Senses Fail

Senses Fail (w. A Skylit Drive, Closure in Moscow, FACT)
10/15/2009
Event Rating: ★★★★☆
(non collaborated)*

If there’s one thing that Senses Fail knows how to do, it’s to put on a hell of a good show. Recently, they were in town for their One More Brick tour with A Skylit Drive, Closure in Moscow, and FACT.

The opening band of the night was Japan’s very own, FACT. Now, to say my knowledge of FACT is minimal would be an understatement, but I have to say they impressed. They played with a quite a bit of energy and really strived to impress with their rhythmic hooks and stage presence. What I must say is the most intriguing about these five dudes from Japan that they seemed to balance the hardcore/screamo style of their music with elements of “jrock/jpop.” This leads to an interesting and somewhat different sound that allows for FACT to be something quite unique. A Fact of Life is their most appealing and catchy song out of the bunch which also happened to be their first big single stateside. Overall, FACT was a pleasant surprise that I can see myself keeping an eye on in the future.

Up next, was Australia’s, Closure in Moscow. As you can tell so far, this was a very diverse show. As far as the band, I’ve seen them twice. The band opened for Emery a few months back and obviously for Senses Fail now. They’re not a bad band in the least, they’re just really not my thing musically thus I’m going to abstain from getting in-depth when reviewing them. They had good rhythm and clean vocals though fell a bit short when it came to energy.

A Skylit Drive then stormed the stage opening up with a bang. Headed by Michael Jagmin’s unique high pitched harmonious vocals and Brian White’s howls, Skylit makes for an interesting sound just due to Jagmin’s quite different and unique voice, think Chiodos’ Craig Owens, but a bit higher. I’ve listened to the band quite a bit digitally, but their sound was every bit as good live. The band had solid energy though they didn’t seem much for theatrics when performing, but that didn’t take away from the show. The playlist contained their big singles such as; Wires and the Concept of Breathing and their latest, Those Cannons could Sink Ships. I’m a fairly new Skylit follower and while they’re not the deepest or most complex band, they can put on a decent stage show and are worth a listen.

Now for the headliner, New Jersey’s Senses Fail. The band has gone through some personnel changes over the years, but one member has always remained constant, frontman James “Buddy” Nielsen. Let me get this out of the way, Buddy is by far the “angstiest” lead singer I have ever seen. The guy has a lot on his mind and uses the band as his way of dealing with it. In between songs, Buddy likes to bestow odd pieces of his own ideals and philosophy upon the audience that turn out to be quite tongue-in-cheek. This is my third viewing of the band in the past year. Once, while co-headlining with Hollywood Undead and then later in the summer with Warped Tour and they have yet to put on a poor show. Everything from the sound to the performance is all quite well done. Buddy’s theatrics are a sight to behold; he sings every song like it may be his last. The classic microphone whip was ever present; you could see bassist Jason Black keeping an eye out for fear of getting hit. All the big singles were played; Rum is for Drinking, Not Burning, Calling All Cars, and Can’t Be Saved. The big song of the night for me was, The Priest and the Matador. After two previous viewings of them not playing it, I was very excited when the bells started clanging. The intro for the song was cut a bit short, but that’s just me nitpicking as it in no way took away from the impact of the song. This particular venue isn’t known much for set design and the only semblance of that was a giant “Senses Fail” drape hanging behind the band in which all the bands played in front of. Senses Fail is one of those bands that has yet to disappoint and if you enjoy the tunes, you should definitely make it out to a show, it’s quite worth it.

Reviewed by: Justin Roach

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* Limited information is posted, as no collaboration was granted to themo by the venue and/or the event’s promotional/management company.

Tags: A Skylit Drive, Australia, Brian White, Calling All Cars, Can’t Be Saved, Chiodos, Closure in Moscow, Craig Owens, Emery, FACT, hardcore, Hollywood Undead, James “Buddy” Nielsen, Japan, Jason Black, jpop, jrock, Justin Roach, Michael Jagmin, music, music reviews, New Jersey, Not Burning, One More Brick, review, ROCK, rock n roll, Rum is for Drinking, screamo, Senses Fail, the Concept of Breathing, The Priest and the Matador, themo, themo.org, Those Cannons could Sink Ships, Warped Tour, Wires, young