up,” and onlookers followed queue by breaking out in massive wind-mill arm throws and floor-cracking boot-stomps. The band belted out a thrashing rendition of “A Mandatory Sacrifice” off their recent debut album Depths, and also debuted a new song in their audience pressured encore. One word describes the feel of Oceano’s set: devotion. With minimal inter-song banter and ravenous death metal offerings, these guys had an explicit ‘no guff, let’s fuckin’ throw it down’ air.

Christian hardcore group Sleeping Giant was up third. They opened their set with “Gang Signs” off their latest 2009 record Sons Of Thunder during which there was an issue with microphone levels. Singer Thom Green didn’t let it bother him, though, continuing to instigate the crowd by approaching the stage monitors and beating his chest while mouthing the lyrics. “No One Leaves This Room Sick” got the five-piece’s guitarists head banging which spread contagiously. But some members of the audience grew uneasy when Green set up their next tune “Whoremonger.” “Religion has ruined who Jesus really is,” he said, “you won’t find the real Jesus in a church.” Some booed, some cheered, and Green attempted to justify his stance: “We’re not here to preach religion to you, but we’ve made friends with a God we didn’t know before.” Then during the song’s breakdown Green busted an odd lip-biting and ball-grab move.

Next was symphonic metal sextet Born Of Osiris, who were the clear crowd favourite evident by the fullest mosh pit of the evening. “Now Arise” off their latest full-length album A Higher Place got singer Ronnie Canizaro and guitarists Lee McKinney and Jason Richardson standing uniformly with left feet high on the stage monitors. Keyboardist/backup vocalist Joe Buras abandoned his instrument for a centre stage headbang before returning to his mark. Stage monitors were often used for a dominating, yet interactive presence, like during fourth song “Exist” for its attention grabbing guitar solo battle and fifth song “Abstract Art,” off 2007’s The New Reign, which saw both guitarists and bassist David Da Rocha standing tall above the crowd. The technical doubled guitar leads of “The New Reign” solidified the talent of Born Of Osiris’ guitar section. “Bow Down” sent the Opera House into a whirlwind of slam-dancers demonstrating the best of their style. And there were high-fives all around for front row fans from Born Of Osiris as they outro’d “Open Arms To Damnation,” another audience pleaser notable by numerous arms and bodies flailing around the pit.

After a few scenesters filed out from the pit and the bar filled with older metalcore diehards, Bleeding Through graced a blood red-lit stage. Vocalist Brendan Schieppati, scantily clad in mere gym-shorts in My War era Rollins fashion, hopped around the stage monitors creating a larger than life persona. “I wanna see a circle pit” he beckoned, and an honest attempt by those left on the floor was made. Third song “Declaration” got keyboardist Marta Peterson rocking into an air-filling hairswirl stance amidst bright white strobe-lights creating dark silhouettes of the band members. The strobe-light effect was used throughout Bleeding Through’s set, notably in “Rise” that saw Schieppati raise an inspiring fist high above his head. “We’re real fuckin’ happy to be on a Canadian label,” Schieppati explained in his set-up for “Anti-Hero” off the band’s 2010 self-titled album, out on Distort records. He let some crowd members help out on the I’ve Seen Enough vocals for the first breakdown, and the version also featured a tweaked drawn out feedback session before the second and final breakdown.

Schieppati reminisced about Bleeding Through’s early days as a “new band” before a smashing rendition of “Breathing In The Wrath.” “Now we’re the old band that can look down on all the new bands and say who the fuck are these guys,” the tattooed hardcore hero chuckled out before thanking all the bands on the bill by name, whom he called “the bands of the future.” Their next song, “Beneath The Grey” off 2008’s Declaration, was dedicated to Toronto’s own Cancer Bats, who now have a new title from Bleeding Through as being “bitchin’ dudes.” The set finished with “Kill To Believe” from 2006 full-length The Truth, during which guitarist Brian Leppke faced the drums for some feedoff energy. The band came back for an encore song determined by a coin toss, turning out to be “Sister Charlatan.”

Published by Tangible Sounds Music Magazine