Slaughter To Prevail + Company Demolished The Second Day of New England Metal & Hardcore Festival!

Okay, it was the second and last day of New England Metal & Hardcore Festival and this time, it wasn't raining so this day was a lot easier to manage. I knew the previous night was gonna be tough to top be we still had an stellar lineup, including Foreign Hands, Escuela Grind, Suicide Silence, Brand of Sacrifice, Bane, Pain of Truth, As I Lay Dying, Suicidal Tendencies and Slaughter To Prevail to close out this year.

I got there early this time and had a much easier time getting in. I got there early because there was no way I was gonna miss Foreign Hands. Hailing from Delaware, Foreign Hands is a hardcore/metalcore band that is both chaotic and melodic. Formed in the mid-late 2010, the band's lineup is Tyler Norris (vocals), Jack Beatson (guitar/vocals), Gill Gonzales (guitar), Chuck Minix (bass) and Tyler Washington (drums) and are currently singed to SharpTone Records.

Norris began the band's set at the Downright Merch Stage by telling everyone to move closer to the front before starting the first song, "Resetting the Senses". If there is one thing the band doesn't do; is stand still. The band's energy reached max level instantly and everyone was running back and forth on stage, especially Norris who was the most energetic of the group - all while not running out of breath as he was screaming his heart out. Most of the band's set contained songs from their most recent studio album What's Left Unsaid that they released back in June. However they did throw a treat or two in and played two songs off of their EP Bleed The Dream and the stand alone single "Tearing Down Your Reality". Foreign Hands' had the entire crowd off their feet. Whether it was with sonic breakdowns and riffs from Beatson and Gonzales that made the mosh pit a war zone, or Beatson's melodic cleans that made them crowd surf or sing along, Foreign Hands had a very active and energetic performance that for sure warmed everyone up and set the tone for the rest of the night.

After taking a 30 minute break, I went back to the Downright Merch Stage to catch Escuela Grind, a grindcore/powerviolence hardcore band from Massachusetts that was formed in 2016. The band's lineup consists of Katerina Economou,(vocals), Kris Morash (guitar), Thomas Sifuentes (guitar), Justin (bass), and Jesse Fuentes (drums). Escuela Grind had everyone's attention with their violent and dirty sound. Economou's vocals were disgustingly brutal - in a good way - and the riffs from Morash and Sifuentes were enough to make the pit very violent. Towards the tail end of the set, Fuentes wasn't impressed with how tame the crowd was and called them out on it, challenging their hometown crowd to do better, so the pit responded by pushing it back far and wide, to the point where I knew I had to move out of the way. Add a few more hardcore dancing-inducing breakdowns, a circle pit, and even a wall of death and you had a set that was pure brutality. Escuela Grind was a band I've been wanting to see for a some time now and they did not disappoint and I can't wait to see them again.

Going up to the main Nuclear Blast Stage I was excited to see the British deathcore/death metal band INGESTED. Formed in in 2006 in Manchester, the band is made up of Jason Evans (vocals), Sean Hynes (guitar), and Lyn Jeffs (drums) and have a style that blends slam, deathcore and death metal together, creating a sound that is both brutal and ferocious. INGESTED was destructive from start to finish and before playing "Shadows In Time", Evans demanded the biggest circle pit the crowd could form, wanting it to be the biggest the festival has ever seen. The fans tried forming one but it wasn't that big and Evans wasn't satisfied so he stopped the song and ordered the crowd to make it bigger and didn't restart the song unitl it was big enough. The crowd did indeed made it a bigger circle pit and didn't hold back for the rest of their set. Whether it was Evans' demonic vocals or high pitched screams, Hynes' downtempo guitars or Jeffs' thunderous drumming, the band wasn't holding back in the slightest bit and made sure New England Metal & Hardcore got a taste of pure death metal.

