In Flames & Hellyeah w/ Source
Showbox SoDo, Seattle, WA
12.13.16

A quarter of a century after their inception, Swedish melodic death metal band In Flames teamed up with American heavy metal supergroup Hellyeah for the co-headlining North American “Forged In Fire” tour. Their stop at Seattle’s Showbox SoDo brought together a dynamic metalhead community for plenty of moshing and some sick screams.

Opening the show was Colorado’s Source, a three-piece progressive metal outfit that were humbly thankful to have joined the stellar lineup for this tour. Formed in 2013, the band just released their debut full-length, Return To Nothing, and between sets, lead singer Ben Gleason was passing it out to the crowd. Their music is all about consciousness and exploring the profundity of experience, and their extended tracks proved it. They mentioned having to cut 14 minutes out of a track! Drummer Georges Octobous grabbed plenty of attention with his energy and crazy faces. Source are definitely an up-and-coming prog-metal band people should check out.

Hellyeah were up next, still touring behind their June 2016 release, Unden!able, and like vocalist Chad Gray’s shirt read, they were “Metal As Fuck.” Gray (Mudvayne), along with former Nothingface guitarist Tom Maxwell, bassist Kyle Sanders, guitarist Christian Brady, and former Pantera and Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul, certainly looked the part. From long dreads to fake blood, their energy level was intense and trashy.

Their set was a hard-grooving adrenaline rush, and kept the circle pit relentless throughout. Gray jumped off platforms and the band did plenty of posing. At one point Gray talked about how metal is welcoming of everyone, uniting the community. They clearly have plenty of dedicated fans who loved every minute of their set, and are a must-see live group.

Closing out the night were Gothenburg’s In Flames, touring their November 2016 release, Battles. Singer Anders Fridén asked the crowd to “keep those bodies moving. I wanna smell you Seattle!” And that they did. Their polished, melodic death metal continued the high energy vein of the night. Fridén’s sick scream was reeling. It was weird to hear how bold and deep his voice gets and then when speaking to hear it transition up a few octaves.

More clean cut that Hellyeah – Fridén looks like he walked out on an alt-folk group – they kept the mosh pits going and the crowd surfers tumbling over the barricade in front of the stage. And twelve albums in, their performance unleashed itself exactly as expected. The band was engaging, and sonically diverse, showing how they’ve transitioned their sound over the years.

Review and photos by Alex Crick

In Flames

Hellyeah

Source