Five Finger Death Punch w/ All That Remains
Best Buy Theater, New York, NY
November 23rd, 2011

On Thanksgiving eve, while many New Yorkers were setting up for one of the most intense days of travel annually, thousands of hard rock and heavy metal fans packed into the Best Buy Theater to celebrate the holiday with the “Share the Welt Tour.” Headlined by one of metal’s most explosive and emerging acts, Five Finger Death Punch with support from heavyweights All That Remains, as well as Hatebreed and Rains, the four plus hour bill would serve as a look at metal music’s emergence over much of the past decade, showing that despite a dearth of commercial outlets, the genre remains alive and well in 2011.

After Hatebreed’s pulverizing set, it’s a wonder that the sold out crowd would even be able to continue. But as the Massachusetts based All That Remains took the stage the fervent audience uproar proved they weren’t ready to head home yet. Sporting one of the most diverse sounds and line ups in metal today, the band appeared to be somehow tighter than the last time we’d seen them in early 2011 at the same venue. In look alone, the five piece seems to derive from different walks of life, but once the lights hit we knew to be prepared to follow the crowd or get left behind. Lead singer Phil Labonte appeared to be running in the New York City Marathon throughout Remains’ near hour long set, systematically stalking every corner of the stage making sure fans were on their feet, hands in the air, and singing along. Labonte’s ability to mesh hardcore screams of aggression with melodic choruses is what truly allows All That Remains to stand out amongst a bill of talented bands of similar ilk.

Dueling guitarists Mike Martin and Oli Herbert cut their chops, each expertly shredding their solos, some resembling thrash licks with others serving up a more progressive sound. Meanwhile, drummer Jason Costa abused his double bass throughout, sounding like a machine gun from hell. It paired nicely with female bass player Jeanne Sagan’s riffing, all the while, banging her long curly blonde hair, chiming in with haunting and harmonizing screams with Labonte. Long time and new fans alike were treated to an onslaught of Remains’ cuts like “This Call,” “Dead Wrong,” and “Air” as well as bone crunching live singles “Forever in Your Hands” and opener, “Hold On.” When the audience thought they could take no more, the band closed veered into their biggest hit to date- “Two Weeks” which almost brought the house down.

Each of the openers captivated the crowd in different ways, but on the “Share The Welt Tour,” this was clearly Five Finger Death Punch’s night to destroy. Touring in support of the band’s newest release, “American Capitalist,” the band bided their time backstage as the elaborate stage began being erected. Peering out into the sold out crowd at the Best Buy Theater, nearly everyone within eyesight was wearing some type of Five Finger regalia, suggesting these fans were ready to get rowdy for the headliners. And rowdy they did get.

As the house lights went down and the band’s video boards lit up, the stage setup resembled an arena style look packed inside a club.  A huge video screen acted as the backdrop to the stage, while a piercing light show was both eye catching and intense.  Once frontman Ivan Moody grabbed his custom made brass knuckle microphone from the pointed revolver atop his chrome skeletal spine mic stand, the anticipation inside the theater had reached the zenith of its feverish pitch.

Moody and the boys ripped through tracks covering each of their three well- received albums, setting the pace right from the start with opener “Under and Over It.”  The band pleasantly gave ample set time to 2007′s “The Way of the Fist,” busting out, “Salvation,” “White Knuckle,” and encoring with the savage metal break up anthem, “The Bleeding,” during which Moody requested that all the hardcore ladies in the house, get on their guys shoulders. The ladies listened and the place was filled with a sea of fine metal females representing.

Guitarist Jason Hook ripped off complicated and shredding solos nonchalantly, as if it was simply second nature at this point.   He tantalized fans with tasty licks from Pantera, Deep Purple, and Ozzy Osbourne before strumming the familiar chords to “Bad Company,” the band’s 2009 cover of the Bad Company tune, to which the crowd sang every word. Throughout the 75 minute set, Moody would interact with the NYC fans, genuinely appreciative of the metalheads that came out, helping them to sell this show out.  While bonus track “Stranger Than Fiction,” was left out of the set, heavy jams “Far From Home,” “Never Enough,” and “Burn It Down” more than made up for it, satiating the hungry audience’s appetite for metal.  After a multitude of crowd surfers had pummeled us, battered and bruised we left the theater, with a full holiday just ahead of us. But something tells us, all the turkey in the world won’t match the satisfaction fans felt leaving the “Share the Welt Tour” just one evening prior.

Setlist (courtesy of setlist.fm

Under and Over It
Salvation
American Capitalist
Hard to See
The Way of the Fist
No One Gets Left Behind
Bad Company
(Bad Company cover)
White Knuckles
Far From Home
Bulletproof
Never Enough
Burn it Down
The Bleeding

- Jay Rubin & Jane Van Arsdale