Sounds of the Underground at the Starland Ballroom Parking Lot: July 15, 2006

Sounds of The Underground has strolled through Sayreville for the 2nd year in a row. In what is quickly becoming a better and more affordable summer festival, SOTU has in its short inception become the summer’s top Metal festival. Boasting a lineup of bands that range from Death Metal, Hardcore, Grind/Experimental or just straight up Metal, it has succeeded in surpassing its main competition of Ozzfest for being the “IT” concert event of the summer.
Starting things off this year was a surprise edition, local boys Agents of Man who ripped through a rather short set while highlighting material from their Century Media debut. Due to the gates opening a bit later than what was posted, the band only played to a handful of people, but made the best of their time and tore through 6 songs like it was nothing. Before you knew you it, Agents of Man were off the stage and Strength in Numbers was quickly on it.

Now I will be truthful and say I have never seen Strength in Numbers, I know a lot of bands from around the area I’m from (Northern New Jersey) give shouts to them, but I have yet to hear one song of theirs recorded. Based on what I saw of them at the show, I was not impressed, and to be honest, the band bored the hell out of me. Two singers, generic metal and little to no crowd reaction left a sour taste in my mouth.

Long Island Hardcore heroes This is Hell were up next. Coming off releasing what could turn out to be the best hardcore release of the year, “Sundowning,” This is Hell was playing only one date on the tour, and they used their time wisely. Blazing through their set, showcasing material from the full length and even playing a song from their criminally underrated self-title EP, the band played like a band on a mission. Highlights of the set included the songs “Permanence” as well as the song that has one of the most bone crushing breakdowns ever, “Broken Teeth.” I loved their set; it was just a crime that most of the kids there did not know who they were.

Through the Eyes of the Dead were up next, and let’s just say that if you go to see them, you will see one of the best bands musically, but you will get incredibly annoyed by the lead singer. He has one of the worst voices in metal today. It sounds as if he’s chirping into the microphone. Definitely a band that I would skip over seeing if they were ever to tour around here again.

The absolute same could be said for Horse the Band, a Los Angeles area band that plays a grind type style of music. I just don’t get it. They were just terrible. And their keyboard player looked like Napoleon Dynamite. Yet another unforgettable set from a lackluster band.

The Chariot was up next. The band features the ex lead singer of Norma Jean. Recorded, they are pretty damn good. Live, they are very sloppy to the point where it’s unlistenable. While the set was lackluster, they did manage to have the banjo intro to “Die Interview (I am only speaking in German),” which I thought was pretty cool. Otherwise I was rather disappointed.

Behemoth was next on stage. These Christian hating metalheads came out in full costume to spread their word to the masses. They got a rather strong reaction from the crowd and tore through their set. I loved the music and what they brought to the table, and this was my first time seeing them. The only thing I’m not down with is the anti-religion thing. But they kicked ass and left people on the floor after the set was done.

The sky was about to open as The Black Dahlia Murder hit the stage. They have been one of my favorite bands during the last few years but they have had their problems holding onto members, releasing a good album, but admittedly, I thought the first one was far superior. Well the band brought their “A” game this afternoon and just slayed. They pounded all of us into submission. The highlight of the set being the band filmed their song, “Statutory Ape” for a new video, and the entire time while on stage, a person in a giant orange ape suit ran around stage. My only gripe was, I didn’t get it on camera as I was hiding in a merch tent as the skies just decided to open up with driving rain. The band will be back in the fall supporting Hatebreed, so its something to look forward to.

LA hardcore band Terror was up next, with about 10 days prior to their release of their new album, Terror took the stage and did not look back. Ever since the break up of Buried Alive, Scott Vogel has focused on Terror, and they have become one of the best live hardcore bands to perform around. Energy, perfect song selection and humorous stage banter fuel this band. Playing cuts mostly from their Trustkill Records Debut, “One with the Underdogs”, Terror delivered as being the 2nd best band of the day. “Spit My Rage” was awesome, even though Lord Ezec was not there to do his verse to the song. They got the crowd moving along, and it was a good jumpstart to the day from there on out, Thanks to Terror.

Converge quickly came on stage, and its unbelievable to think that this band has been doing their thing since 1991, continuing to be one of the pioneers of hardcore and continuing to go out on the road play their music to the masses. In recent years, they’ve scaled down their set list to play mostly material from their last two albums. But they surprised the crowd by playing “Saddest Day” the 7 minute epic song off of their groundbreaking album “Petitioning The Empty Sky.” And from there played “Eagles become Vultures” before wrapping their set up with “Conduit.” There is really nothing more I can say about this band other than they are simply the best at what they do. The crowd wasn’t too sure what was going on, as Jake Bannon has one of the more unique vocal styles in all music. They did their thing and I was happy to see them play.

Gwar came up next and proceeded to kick the ass of everyone in the crowd. As is their deal, they killed a cop, the Nazi pope, President Bush as well as someone on the side of the stage. All in the name of good music. Not being a Gwar fan, I’m not familiar with song titles, but they played for a long stretch of time and even included their version of “Schools Out” for good measure. Looking at the carnage afterward was great, people had blood, guts and other unmentionables on them as the band left the stage.

Death Metal was a genre that really was not a part of last year’s tour. So this year, they got possibly one of the best ever from the genre in Cannibal Corpse. Death Metal is not my thing, but you know what, this band without a doubt is atop of their game right now. They got the best reaction overall I think. It was nice to see a band that has been around for a while get the support of so many young people who were in attendance.

The next band is possibly the most over-hyped and overrated bands in music today. Trivium took the stage. I’ve only heard one song to which I saw a video for briefly. They may all be talented musicians, but they do nothing for me. Not even their cover of “Master of Puppets” could save them from my wrath. They play cookie-cutter metal. It’s music for mainstream appeal, and not for the Underground. How this band got popular is beyond me.

The crowd gave the next band a mixed reaction, as Jersey’s own, E Town Concrete played their final show. People got duped into seeing E Town play “Two Final Shows” at Starland ballroom in May, so this set really could not compare to the marathon set they played at their last real show. “More Than Incredible” and “Shaydee” were the strong points to their set and they said farewell to their time as a band. They went out in style in front of a few thousand people, which I can’t say I fault them on. They seemed a bit out of place with the other bands though on this show.

Sweden’s own, In Flames were the main support band for the tour this year. And they have literally blown up in a short amount of time. Again, like most of the bands on the tour this year, I’m not familiar with their material. So exact song titles I don’t remember. I do know that they played “Cloud Connected” and just performed a great set. Their music isn’t something I’m a fan of, but they kicked ass and played a really strong set.

As I Lay Dying was the headliner this year. And boy has this band has come a long way. They’ve been busting their asses for years now to get to this point. As singer Tim Lambesis said, it was because of the fans that they have the opportunity to headline over some great bands, like Cannibal Corpse and Gwar, for example. Playing songs that spanned their catalogue, they played pretty much every song you’d want to hear. Highlight of the set goes to the song “Falling Upon Deaf Ears” as its just a great song to hear live. I will admit to not liking their albums, but live they are something else. They are a very strong band and their music does translate over well. And so it that was the Sounds of The Underground.

It is nice to see a tour like this, mix up genres and give everyone a little bit of everything. Metal heads had reason to come out, Hardcore kids had reason to come out and so on. It also gave bands to play in front of audiences that they normally would never see, so this year would prove to be a success. If you’re wondering what tour to see this summer, don’t waste your time and money with Ozzfest, The Osbourne’s don’t need anymore more of your money anyway.