Bullet For My Valentine and All That Remains 7/28

It has been a very long while since I had gone to a show, let alone bought (ok they were bought for me, but still) tickets to a show. But on a balmy Tuesday evening All That Remains and Bullet For My Valentine rolled into the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey for a sold out show with a ton of promise.

Let’s start with surprises before we get into the show review.

1. I have never seen so many other “That Guys” in my life. I saw about 1000 Bullet T-Shirts on, and that is sadly not an exaggeration.

2. Sad news: Jason Costa, drummer of All That Remains, broke his hand and is out for the next few months. He was replaced by Tony Laureano, who best known for his work with Dimmu Borgir and Nile.

3. Bullet For my Valentine debuted a new song that they claimed “has never been heard by anyone outside of the band.” They never gave the song a title, but based on the chorus, it is safe to assume it will be called “Who Do You Think You Are?” The song has a classic Bullet sound, with a very riffy, thrashy intro, screaming verse and interesting melodic chorus. The song does not sound exactly like anything they have done before, yet keeps the B4MV sound.

ANYWAY… back to a show review. The place was too mobbed, making the amazing acts slightly unenjoyable. Since Jason Costa was out of the lineup, All That Remains had to cut their set short, so there was a long wait time before and after the band.

The set started off great with “This Calling” and other favorites like the Guitar Hero “Six,” as well as new favorites like “Undone”, “Forever in Your Hands” and the closer “2 Weeks”. During the end of the set, a patron appeared to be hurt and singer Phil Labonte stopped the show to make sure the person was ok. Class Act band.

Bullet For My Valentine came on to a raucous applause. They opened with “Waking the Demon” off the latest album Scream, Aim, Fire and played other crowd favorites like “Hearts Burst Into Fire”, “4 Words (To Choke Upon)”, “Tears Don’t Fall” and the hit single “Scream, Aim, Fire”.

I have heard few crowds that matched the sheer volume of the Bullet fans. Every chorus was drowned out by the ever increasingly rowdy fans. The set sounded crisp, (All That Remains at times sounded either too loud, not loud enough or like there was a jumble of both at certain points) with a good flow of songs. Bullet played some deep tracks off their slightly limited catalogue, getting a rare chance to headline a large scale venue.

The show looks to be a good lead in to Mayhem, creating a buzz for the 2nd stages to go along with the classic WSOU classic bands (Killswitch, God Forbid), the heavy stuff (White Chapel, Job For a Cowboy) and anything and everything in between. Camden will be the place to be, for once, for anyone looking for a great show August 7th.