UNEARTH Brought 20 Years Of ‘The Oncoming Storm’ To Boston

There’s not many bands that can have a lasting impact on the metalcore genre and none have the same impact that UNEARTH has had. On June 15th, the Boston-based metalcore icons celebrated 20 years of their second album The Oncoming Storm with a special one-night event dubbed Storm Fest at the Big Night Live. The all-day rager saw the band play their second album in its entirety along with select songs from their catalog. The festival also featured an all star lineup including Apes, HIGH COMMAND, All Out War, Fuming Mouth, Overcast, and Bleeding Through.

Fans from Boston and all over the East Coast gathered around, waiting outside the Big Night Live to get ready to unleash chaos and the first band that got the crowd warmed up was Apes. Apes is a heavy metal band from Quebec City, Canada that was formed in the early 2010s. The band became known for their fusion of elements from multiple sub genres of metal like grindcore, black metal and even hardcore music. The band have made a lasting impact on the Canadian music scene with their high energy and intense live performances and the US fans were about to experience that live for the very first time. The night before this event, the band released their second studio album Penitence which was produced by Will Putney (Fit For An Autopsy, END, Better Lovers).

Apes played a very short set but they made a huge first impression on the American audience in those 20 minutes with their intensity. The band has been active for a little over a decade but this show marked Apes first show in the US. The band had everything from beefy, devastating triple guitar riffs to loud, spacious drumming. Vocalist Andre Goulet’s talent includes captivating screams and emotive growls that would make any mosher go to an animalistic place. The crowd was very receptive to Apes as a pit broke out within the first few minutes of their set. The band concluded their set with a brutal breakdown that made the pit throw their arms in every direction. For their first time playing in the US, Apes made a fantastic first impression and I’m looking forward to many more shows they will play here in the future.

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With the crowds blood already pumping, they were instantly prepared for the next band, another Massachusetts - based thrash metal band called HIGH COMMAND. HIGH COMMAND is currently signed to Southern Lord Recordings and is made up of Kevin Fitzgerald (vocals), Ryan McArdle (guitar), Mike Bonetti (guitar), Chris Berg (bass) and Ryan Pitz (drummer). Their most recent album, Eclipse of the Dual Moons was released on November 25th, 2022.

High Command took the show from Boston to Valhalla with their combination of thrash riffs and fantasy-themed lyrics. Their set consisted of songs from their two albums they have out; Beyond the Wall of Desolation and Eclipse of the Dual Moon. Songs they played included “Beyond The Wall of Desolation”, “Eclipse of the Dual Moon”, “Fortified by Bloodshed”, “Merciless Steel” and “Inexorable Darkness”. Fitzgerald took center stage with a sword in hand symbolizing he was ready for battle and took charge with a sonic voice and surging screams. McArdle and Bonetti matched each others energy with beefy thrash metal riffs and soaring solos. Pitz held down the drums with raw and devastating energy, making them sound bigger than they are.

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Up next, the hardcore/crossover thrash quintet from Newburgh, New York All Out War. Since forming in 1991, the band has released a total of eight studio albums and consist of Mike Score (vocals), Taras Appuzzo (guitar), Andrew Pietrolungo (guitar), Erik Carrillo (bass), and Jesse Sutherland (drums). The band is known for their metallic aggression and sheer brutality and have established themselves as one of the most devastating bands in hardcore and metal. Their most recent work, Celestial Rot was released on February 3rd, 2023.

