Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of covering New England Metal & Hardcore Festival, the biggest metal and hardcore festival in the northeast. Both days were filled with some of the scene's biggest names as well as a lot of upcoming acts. Friday's show saw performances by Better Lovers, Converge, On Broken Wings, Machine Head, Year of The Knife, and the headliners Killswitch Engage who were celebrating their 25th anniversary as a band.

We all waited outside, lining up around the block in the pouring rain to get into the festival. Despite the rain, the show decided to go on and I was able to get to the show in time for the return of Year of The Knife at the Downright Merch Stage. New England Metal marked the Delaware - based hardcore powerhouse first time on stage since their bus accident in back in summer of 2023. The band is comprised of Madi Watkins (vocals), Brandon Watkins (bass), Aaron Kisielewski (guitar), and Andrew Kisielewski (drums). The band is signed to Pure Noise Records and have released their latest album No Love Lost on October 27th, 2023.

Year of The Knife had a large crowd that waited in anticipation for their return and they did not disappoint. The band's set was strictly material from their third album, No Love Lost and their EP Dust To Dust and they did not miss a beat. The Kisielewski brothers were riffing it up and hammering away at the drums and Brandon was provifing backup vocals. The star of the set however, was Madi. From suffering from brain and spinal injuries to making an incredible comeback AND provide powerful vocals was mesmerizing. Not many people can make a comeback from an injury like that but Madi fought through hell and back to get back on her feet and I saw it on her face how happy she si to be back on stage. In fact, I felt the emotions the entire band went through and the crowd felt it too. The fans were crowd surfing and moshing in response to the band's stellar performance. Depsite not playing for over a year, the band indeed did not miss a single step and this is only beginning of Year of The Knife's comeback.
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After watching Year of the Knife melt everyone's faces off, I went across the lot to the main Nuclear Blast Records Stage to catch Bleeding Through. The legacy metalcore band, consisted of Brandon Schieppati (vocals), John Arnold (guitar), Brandon Richter (guitar) Ryan Wombacher (bass), Marta Peterson (keyboards) and Derek Youngsma (drums) played a short set but in that short amount of time, the band brought the intensity and a few shots directed at Overkill. Throughout the set, Schieppati climbed up to the barricade and held his mic out for the audience to grab and sing the songs back to him. Youngsma was hammering away at the drums and Peterson was headbanging behin her keyboards. With the crowd moshing and dancing and a horde of people climbing on top of each other to get their chance to grab Schieppati's mic, Bleeding Through made their short set count and hopefully they'll comeback with a longer set, maybe even a headlining one.
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Journeying back to the Downright Merch Stage I went to see the Canadian/American hybrid metalcore supergroup, END. Formed in 2017, the group was founded by Brendan Murphy (vocals) (Counterparts) and consists of Will Putney (guitar) (Fit For An Autopsy, Better Lovers), Gregory Thomas (guitar) (Shai Hulud), Jay Pepito (bass) (Reign Supreme), and Matt Guglielmo (drums) (The Acacia Strain). To date, the band has released two albums; Splinters from an Ever-Changing Face in 2020, and The Sin of Human Frailty in 2023. END brought some metallic hardcore to the table with Murphy delivering bloodcurdling growls - in contrast to his signature fry's you would hear in Counterparts - and Putney and Thomas delivering heavily distorted riffs and breakdowns that made the pit go crazy. The pit was especially filled with people swinging their arms during "Pariah".
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Once END finished up, I trekked my soaking wet self back to the main stage just in time for the legacy deathcore band The Red Chord. Having formed in 1999, The Red Chord consists of Guy Kozowyk (vocals), Michael "Gunface" McKenzie (guitar), Gregory Weeks (bass), and Jon Rice (drums) and are known for their combination of death metal mixed with various elements from many genres. Since going on hiatus in 2015, the band have limited their live appearances so whenever they play a show, it's always a special time that both the band and the fans take in. Kozowyk incited the crowd to start a circle pit, and despite the fact that everyone was drenched from the rain, they started to run anyway and Kozowyk jokingly called them “wet dudes” and shouted out “start spinning wet dudes!”. The crowd was having a great time moshing, circle pitting or singing along to The Red Chord and the band was having a fun time as well, it's even more special for them as they dont play as often so they make their shows as big as they can, for they could be the last one every, or for awhile.