Immediately after INGESTED wrapped up, I rushed back to Downright because it was crucial that I had to catch the kings of Long Island Hardcore, Pain of Truth. Being from Long Island myself, just like Incendiary, it was crucial that I had to be there for Pain of Truth. Formed during the pandemic in 2020, the band becme one of the fastest growing hardcore bands today with their hard hitting lyrics and intense live shows. The band is made up of Michael Smith (vocals), Nick Hansen (guitar), Ridge Rhine (guitar), Zach Stachura (bass), and Nick Barker (drums). Pain of Truth's set had it all, breakdowns, riffs, aggressive vocals, moshing, dancing, crowdkilling, you name it. Smith was very interactive with the crowd, telling all the hardcore kids to come out and told everyone on the sides to move in closer. he also commanded the crowd to move when he wanted them too and they would listen. He also threw the mic into the crowd at certain points for the fans to scream to the words in. The band's fourth song, "The Test" saw a special appearance from Dan Steely of King Nine who jumped on stage for his feature on the song. Other appearances included Scott Vogel from Terror on "In Your Heart". The northeast crowd always pop off for Pain of Truth, the pit was filled with hardcore dancers and two steppers for the whole set. A wall of death closed Pain of Truth's set on "LINYHC/Pain Of Truth" showing once again why Long Island Hardcore is on top.

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It was time now for some Canadian deathcore at the Nuclear Blast Stage with Brand of Sacrifice. Brand of Sacrifice was formed in 2018 in Toronto, Ontario and consists of Kyle Anderson (vocals), Liam Beeson (guitar), Leo Valeri (synths), Andrew Kim (bass), and Chason Westmoreland (drums). Brand of Sacrifice's set was filled with sonic growls, beefy riffs, thunderous drumming and synths that helped breathe life into the songs and the whole performance. Anderson called for massive crowd surfing on "Demon King" and the whole floor put security to work as a sea of people were surfing over to them. I think they had to call one or two more helping hands. Anderson is a talented vocalist, his growls are so loud and so powerful, I'm sure people at Century Media stage could hear him. Brand of Sacrifice uses synths in most of their work and you can hear the importance of them when listening but they also make a huge difference in the live shows. Their production aids in making the songs sound way bigger and atmospheric live and it puts you in a trance. Its elements like these that separates Brand of Sacrifice from the majority of deathcore bands. A few more circle pits, screaming, riffing, moshing, and even one of the biggest wall of deaths I've seen all weekend, and Brand of Sacrifice did all they needed to do to put their mark on New England Metal & Hardcore.

After taking an hour water/merch break I went back to the main stage to catch Shadow of Intent, one of today's hottest deathcore bands. Shadow of Intent has been around for over 10 years now, having formed in 2013 by vocalist Ben Duerr and guitarist Chris Wiseman. The band has gone through a few lineup changes but today, the band consists of Ben Duerr (vocals), Chris Wiseman (guitar) (Currents), Andrew Monias (bass) and Bryce Butler (drums). Shadow of Intent's set was largely songs from their previous two albums Elegy and Melancholy however they did also play their stand alone 2023 single "The Migrant". Duerr introduced his band by remarking that "the sun has f*cked off, which means it's time for Shadow of Intent". Unfortunately the sun went away for only a couple of minutes and came back once they played "Gravesinger".The band has been hard at work in making their new album and to give a taste of that to expect, they played their brand new song "Flying The Black Flag". Every single member of that band is insanely talented in their own way. Duerr is another monster vocalist that is up there with the greats like Will Ramos, Kyle Anderson, and Alex Terrible. His growls are so deep, they are demonic and he can produce them at a rapid fire rate too without losing his breath. Monias' backup screams helped aid Duerr's vocals and Wiseman, being the insanely talented guitarist he is, played heavily layered riffs and symphonic solos. Let's not forget Butler, he is so fast on the drums, it was hard to keep up, especially with his double kick speed. The band didn't just play their latter material. They revisited their second album Reclaimer to play the crowd favorite, "The Heretic Prevails". While not the most violent band, I still saw people throwing down to their set and there were a lot of crowd surfers too. Like Brand of Sacrifice, they too use synths and production tracks that make their shows sound bigger and atmospheric and just like Brand of Sacrifice, they succeeded in doing that as well.