There is only one word to describe All Out War and that is brutality. From start to finish, their set brought total chaos and the pit became a war-zone. Their set was comprised of songs from multiple releases. That included their first album For Those Who Were Crucified (1998), Condemned To Suffer (2003), Truth In The Age Of Lies (2012), Crawl Among The Filth (2019), and their most recent album Celestial Rot (2023). Right off the bat, during the first song “Soaked In Torment”, Score rushed up to the barrier and screamed the opening lines with any willing participants up front. Multiple people rushed up on the other side to scream the words back at Score. Other songs included “Gehenna Lights Eternal”, “Wrath/Plague”, “Condemned To Suffer”, “Claim Your Innocence”, “Resist”, “Burning Season”, “Redemption for the Innocent”, and “Glorious Devastation”. The metallic riffs from Appuzzo and Pietrolungo were enough to make the show go from a metal show to a violent hardcore show but the aggressively harsh vocals from Score added to the band’s live chaotic sound. The hardcore fans were waiting for this moment because they made their presence known in the pit and made everyone a target. Score would often throw his mic into the crowd and fans would pile on top of each other so they could scream the words for him. All Out War took the show to the next level but we were only halfway there.

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We’re about at the halfway point and now it was time for another Massachusetts band, Fuming Mouth to take the stage. By taking death metal and combining it with hardcore elements, Fuming Mouth have established themselves as of one the most brutal modern death metal bands since forming in 2013. The band’s lineup consists of Mark Whelan (vocals/guitar), Patrick Merson (bass) and Keith Goldoni (drums) and they have released two studio albums; The Grand Descent (2019) and Last Day of Sun (2023) on their label Nuclear Blast. Last month they released two new songs “Daylight Again” and “Timeless” which is an alternate version of their song “Out of Time”.

Fuming Mouth played a total of nine songs, including “Nothing to Bleed”, “Out of the Shadows”, “Fatalism”, “Daylight Again”, “Timeless”, “R.I.P (Rest In Piss)”, “Burial Practices”, “I’ll Find You” and “The Silence Beyond Life”. Fuming Mouth’s set was that of a barbaric nature. From deep demonic vocals and archaic guitar riffs from Whelan to Merson’s deep bass tone to Goldoni‘s hard-hitting drums, Fuming Mouth made Boston feel like doom and destruction was in the air. In 2021, Whelan was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow and had to go through a bone marrow transplant. To come back from that and channel that through raw and disgusting aggression is absolutely incredible. Almost every song had a skull-crushing breakdown and the pit went absolutely violent whenever the band played one.

It has been a long night but it wasn’t over yet, because up next was the legacy band Overcast. Formed in Boston in 1991, the band’s initial run lasted for 7 years but disbanded in 1998 following an unsuccessful tour. Despite this, the band released one 7” titled Bleed Into One and one full-length titled Expectational Dilution and have been considered as the pioneers of metalcore. Since then, the band have played a handful of reunion shows throughout the years and have even released their second studio album Reborn To Kill Again in 2008. Their lineup has remained stagnant since their inception, consisting of Brian Fair (Shadows Fall) (vocals), Pete Cortese (guitar), Scott McCooe (guitar), Mike D’Antonio (Killswitch Engage) (bass) and Jay Fitzgerald (drums).

Overcast had a celebration of their own and that was the 30th anniversary of Expectational Dilution which was released in 1994. To commemorate the celebration, the band played a set that largely consisted of songs off of that album. Those songs were “Grifter”, “Twodegreesbelow”, “Absolute Threshold”, “Allegiance to the Flesh”, and “Bleed Into One”. Overcast’s set was pure raw energy from start to finish. Fair had incredible stage presence and delivered raw and harsh vocals and switched to cleans effortlessly. At multiple points throughout the night, he got up to the barricade to scream the songs with the fans up front. If you’ve seen him before, whether it was with Overcast or with his other band Shadows Fall, then you are well aware of his live energy and his ability to give it all. The pit went from a metal mosh pit, back into a hardcore pit as hardcore dancers took the floor and swung their arms in every direction. I’ve seen Brian Fair with Shadows Fall twice and to see him now with his old band was a nice treat to see as Overcast rarely plays shows nowadays, even rarer than Shadows Fall.