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The rain showed no signs of stopping and at this point I was drenched and tired but skipping this next band to take a break was not an option, being that it was a Long Island hardcore band, and being a Long Island native myself, I had to make it back to Down Right Stage to see the one and only Incendiary. One of the most well known and most popular Long Island hardcore bands, Incendiary has been in the game since 2007 and doesn't tour actively, but will do short runs and one off hometown shows and will often make festival appearances and New England Metal & Hardcore Fest was the perfect festival for them. The band - which consists of Brendan Garrone (vocals), Rob Nobile (guitar), Brian Audley (guitar), and Dan Lomeli (drums) - came with the intention of making sure no one would stand still during their set and they instantly succeeded when they kicked things off with “Jesus Bones”. Other songs they played included “Bite The Hook”, “The Power Process”, “Primitive Rage”, and “The Product Is You”, just to name a few. Incendiary’s stage presence was very energetic, especially Audley’s as he was spinning his guitar around nonstop. Hardcore dancers were able to warm themselves up in the freezing rain for a time and threw windmills and cartwheels in every direction they could. Normally when a person wants to crowd surf, they would signal those around them so they could get lifted up, well that wasn't the case here. I saw people climb on top of people’s heads to get all the way to the barricade without asking permission, being that there was a barrier, stage diving wasn’t an option so that left moshers with that alternative. With a few more breakdowns, hardcore dancing and two stepping, Incendiary showed New England what Long Island hardcore is made of.
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We were almost halway through the festival, and still, the rain did not let up. At times, it poured even more. Thankfully, I took a brief break from the rain and skipped the next main act and went inside The Palladium to the Century Media Stage so I could catch Massachusetts natives, On Broken Wings. On Broken Wings is a metalcore band that consists of Jonathon Blake (vocals), Mike McMillen (guitar), Burke Medeiros (guitar) Rob Diangelo (bass), and Kevin Garvin (drums) and was formed in 2001. I was unable to get any pictures because the room was too crowded to move around in but I got a bird's eye view of their set. If I could sum up On Broken Wings' performance with one word; it's chaos. On Broken Wings shows are notoriously dangerous and their hometown show was no exception. As soon as the guitars went off, the room split from side to side and everyone was throwing windmills and cartwheeling into each other. Fans started to stage dive on "I Do My Crosswords In Pen" and also grabbed Blake's mic to scream the words. Blake is a monster of a vocalist, he performed monstrous screams and screeching highs for the whole set. McMillen and Medeiros' metallic guitar tone was enough to make the pit dangerous for anyone within a 5 mile radius. Breakdowns, screams, metallic guitar riffs, thunderous drumming, a pit so violent and so dangerous that you couldn't stand on the side or even in the back because the chaos reached the back, On Broken Wings had it all and I'm glad I was able to see them for the first time, and at a safe distance too.
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It was nice to warm up for a bit but it was time trek back into the rain because After The Burial was about to take the stage at the main stage. After The Burial is a progressive metalcore band that was formed in 2004 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band is made up of Anthony Notarmaso (vocals), Trent Hafdahl (guitar), Adrian Oropeza (bass), and Dan Carle (drums) and are currently signed to Sumerian Records. After The Burial came to this dominantly metal and hardcore style festival and brought some "djent" to it. The band's performance consisted of palm-muted guitar riffs from Hafdahl and polyrhythmic grooves from Carle. Notarmaso aided in throwing digs at Overkill for having their drum riser right in the middle of the stage and then proceeded to mix their setlist up right after and say that the next song was "Death Keeps Us From Living" when it was actually "Collapse". Notarmaso called that karma for making fun of Overkill. The band ended their set with "Behold The Crown" and Notarmaso called for a circle pit from the soaking wet crowd and they obliged, running around in a massive circle. Towards the end, Hafdahl played a complex guitar solo and fans decided to crowd surf in massive waves, putting security to work. After The Burial brought a more progressive type of heaviness to New England Metal and it was a nice change of pace before going back to beatdowns and two-steps. You know that question people asking when listening to djent; "does it djent?", well After The Burial's set did indeed "djent".