I left Shadow's set a tad early to get back to the Downright stage to ensure I didn't miss a second of my favorite hardcore band's set; Terror. Terror was formed in 2002 in Los Angeles, California and consists of Scott Vogel (vocals), Jordan Posner (guitar), Martin Stewart (guitar), Chris Linkovich (bass) and Nick Jett (drums). Terror took the stage and Vogel, not happy that there is a barricade, points right at it and orders the crowd to "defeat the barricade, defeat the barricade" wanting fans to crowd surf and then got right into "One With The Underdogs". Everyone on stage wasn't standing still and were either moving from side to side or jumping and throwing kicks in the air. Terror is a band that's known for encouragin stage dives, however the barricade that was present during their set made that complicated. So Vogel ordered everyone to "reverse stage dive" which was another way of telling them to crowd surf. He remarked that it's the only way to defeat the barricade and show that Terror's shows aren't to be messed with. Overwhelming security, the fans started to crowd surf and there were no signs of it stoppping anytime soon. I bet they were thinking Terror should've played the Century Media Stage instead, I know I felt that way, that definitely would've solved the problem. In addition to "reverse stage dives", their set saw hardcore dancing, a circle pit during "Can't Help But Hate", another guest vocal spot from Steely on "Stick Tight" and crowd chanting, especially on songs like "Overcome", "Keep Your Mouth Shut" and "Keepers of the Faith". Barrier or no barrier, Terror knows how to put on a hardcore show and the crowd will always do whatever the band commands them to do.

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I’m glad that it didn’t rain because it made going back and forth a lot easier. I went back to the main stage for Suicide Silence, a legacy Deathcore band that was formed in 2002 in Riverside, California. After going through multiple lineup changes, the band now consists of Eddie Herma (vocals), Mark Heylmun (guitar), Chris Garza (guitar), Dan Kenny (bass) and Ernie Iniguez (drums). Suicide Silence didn't hold back with their set. The first three songs were the bangers "Unanswered", "You Only Live Once" and "Bludgeoned to Death". Those first three songs were filled with down tempo riffs, shrieking lyrics and violent moshing. Herma allowed the fans to have their voice be heard on "You Only Live Once". Herma noted how as a kid, it was his dream to play this festival and not only did he get to play it with his previous band All Shall Perish, but Suicide Silence was a surprise guest that year and that its an honor to be back at this festival 20 years later. The rest of Suicide Silence's set contained high pitched screams, guitar solos, beefy breakdowns and violent moshing. That was everything you needed to see a true Suicide Silence show. Herma thanked the band for keeping the band's legacy alive and honoring Mitch Lucker, the band's former vocalist who passed away in 2012. Suicide Silence closed their intense set with "No Pity For A Coward" and brought out Damonteal Harris from PeelingFlesh as a special guest.

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This hardcore band was one I had been looking forward to seeing since they announced their return last year. Worcester’s own, and considered to be part of Boston hardcore, the one and only Bane at the Downright stage. Bane was formed in 1995 and is known for promoting tolerance and unity in hardcore. They have released four studio albums before calling it quits in 2016, only reform last summer. The band’s lineup consists of Aaron Bedard (vocals), Aaron Dalbec (guitar), Zach Jordan (guitar), James Siboni (bass), and Bob Mahoney (drums). Bane saw a circle pit forming at the start of their set and Bedard climbed up to the barricade and yelled the rest of “Final Backward Glance” with the fans upfront. Immediately after the circle pit was over, all you saw were people two stepping and doing their typical hardcore pit dancing; it also looked like people attempting to stand on people’s heads to stage dive. Obviously they were unable to but from the back of the crowd, you saw people trying to climb on top of each other. Bane finished “My Therapy” and it seemed like they were just about done but the band had one last breakdown in them and it wasn’t theirs. The band played the breakdown of Domination by Pantera to end their set on a high note.