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We’re almost there but before UNEARTH brought the storm to Boston, there’s one more legacy band that has yet to grace the rowdy crowd with its presence. Hailing from Orange County, California was the legendary Bleeding Through. Bleeding Through was formed in 1999 but emerged in 2002 and have specialized in making metalcore that is dark and ferocious, combining it with elements of melodic death metal and black metal to give that extra kick. In total, the band has released seven studio albums and have released a new single in May called “Our Brand Is Chaos”. The lineup they have now consists of Brandon Schieppati (vocals), John Arnold (guitar), Brandon Richter (guitar) Ryan Wombacher (bass), Marta Peterson (keyboards) and Derek Youngsma (drums). Last fall, the band went on a tour throughout the US in celebrating the 20th anniversary of their second studio album, This Is Love, This Is Murderous.

Bleeding Through kicked things off with “Love Lost In A Hail Of Gun Fire” which is the first song off of This Is Love, This Is Murderous. The thunderous sound of Youngsma‘s opening snare line indicated that a ‘firefight’ was about to commence and no less than second later, the rest of the band kicked in and Big Night Live became Armageddon. Bleeding Through lives off of energy and whether the crowd heard it through the instruments or saw it from Schieppati running around on stage and commanding the crowd to get off its feet, that felt that energy running through them and matched it with chaotic moshing. Schieppati is an incredible frontman as he can deliver powerful and deep growls and switch to a melodic singing voice in an instant. He would often make his way tot he barricade and reach his mic out to the crowd so they could have a chance to make their voices heard. Leading into the next song, “For Love and Failing”, which is taken from their 2006 album The Truth, Schieppati did a somersault to the front of the stage after screaming the opening lines, which caught me completely of guard but was absolutely sick. Songs like “For Love and Failing” showed Bleeding Through’s melodic side and is a popular sing along song with the fans. All of Big Night Live was singing along to the clean chorus us that almost drowned out Schieppati‘s vocals. When it comes to adding melodies to metalcore, which was a sound that was pioneered by bands like Killswitch Engage, and Poison The Well, I think it was bands like Bleeding Through that made it cool. Of course, they had their hard-hitting songs too like “Revenge I Seek”, “Our Brand Is Chaos” and “Rise”. Both Arnold and Richter showcased their talent through destructive riffs, breakdowns and melodic leads and the keyboards by Peterson added an extra element and a sense of atmosphere to the songs.

The band was about to wrap things up but before that, Schieppati had decided that going up to the barricade wasn’t enough and proceeded to jump into the crowd and was hugging and giving fans high fives while making a speech about the importance of unity and community in the scene. Schieppati has always made Bleeding Through shows more intimate and talk about how community is important. He stood in the pit and sang the next song “No Friends” along with the crowd. Fans were two stepping and singing the song along with Schieppati. He was also taking photos and videos with the fans as he was singing and called for two stepping. Bleeding Through wrapped things up with “On Wings of Lead” and that gave everyone one last chance to sing along to the words. Bleeding Through was on a level of their own and tore the roof off of the place. The night was not over yet however, as there was one final band left to take the stage.

The wait was over and both old school and new school fans were amped up for what was about to come. In celebrating 20 years of The Oncoming Storm, it was now time for the mighty UNEARTH. Formed in 1998 in Boston, UNEARTH’s presence shaped the way modern metalcore would sound today. Along with bands like Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God, Shadows Fall, Darkest Hour, Bleeding Through, and God Forbid, they have been considered as one of the key bands that started the New Wave of American Heavy Metal. The band is currently singed to Century Media Records and have a total of eight studio albums out. UNEARTH has gone through multiple lineup changes but currently consist of Trevor Phipps (vocals), Buz McGrath (guitar), Peter Layman (guitar), Chris O'Toole (bass), and Mike Justian (drums).