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You probably know how this goes by now - and yes, it was still raining - but I went back to the Down Right Stage because I wanted to go see another supergroup known as Better Lovers. Better Lovers is a hardcore band from Buffalo, New York and features some very familiar faces. Those familiar faces are Greg Puciato (vocals) (The Dillinger Escape Plan), Will Putney (guitar) (END, Fit For An Autopsy) Jordan Buckley (guitar) (Every Time I Die), Steve Micciche (bass) (Every Time I Die), and Clayton "Goose" Holyoak (drums) (Every Time I Die). Buckley, Micciche, and Holyoak formed Better Lovers in 2023, following the dissolution of Every Time I Die and added Puciato and Putney to the mix. Better Lovers kept the momentum going that had been set all night and encited the crowd to get warmed up and start moshing. If you are familiar with the highly energetic performances both The Dillinger Escape Plan and Every Time I Die would perform, then you would get very comfortable with Better Lovers because they were just as energetic. Both Buckley and Putney spun and stomped around ferociously while playing and even spun their guitars around and Holyoak went berserk on the drums. Puciato is a talented frontman as he was yelling his heart out and singing the entire time. No one was standing still for their set, they were either moshing, two-stepping or crowd surfing the enitire time. How could you not move around with those explosive guitar riffs and rapid fire drums? For the last song, "30 Under 13", Puciato got up to the barricade and sang the entire song with the crowd. It was here, that the crowd surfing intensified, as everyone wanted a chance to grab the mic from Puciato to scream the words out. As I was watching the mases crowd surf, I saw one guy hand out his joint to Puciato which he took one puff from and handed it back to the fan. As someone who never got into The Dillinger Escape Plan or Every Time I Die, I was very impressed with Better Lovers was blown away by their performance. I, for sure, am not gonna rule out seeing them again in the future.
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I took a small food break during Overkill but was back at the Down Right stage in time for the return of the mighty Nails. If you've never heard of Nails before well let me update you, Nails is a hardcore band from California that was formed in 2009 by former Terror guitarist, Todd Jones. The band's lineup is Todd Jones (guitar/vocals), Shelby Lermo (guitar), Andrew Solis (bass), and Carlos Cruz (drums). Following 3 years of radio silence, Nails made their return in August with the release of their fourth studio album Every Bridge Burning and began playing shows again almost instantly. Nails was both savage, and intense. Jones vocals were monsterous and extremely chaotic. Combine that with heavily distored, down-tuned guitars, blast beats and speed, and you got a performance that tirggered the animal side of every mosher. Jones took a few minutes to thank the crowd and remarked on how during COVID period he wondered if anyone would even care if Nails returned. Well they cared, a lot, In fact they were WAITING for Nails to return and Jones was very grateful for that. The band performed songs from their entire catalogue including the new album and the two song EP I Don't Want To Know You. "Every Bridge Burning" saw fans two-stepping in the pit and forming a massive circle pit on "Dehumanized". Nails ended their set with a Sepultura cover called "Territory".
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It's been a long, cold and wet day but the night was almost over and it was time for Machine Head to melt the Nuclear Blast stage. Formed in 1991, the band consists of Rob Fylnn (guitar/vocals), Jared MacEachern (bass) and Matt Alston (drums) with Reece Scruggs serving as the band's live second guitarist. Machine Head brought the heat to New England Metal - literally. Fire lit up the stage as Machine Head melted the faces off of the New England crowd. Fans started crowd surfing as soon as they played with no signs of slowing down. On the third song, "CHØKE ØN THE ASHES ØF YØUR HATE", Flynn commanded the crowd to form the biggest circle pit of the night, not starting the song until it got bigger and bigger. Once he was satisfied with how big it got, the band played the song and fans kept spinning the floor for the entire song. While MacEachern played a bass solo, Flynn wanted to take the energy to the next level and ordered everyone to get off their feet at his command. Once he gave the word, the whole floor was off of their feet and both as fire lit up the stage. Both Flynn and Scruggs played guitar solos to close the song out. The band's set consisted of one song from every album from their first one Burn My Eyes, to their sixth one The Blackening and on off of their latest one Of Kingdom and Crown. Flynn gave praise to Killwitch Engage for making it to 25 years as a band and noted that not many bands can make it that long. About halfway through their set, big inflatable Machine Head cubes were dispersed at the crowd and everyone was bouncing them across the area and during "Davidian", Flynn told the crowd to take their shirts off and wave them around in the air. No one really did that because it was raining but it was funny and they still bounced the cubes around and continued moshing. A few more breakdowns, shredding, moshing, and fire (which helped a lot in warming everyone up), and they wrapped their set up with a bang and we had two more sets left.