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Back to the main stage, As I Lay Dying was about to go on. One of the leading bands in early 2000’s metalcore, As I Lay Dying was established at the turn of the century in San Diego, California and after going through numerous lineup changes over the years; the band is now consisted of Tim Lambesis (vocals), Ken Susi (guitar), Phil Sgrosso (guitar), Ryan Neff (bass) (Miss May I) and Nick Pierce (drums). As I Lay Dying had an all star set that included fan favorites like "Nothing Left", "Confined", "Through Struggle", the old school song "94 Hours" and their latter songs "Blinded", "My Own Grave" and their new song "Burden". Susi, the hometown boy, kept his blood pumping by running across the stage and jumping while playing. Pierce flexed his blast beats and insane double bass and let's not forget about Lambesis, who sounded just as monstrous as he looks. Two songs into the set, Sgrosso's guitar stopped working and had to spend the majority of "Through Struggle" trying to fix it and re-sound check it again. That left Susi to perform guitar duties by himself and he stepped up to the plate. He was able to make it back on stage in time for the closing breakdown. One thing I noticed about Pierce was that he plays jazz style which is not something you would normally see in metal and he was playing fast rolls too. Fans raised their fists in the air and formed circle pits for every song. When not doing either, they were singing along to Neff's infectious cleans. A few more circle pits, riffs/solos and monstrous vocals by Lambesis and As I Lay Dying's set came to an explosive conlusion.

By this point, I was tired, but I had a little more left in me for the last two bands and this one closed out the Downright stage. They are one of the most popular crossover thrash bands in the world; they are the one and only Suicidal Tendencies. Suicidal Tendencies was formed in 1980 in Venice, California. Having gone through lineup change after lineup change, that band is now made up of Mike Muir (vocals), Dean Pleasants (guitar), Ben Weinman (guitar), Tye Trujillo (bass) and Jay Weinberg (drums). Suicidal Tendencies was the physical embodiment of energetic. Muir, known of his eccentric stage presence and sense of humor, kept moving around the stage in an eccentric fashion and was making wacky hand movements which was nothing new if you've seen ST before but it's still funny when he does that. He also made jokes on stage too. Weinman was another one who was never known to stand still, especially in his Dillinger days. From waving his guitar around violently to jumping up and down and even climbing on top of one of the speakers AND jumping off of it; his on stage antics made him the center of attention along with Muir. This energy was further amplified with the addition of new drummer Jay Weinberg. Known for his time in Slipknot, Weinberg is a heavy hitter on the drums, and a fast one too. I was so focused on him the most next to Weinman and Muir because as a drummer myself, I was always a fan of his skill. I've seen him with Slipknot before so I was already familiar with his live performance but there was something about seeing him with ST that felt very, different, and enthralling too. Trujillo also made himself shine with a funky bass solo that Muiz was spazzing out to as he stood next to him. There wasn't a lot of crowd surfing happening but there was a lot of moshing happening from the crowd. The band ended their set by having members of the audience come up on stage. Soon enough, the whole stage was filled with fans and they were all chanting "ST! ST!". I noticed one of the people on stage was Jesse Leach himself which I thought was awesome. As everyone was chanting "ST!", I saw Leach and a couple of fans crowding over a mic stand to shout the words together. Everyone kept chanting as the band played an impromptu jam to end the set. I love seeing Suicidal Tendencies live because it's always an experience filled energy, humor, and funky thrash riffs/solos. I hope to see them again next year.

It was a very eventful weekend and it was about to come to a close and what better way than to close it out with some powerful Russian deathcore? I'm talking about one of the biggest deathcore bands today, the mighty Slaughter To Prevail. Despite only seeing massive success a few years ago, Slaughter To Prevail has been around since 2014, having formed in Russia but are currently based in Orlando, Florida. The band is currently singed to Sumerian Records and their lineup consists of Alex Terrible (vocals), Jack Simmons (guitar), Dmitry Mamedov (guitar), Mike Petrov (bass), and Evgeny Novikov (drums).

Slaughter To Prevail started off with "Bonebreaker" the first track off of their 2019 album, Kostolom. I could tell it was that song by the distorted opening riff. All of the members came out donning their signature Kid of Darkness masks including Terrible who was also waving around a Russian flag. Flashing lights matched the speed of the drums and guitars to amplify the song's intensity and Terrible was belting out roars effortlessly. The crowd surfing commenced immediately as well as the moshing. Terrible took his mask off towards the end of the song and introduced his band before instigating the mosh pit to get violent. Steam went off on stage as the band played the song's strong but progressive breakdown that for sure instigated the pit. The band delivered another bone crushing breakdown that was preceded by more demonic screams by Terrible on "Baba Yaga". He then had everyone in the crowd wave their hands back forth while Mamedov played a guitar solo to ring the song out. Terrible ordered the pit to open up wider for the next song "Demolisher". A circle pit formed to start the song then broke into a dancing pit at the chorus. Novikov was hitting the drums with extreme aggression and speed, only to pause with the rest of the band before "that" part of the song. I think most people here would know what I'm talking about. I, along with everyone else knew what was about to come; a demon took over Alex has he, or it, growled straight into the mic, as low as he could go, the song's bridge - in Russian. I've seen this live three times now but see it happening up close was a different experience. I felt those gutturals, those heavy drums, in my chest. After the demonic Russian finished, everyone screamed back "DE-MOLI-SHER" and chaos broke loose on the breakdown, and it was one of those breakdowns where all you hear is the china symbol, so that was a clear indication that the pit was not fooling around.

