Chaos and Carnage Descends on The Masquerade in Atlanta
The Chaos and Carnage tour is something of an anomaly in the world of heavy music. It’s rare to see tours pack this many artists forming what is essentially a mini-festival that tours around the nation. It’s even more rare to see a festival of this nature pull some of the heaviest bands in music together to create an evening of unmatchable, face-melting force. This year’s tour didn’t disappoint as it brought on Distant, Angelmaker, Signs of the Swarm, Upon A Burning Body, Lorna Shore and Suicide Silence to the fray.
Unfortunately, we missed Distant due to the show’s early start time and the woes of Atlanta traffic. Not to worry though, we're lucky enough to be attending and photographing Aura Fest 2022 in Savannah, Georgia on June 11th. So,we’ll have coverage for you then as they are in attendance! The first band that we were privileged enough were Angelmaker who hail from the self-described “Great White North” that is Canada. The band has an interesting approach as they have two vocalists but both do the screaming vocals. Typically with dual vocalists you see one doing clean vocals. The only other exception I can think of to this is Chelsea Grin where Tom Barber and drummer Pablo Viveros split vocal duties. At any rate, the dual vocalists provide a wall of sonic force that washed over the packed house. For a band who has remained independent since their inception in 2012, the band has done very well for themselves.
Next up on the bill were Pittsburgh’s Signs of the Swarm. Relatively new to the scene, the band was the former home of CJ McCreery (who we will discuss later) before his departure to join Lorna Shore to replace Tom Barber (who left to join Chelsea Grin). The band was supported by a couple of vocalists like David Simonich (who would ultimately become the permanent vocalist) and Matthew Krawchuk. Like other bands on the lineup, Signs of the Swarm dealt with further adversity as they parted ways with Cory Smarsh and Jacob Toy in the wake of abuse allegations. This band quickly severed the ties and then shored up the lineup with other incredible musicians. None of this held the band back as they put on an amazing performance for those in attendance.
Next was the pride of Texas, Upon A Burning Body. The band are no strangers to controversy, even going so far as for vocalist Danny Leal to face his own death as a publicity stunt for one of their albums. All of that aside, the band puts out powerful tracks which play well to crowds. Tracks like”All Pride No Pain” and “Texas Blood Money” have garnered them rave reviews from critics and has bolstered their presence on charts and on streaming platforms. The fans were washing over the barricade in waves for the band, a trend which persisted throughout the evening.
Next up were Lorna Shore, a band that has been an uplifting tale of triumph in the face of adversity in the metal world. When we covered them last, prior to the world-altering pandemic, the band was touring with vocalist CJ McCreery. McCreery was accused on social media of sexual misconduct and mental abuse (with receipts) and the band parted ways with the vocalist and cancelled a tour in Asia. Over the course of the pandemic, the band linked up with new vocalist Will Ramos who had most recently been the vocalist for A Wake in Providence. It wasn’t long before they set social media ablaze and Ramos displayed his raw power on the first track off of the first album with Ramos, that being To The Hellfire. In the track, Ramos flexes his range and versatility but perhaps the most shocking part was when Ramos hits a guttural vocal that is reminiscent of someone in the midst of turning into a zombie. Guitarist Andrew O’Connor said that the band was trying to find a fill for the gap in the track and tried out various options such as lyrics and none of it felt right. Eventually Ramos launched into a shortened version of the guttural you hear on the track today and everyone kind of collectively just said, “What if we did that?” The fans were out in droves, showing their appreciation for the new vocalist and the renewed band. It certainly remains an inspirational story of defiance and perseverance over tribulations.
Next was a band that we’ve had the pleasure of covering many times here at ConcertHopper, California’s Carnifex. When last we saw Carnifex, they were on the Up From the Sewers tour with The Black Dahlia Murder. For those not following the metal scene, the community lost Black Dahlia vocalist Trevor Strnad to suicide recently. This loss was still reverberating throughout the community and with those close to him, as Carnifex was and they dedicated the entire tour to Trevor. And they spoke on the fact that everyone needs to take mental health seriously and the world needs everyone. From there the band ripped through their lexicon of absolutely blistering songs, playing classics like “Hell Chose Me”, “Slit Wrist Savior”, “Lie To My Face” alongside tracks off of their newer album, Graveside Confessions, like the title track.
The final band of the evening was another California product, Suicide Silence. Like Lorna Shore, the band has endured through adversity after losing vocalist Mitch Lucker to a tragic motorcycle accident in 2012. The band reformed with current vocalist Hernan “Eddie” Hermida and continued putting out punishing songs. The first album with Hermida as vocalist was widely successful despite some minor ribbing from metal personalities like Jared Dines on YouTube. The band never lost sight of who they were and Hernida payed homage to Mitch throughout the set. Much like Carnifex, the band also took time to honor the memory of Trevor from The Black Dahlia Murder, at one point bassist Daniel Kenny held his bass aloft, revealing the underneath which bore tape reading “RIP Trevor.” The band also took the time to recognize local talent that was in attendance, Left to Suffer saying that the crowd should “always support local music.” As the banners waved from the balcony the crowd and the band gave it their all as the night wound to a close and an incredible evening was laid to rest in Atlanta.
Chaos and Carnage will only have one remaining date in Los Angeles on June 4th at the time this is posted so if you missed it, you’ll have to wait until next year. With that being said, many of the bands on the bill are touring, as we mentioned, both Lorna Shore and Distant will be at Aura Fest soon. Suicide Silence and Upon a Burning Body have also been announced to perform at this year’s Blue Ridge Rock Festival coming in September, you can check out our preview coverage on the site.
As always, please feel free to browse around ConcertHopper’s website further and to check out our articles covering a wide variety of topics. Please also check us out on social media on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Life is a beautiful thing and music only adds to that beauty, take some time to get out and celebrate beauty and life with a community of like-minded individuals at a concert soon, it’s always worth the price of admission.