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I could've used this opportunity to take a break before Killswitch but I had to make it back to Downright stage one last time to catch this iconic metalcore band from Salem called Converge. Converge was formed in 1990 and consists of Jacob Bannon (vocals), Kurt Ballou (guitar), Nate Newton (bass), and Ben Koller (drums) and are known for their extremely aggressive sound. The band saw success with their fourth studio album Jane Doe which they released in September 2001 and is considered to be their breakout album. Converge played with pure speed and aggression. Koller was going ham on the drums and the fans formed a circle pit that matched the band's speed while others either watched in astonishment on the sides or crowd surfed. Bannon was screaming his heart out on the songs, I couldn't really understand the words but his sonic screams gave me a clear understanding of the emotions he was trying to convey. Bannon screamed through the set and did not talk much except in the beginning when he asked the crowd "are you ready?" and when he had to stop the show because of an injured fan. When he stopped the show, he made a speech praising the festival and how its a community that founded this form of art and that shows like these are places to share with one another. Converge ended their set with an Integrity cover called "Vocal Test" and even brought out their vocalist Dwid Hellion to scream it with them. It was a nice treat for those who, like me, missed Integrity's set at the Century Media Stage inside.
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The night was almost over and the rain had essentialy died down by now. Despite the rain, I had a fantastic time and saw pretty much everyone I wanted to see but the headliner was something I was REALLY looking forward to all night. In closing out the first day of New England Metal & Hardcore, we saw one of the greatest bands in metalcore history, and Massachussetts very own; Killswitch Engage. Formed in 1999, Killswitch Engage has been going strong for 25 years, releasing banger after banger. The band has released eight studio albums in total and has sold over four million records in the U.S. and are known for hits like "My Last Serenade", "My Curse", "Rose of Sharyn" and "The End of Heartache", to name a few. This year's New England Metal & Hardcore was a very special one because Killswitch Engage played a unique set to celebrate their 25th anniversary as a band. The band's lineup, that has been consistant for 12 years now, includes Jesse Leach (vocals), Adam Dutkiewicz (guitar/vocals), Joel Stroetzel (guitar), Michael D'Antonio (bass), and Justin Foley (drums).

I didn't notice this until late in the performance but the band's set contained at least one song that started from their first album that was released in 2000; Killswitch Engage, and went all the way down their catalogue to their latest album that they released in 2019, Atonement and then went back up it. It was definitely something I havent seen a band done before and thought it was a clever way to play a set that touched every album they have released. You know how I didn't know what to expect from Killswitch that night? Well it caught me of guard when they started their set with "Soilborn" from their self-titled first album. It's very rare for the band to touch any material from that time period so when you get at least one song, you know it was gonna be a surreal time. Fans didn't waste time crowd surfing and they were surfing in massive waves, putting security hard at work. The band then went to their second album, my personal favorite, Alive or Just Breathing, and played "Fixation on the Darkness" and for the whole song, Leach climbed the barricade and moved from one side to another so he could sing the song with every fan that was up front. Killswitch's performance didn't just include a special set, but it also included a surprise as well and that surprise came in the form of former Killswitch vocalist Howard Jones. Some history here but Jesse Leach was the band's original vocalist from the band's formation and left shortly after the release of Alive or Just Breathing in 2002 and was replaced by Howard Jones. He would stay in the band for 10 years before leaving in 2012 because of personal reasons and Leach rejoined the band and has been here since. Since the next song they played was taken off of Howard's first album with the band; The End of Heartache, Leach welcomed his successor to the stage and remained in the back to provide backup vocals while the band played "Take This Oath" with Jones.