Alex took a few minutes to thank the everyone for coming to the show and shouted out the bands that played all the weekend. He expressed how humbled and honored he was to headline a festival like this one. The band then got into the next song, "Viking". Just like "Demolisher", "Viking" has its own impacting part and I was excited for it, as was the pit. Right before the breakdown, Terrible, without using his mic, unleahed 12 years of demonic aggression that led into one of the most destructive breakdowns of the night. While the pit was unleashing chaos from side to side, I saw Alex cut himslef open on his forehead with the mic, so for the rest of the he hand a cut on his head. Had I not have my camera with me, I woulda ran into that pit myself. Alex then gave another speech and it was a motivational one about wanting to change the world but it starts with changing yourself and then went right into "Agony" which continued to induce more chaos. The band then followed up with "Conflict" which Alex demanded a circle pit for, calling it "cardio time". They then followed up with the old school song"Hell", a nice treat for the OG fans that have been there since 2014.

A demonic voice played over the PA, speaking to the crowd about unity through music and remarking that we all aren't just one big family, but one big '"bratva". I knew immeditaely what the next song was but first, Alex ordered the crowd to split the room apart and the crowd made the biggest wall of death the festival saw all weekend. I found myself in the middle but towards the back with no where left to go so I just stood there and accepted my fate. Once we all heard "ladies and gentlemen! You are listening to Alex! The Terrible!", Alex let out another monstrous growl that made both sides crash into each other and causing pandemonium everywhere in the middle of the floor. Other songs they played included "1984" and "Kid of Darkness" which I saw everyone get off of their feet for. Slaughter To Prevail then played a cover of Rammstein's "Du Hast". Alex belted the German lyrics out with great power and the crowd was doing everything it can to shout the words back to him. After finshing the cover the band took a pciture with the whole crowd before walking off stage, closing out the main set. After a few minutes of "one more song" chants, the band came back out and played their last song, "I Killed A Man". Before getting into it though, Terrible ordered everyone to get on the ground. Almost the entire floor got onto their knees and once the song kicked in, everyone was off their feet again and jumped higher than before. Everyone took this last chacne get their moshing and crowd surfing out of the way. Another cricle pit formed and I saw some people hardcore dancing in the middle of the circle pit. Terrible belted out "I KILLED A MAN" and the last breakdown of the night dropped and the circle pit turned into a war zone in an instant. A few more riff chugs and an outro solo and the song ended, concluding their set and the 2024 edition of New England Metal & Hardcore Festival.

I've been listening to Slaughter To Prevail since 2019 and it's absolutely mind blowing to me how big they have gotten. From seeing them play small bars on Long Island and in Brooklyn, New York, to headlining one of the biggest metal festivals on the East Coast is something absolutely surreal to see. Even Alex said himself that he never once thought he would get the opportunities his band has been getting now and to play with bands he grew up listening to. This was hands down, one of their most memorable shows to date and they can only go up from here.

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There's so much I could say about this festival and it won't be enough to explain how much fun I had. This was my first ever New England Metal & Hardcore Festival and despite the rain and the chilly wind, it was an incredible experience. From seeing Killswitch Engage celebrate their 25th anniversary as a band and Slaughter To Prevail headline this massive festival, to seeing bands like Bane, Escuela Grind, Converge, and On Broken Wings for the first time, to seeing familiar faces like Terror, Pain of Truth, As I Lay Dying and Foreign Hands, this year's festival packed a massive punch and had something for everybody. This was one of the most funnest weekends of my life and I hope to return to this festival next year.