[DID NOT ATTEND: November 18, 2022] I Prevail / Pierce the Veil / Fit for a King / Stand Atlantic
My son has really been getting into Pierce the Veil lately. I didn’t know them, but I’ve really enjoyed what I heard from them. They haven’t toured in a long time, so when they announced this show (second on the bill), I grabbed us tickets.
I like the singer’s voice and that they seem to mix genres in interesting ways all within a heavy base.
But as the show drew closer, and I told my son that Pierce the Veil probably wasn’t going to play that long and that we’d have to sit through at least two other bands, possibly three others if we stayed until the end, we kind of agreed that maybe we didn’t need to go to this show. Especially since, assuredly, Pierce the Veil would tour as a headliners soon (which they have since done).
So I sold my tickets for a small profit and we stayed home. I mean honestly four bands is practically a festival.
I didn’t really know any of the other bands. I’d heard of I Prevail–they were supposed to tour with Ice Nine Kills
Here’s a hilarious review of the I Prevail album True Power from Sputnik Music
No one does it quite like I Prevail. There’s something to be said about a band capable of pleasing dudebro-core fans and “I-dig-Evanescence” mums alike. Unfortunately, the majority of that thing isn’t exactly positive. Everything I Prevail does is so predictable, so glossy, so vapid that it’s easy to see why they aren’t exactly revered. Simultaneously, everything I Prevail does is so predictable, so glossy, so listenable that it’s easy to see why the majority of their songs have accumulated well over ten million streams on Spotify. Three years after the highly successful and utterly disposable Trauma, metalcore’s most slippery boys have returned with the brand new full length True Power to please their legions of fans. …. While most elements of True Power are perfectly listenable (outside of every single rapped verse), there’s hardly a single original idea to be found on the record.
Other reviews are more positive.
Fir for a King is a metalcore band out of Texas. It seems like there’s either a ton of metalcore bands these days or the bands that I want to see keep getting paired with metalcore bands. They opened for Ice Nine Kills in Philly, but we ate cheesteaks and missed their set. Ice Nine Kills seems to be the common thread here, I guess.
My new favorite site for snarky review, Sputnik Music says
On one hand, I marvel at the technical competence and musicianship of this band. I know that as a drummer I am not, and never will be, as good as Trey Celaya. The musician in me, knowing I am nowhere near as capable as these guys, finds it hard to be objective. What right do I have to judge or be critical? I am not the one spending years writing the songs, going on tour, or releasing the albums. I sure couldn’t write it myself. I’m not the “man in the arena” so to speak.
On the other hand, as I continue writing reviews and taking a more methodical or academic approach to listening to music, it’s very difficult to dismiss the shortcomings and drawbacks of this record. Furthermore, I am a consumer, and it is an unfortunate reality that one of the surest ways to lose customers in an industry as competitive or cutthroat as music is to fail to routinely provide an improved product.
Herein lies the problem with The Hell We Create: By itself, the album is passable, acceptable, adequate, or whatever other adjective you want to use for something that is perfectly alright. Unfortunately, next to Dark Skies, those descriptions could just as easily be swapped for words such as mediocre or middling, second-rate or passé. So while it is marginally better than The Path, it is not anywhere close to the quality it could or should be, and Fit For A King’s struggle to settle on where they are going musically greatly overshadows any forward progress they might be making.
I rather like the catchy parts of the songs.
Stand Atlantic are an Australian pop-punk band that seems to have embraced a more metal sound on their newest album. Their first two albums are pretty widely varied. They are no doubt playing up their heavier side for this tour. But I think I like some of their other stuff better.
As they started to say people could gather in smaller groups, the likelihood of huge arena shows like this seemed in doubt. We can all hope that as things get better, new shows will be on the horizon.
I Just Read About That... 