[ATTENDED: June 10, 2026] Palinoia
This show was announced rather unexpectedly. Holy Wars and Oxymorrons are playing the Warped Tour in Washington D.C. But they had a few days off, so they decided to play some small clubs in NY and Philly. I didn’t know Holy Wars, but I love Oxymorrons. A few days beforethe show, I received an email: IMPORTANT – Your upcoming event at Nikki Lopez Philly has changed.
Which was worrying. But they just wanted to let us know that there was an opening act–Palinoia. Here’s their deal
Palinoia is a post-hardcore/metalcore band from eastern PA and NJ, formed by lead vocalist Via Weiss, bassist Adam Tomcho, drummer Thomson Estabrook, and guitarist Kenan Salazar. Palinoia [are] influenced by 2000s alternative metal, contemporary post-hardcore, and modern metalcore. Their sound is marked by heavy melodic riffs and searing vocal hooks.
And that’s pretty accurate. They are a solid four piece. Estabrook broke his snare drum after five songs (he had a replacement). I was in front of Tomcho and I was happy to see that on a number of songs, he was playing some really cool bass lines. He used a four string for most songs, but for one of them he switched to a five string and added a lot of cool riffs to the song.
Their first song was Harridan, their single. I was really impressed by Salazar’s guitar playing. He had serious shredding chops, but he didn’t show off with them. Some songs didn’t have solos, but the ones that did were really tasty. Like in Lilith. Lilith has some what I think of as chunky chords–heavy notes one or two at at time, which works well to transition parts of the song. I also liked that this one had a cool bent note during the chunky part.
They played a cover song which I didn’t know (but she was sure everyone would). I didn’t know it was a cover, but I assumed it was because it didn’t sound anything like their own stuff. I don’t know Thrice at all, but it was catchy.
I actually thought the staccato chords and soaring chorus of Lay This to Rest were catchier than Harridan, but what do I know.
They slowed things down with Falling, a quieter song that allowed Weiss’ voice to be heard more clearly. Since for the other songs everybody was really loud, I couldn’t tell how good her voice was. Last December was similarly melodic with some more quiet moments–and the five string bass with some great bass lines. Salazar switched to a seven string guitar for this song, too.
When they said they had only one more song, someone shouted, No Two! And Via told us that they didn’t know any more. They played their entire EP (but not in order) and one cover. Scarlet Letter is a moodier piece that stretched out to nearly 6 minutes. The middle section has some cool heavy riffs and guitar tricks that I rally liked.
It was fun seeing a brand new band. I have no idea how many shows they’ve played out, but they sounded great. And maybe this show will give them some more exposure.
| June 2026, Nikki Lopez | ||
| Harridan ∞ | ||
| Lilith ∞ | ||
| Falling (Back to You) ∞ | ||
| The Artist in the Ambulance (Thrice cover) | ||
| Lay This to Rest ∞ | ||
| Last December ∞ | ||
| Scarlet Letter ∞ |
∞ Palinoia EP (2026)
I Just Read About That... 