Metal returned to New York City’s PlayStation Theater with the Kill The Flaw Tour featuring Sevendust with special guests Trivium, Like A Storm and Westfield Massacre.
The night began shortly after 8pm with Los Angeles-based metal band, Westfield Massacre, who brought a more aggressive metal/hardcore sound to the tour lineup with songs from the debut album they released just days prior on Urban Yeti Records.
New Zealand hard rock band, Like A Storm brought the theatrics to the stage with gothic candles, pentagrams and skeletons. Showcasing their Auckland roots, lead singer Chris Brooks opened the set with a didgeridoo interlude– an instrument not expected to be seen, let alone heard at a rock show, but Like A Storm made it work.
With the stage lit ice blue, it was time for Florida-based metalcore band Trivium to take the stage. The band’s set included several tracks from their seventh studio album titled Silence In The Snow, which was recently released on Roadrunner Records.
Shortly after 10pm, a large white curtain was hoisted in front of the stage, which Prince playing over the house PA. The stage began to illuminate green as shadows of Sevendust members approached this positions on the stage.
The curtain began to rustle with the vibration of the opening chords to “Not Today” one of the more growth-defining tracks on Sevendust’s 2015 release Kill The Flaw— the album in which this tour gets it name.
The energy of the room continued to build as the curtain finally dropped and the audience was presented with the faces of Sevendust in full form. While the band’s latest studio release has been praised for it’s focus on Lajon Witherspoon’s melodic vocals, they have not forgotten their heavy roots and made it very clear with presenting “Home” from their self-titled album as the second song in the set.
Sevendust has certainly strived to perfect the balance between traditional metal and heavy rock with their set as they present a variety of songs from their catalog of over 20 years worth of music. With the Kill The Flaw Tour, fans are treated to a unique celebration of music that includes not only an unplugged version of “Denial,” but a very distinct rock tribute to the legendary Prince.
Most would not expect the metal world to honor the music legend, Witherspoon made a point of proving that genres are merely titles and music can cross many lines as the lights dimmed purple and Sevendust powered through a cover of “Angel’s Son” in memorandum of the late performer.
The night concluded with the melodic thrashing found on “Thank You.” The Kill The Flaw Tour powers on to cities across North America for the remainder of May. Visit sevendust.com for dates & tickets.
Photos by Amy Willard
