Before a review of the show a little must be said for the venue. The Spirit Performance Center concert hall is a primarily a "Dance Club" which has been hosting rock shows since this past summer. Which means two things, the atmosphere might not have been quite right for a Hardcore show, but the sound was amazing.

Scars of Tomorrow opened the show. They are a Southern California hardcore act with a new album coming out on Victory Records (Rope Tied to the Trigger). They had a lot of energy and some heavy beats and riffs. They put on a great performance, with no nonsense in between songs, they knew they only had so much time to rock and didn't waste it with a lot of yammering. Being the first act up they didn't have the largest crowd but they drew a large pit and the people not moshing their hearts out were still into it.

Up next was Norma Jean. The crowd swelled by the time Norma Jean came on, and with that the pit grew too. The crowd seemed to really enjoy their performance. I'll be honest, what I knew about Norma Jean before the show you could fit into a condom wrapper. Because of this I didn't come in with any expectations. They however didn't really impress me. They felt like a Hardcore Jam band and it was hard to tell when one song ended and the other began. They had their riffs here or there that were good, but the vocalist felt like he was trying to hard and never learned how to screamsing.

Following Norma Jean came Unearth. Now, I might be a little biased but I have loved Unearth since I saw them on tour with Hatebreed and Damageplan (RIP Dime). They are part of the "New Breed of American Metal" like Lamb of God and Shadows Fall which have restored my faith in music. Their CD out on Metal Blade (The Oncoming Storm) is one of my favorite CDs of last year. I heard someone say before they went on "No these guys are Metal Metal" I guess to clear up any "metalcore" confusion. When they went on a pit didn't open up, lots of smaller pits popped up all over the place never taking over the entire floor but creating more a sense of anarchy. The performance was solid and left me banging my head and wanting more.

Headlining was Atreyu. They came out all dressed in white button down shirts which only made me think of old school ice-cream men, but I'm not here to critique fashion so onto the music. This is the third time I have seen these Orange County, CA boys. They are one of those bands that even though they sing about pain and heartache still have a lot of fun on stage. If a band doesn't express that they are having fun the crowd isn't going to either. They crowd was bursting with excitement by the time Atreyu came on. At this point there were as many crowd surfers as moshers. People flying through the air and strobe-halogen lights make it hard to keep from getting kicked in the head even if you aren't anywhere near the pit. It’s all in good fun though. They opened with "Bleeding Mascara" and the crowd had a hug pop and the energy didn't go away until the very end when they encored with Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name." Their performance was tight and their energy was through the roof. With their hardcore beats and cock-rock inspired riffage, they provide a sense of fluidity to a genre that can get bogged down in formula. All in all out of a possible 10 Hardcore Castro Hats, I give the entire show a 9.

Official Atreyu Website
Official Unearth Website
Official Norma Jean Website
Scars of Tomorrow on MySpace

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