Downstairs by the main room at The Palladium, the band set up a mini museum that showcased the band's 25 years together. There were tour posters, laminates, guitar cabinets and drum sets with information on when they were used and what they were used for and scattered everywhere were copies of setlists from the band's past tours that fans were welcomed to take home with. I took one home from their Disarm The Descent Tour. The band continued to go down their catalogue and played "My Curse" from their 2006 album; As Daylight Dies, then "Forgotten" off of their 2009 album and second self titled album; Killswitch Engage. "Forgotten" hasn't been played live since 2010, so this would be the first time the band played this song live with Leach. The next song was off their 2013 album, and first one they recorded with Leach since his return to the band; Disarm The Descent. Leach invited the crowd to sing with him on the song "In Due Time". After tearing up "Strength of the Mind", Leach talked to the crowd and made a speech about mental health and reflected on the band's 25 year career before inviting Howard back on to the stage to play the Atonement song they collaborated on; "The Signal Fire". Howard's vocal performance was on point, being that he doesn't scream as often on his current project Light The Torch. But when he screams, whether it was high screams or mid growls, he still got it. Dutkiewicz was hilarious, he kept making jokes all night and made funny faces as he was shredding it up on guitar.
Now that the band went all the way down to their latest album Atonement, they then went all the way back up and played "Unleashed" and "Hate By Design" from Atonement and Incarnate respectively. Before getting into the next song Dutkiewicz asked the crowd if they noticed what the band did with the set? It was then I, along with everyone else realized what they did as he was expalining and thought that was very clever. One person claimed they knew and Dutkiewicz praised them for it. Leach then asked the crowd to sing along with him again on the singalong song "Always". The entire festival sang the words loud and proud with him, me included. It's practically impossible not to sing along to that hook. This was then followed up by "Reckoning" and "This Is Absolution" which saw Dutkiewicz providing co-vocals on.

Returning to their third album The End of Heartache, Leach, for one final time, had Jones returned to the stage and this time, walked off the stage to allow Jones to solely song this next song, and I knew immediately what it was because it was a Howard Jones staple song; "Rose of Sharyn". If there was one song Killswitch had to play with just Howard, it was this one as this was a personal one to him. For about 4 minutes, we got to see the whole End of Heartache lineup live. I never got to seee Killswitch Engage live with Howard it was surreal to see that lineup live, like literally watching a piece of KSE history right before our eyes. Jesse praised Howard highly and didn't hesitate to admit that Killswitch Engage wouldn't be the band they are today if it weren't for him. The singalongs continued with "My Last Serenade" and of course, "The End of Heartache". We all sang the words to "The End of Heartache" loud and proud and sang both Leech's and Dutkiewicz's parts. It was about time to end the show but the band had one more song left, and it was a cover song that they dedicated to Ronnie James Dio. The song they covered was Dio's "Holy Diver" which appeared on the Special Edition of As Daylight Dies. Killswitch would often end their set with this cover and kept that tradition up here. I saw fans use this opportuniy to finish moshing and crowd surfing until the song's end. Killswitch thanked the crowd once again for all these years of support and left them to enjoy a fireworks show to close out Night 1 of New England Metal & Hardcore Festival.
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The first night of New England Metal & Hardcore Festival was an absolute blast. With heavy hitters like Incendiary, Converge, Machine Head, Year of the Knife, After The Burial and Killswitch Engage, this lineup made enudring the rain worth it. The fans for sure didnt let the rain ruin their day and moshed and crowd surfed their way through it, no matter how hard it rained. This didn't go unnoticed to the bands and praised the crowd for enduring it and made sure they gave the fans a show that made it all worth it. It was truly an unforgettable night with an incredible lineup and amazing performances and experience. This was just the first night however, and night 2 was about to get even crazier.