The album of the night, The Oncoming Storm was released on June 29th, 2004 via Metal Blade Records and is one of the band‘s most popular albums to date. Produced by Adam Dutkiewicz of Killswitch Engage, the album is home to some of UNEARTH‘s most well-known songs like ‘The Great Divider’, ‘Zombie Autopilot’ and ‘Black Hearts Now Reign’. Both ‘Zombie Autopilot’ and ‘The Great Divider’ sit at #3 and #4 on Spotify respectively and have accumulated a total number of 4,876,619 streams. The Oncoming Storm also reached #105 on the US Billboard 200 and has sold 13,285 copies.

As soon as the lights went out, the band wasted no time with an intro and made their way to the stage. In an instant, the kicked it off with song #1 off of The Oncoming Storm titled “The Great Dividers”. The whole set was compromised of The Oncoming Storm in it entirety but the band ended their set with two deep cuts as well called “The Charm” and “My Will Be Done”. The fans were having the time of their lives as old school fans were joyously living out their high school days of when this album came out and new blood fans experiencing a timeless album live for the first time. What was great about this show was that this album contained fan favorite songs like “This Lying World”, “The Great Dividers” “Endless” and “Black Hearts Now Reign” which is typically the band’s closing song but since it was the third track off of The Oncoming Storm, it was the third song they played. The other great part of this show was witnessing the band play songs that they don‘t normally play live or haven’t played in awhile like “Bloodlust of the Human Condition”, “Lie To Purify”, “Predetermined Sky” and “False Idols”.

The fans were having the time of their lives, singing along to every word and moshing their hearts out. For some, they were reliving their high school days and others were immersing themselves into metalcore history for the first time and they picked a good album to start. At this point of the night, crowdsurfing was in full force, making security come from the sides to the front of the stage to catch them. Phipps has not lost his touch at all and sounded just as good as he did 20 years ago. His vocals were on point and incredibly powerful and the combined power of McGrath and Layman helped create explosive riffs. Justian pounded on the drums till there was nothing left and his double kick work was on another level, especially on “Predetermined Sky”.

Of course, it wasn’t a total celebration without two important members from the time coming on stage f0r at least one song. For the song “Endless”, UNEARTH surprised Boston with bringing on stage both former guitarist Ken Susi and former bassist John “Slo” Maggard. Ken Susi was one of the band’s founding members and had been with the band up until 2023 when he left to join As I Lay Dying and Maggard joined the band during the recording process of The Oncoming Storm and was the band’s bassist up until 2012. Before taking up the guitar on “Endless”, Susi quickly ran up to the closest mic stand and sang his backing vocals on the previous song “Lie To Purify”. Ironically, I was thinking to myself if Susi was gonna be at the show and that question was answered instantly. To see a full lineup from The Oncoming Storm’s cycle live, even if it was for only one song was something none of us expected and it felt like we were at a 2004 UNEARTH show for three minutes. Susi has incredible energy and the idea of standing still while playing is completely foreign to him. His clean backups help complimented Phipps’ harsh vocals while Maggard’s screams helped back Phipps’ screams up.

The band didn’t play an incredibly long set as another event was happening right after them but they had time for a two song encore and one was a deep cut called “The Charm”. The song was initially released as part of the band’s second EP titled The Endless that was released in September of 2002. The song would eventually be included as a bonus track for The Oncoming Storm. Justian showed incredible double-bass drum power and Phipps screamed his lungs out over McGrath’s intricate guitar solo. UNEARTH concluded their set with “My Will Be Done”, the first track off of their fourth album The March. The band kicked the song off with an insane guitar solo from McGrath that he played over Justian’s rapid-firing double bass. The pit did not wait for the song to reach its breakdown and was active for the entire song while others kept up the crowd surfing. Those who were standing to the sides or in the upper sections just stood there and sand along to the words. UNEARTH brought a destructive storm to their hometown. It was a long day but it was worth it as every band killed it. UNEARTH is set to tour Europe this summer for a string of European dates after which, they will embark on a Japan run with Bleeding Through and Sable Hills. The band will also take part in the Mayhem Festival comeback show on October 12th in San Bernardino, California. If you are near any of these dates, make sure to get your tickets now.