Riffs and breakdowns were on the menu this past Tuesday night at the Worcester Palladium, courtesy of your international team of chefs on the Superbloom Tour. Welcome to the stage this evening, Long Island NY’s own Johnny Booth, from the west coast of Sweden we have the masked collective of Aviana, all the way from Melbourne Australia we have Thornhill, and capping off the night… the star cooks of the evening, from Azusa, CA… Silent Planet. Let’s jump right into course one, shall we?!
Johnny Booth, what can I even say about Johnny Booth other than they have rocketed into the forefront of the modern day metal and hardcore scene after their newest album, Moments Elsewhere (Booth Records) dropped this past July. Now this is not my first rodeo with the Long Island natives, I’ve seen and enjoyed their music for many years now and they consistently keep getting better and better with every EP and album they drop. Drums that’ll give you heart palpitations, bass so thicc you need a forklift to pick it up, guitar tone so aggressive and punchy it was made to bounce to, and vocals from Andrew Herman that are so insanely ear searing and abrasive but at the same time croon like 90’s dance hall music. I can’t say enough about this band. The five piece band was firing on all cylinders on stage running thru a set of mostly new songs from the new album, as well as their calling card songs “Asymmetrical” and “Deepfake”. Finally hearing “Full Tilt” live in a non festival setting (we previously have covered Johnny Booth at last year’s RPM Fest) was an incredible experience. Point blank, go listen to Johnny Booth and have a good fuckin’ time!
Next up was a band that I had never heard of until a few weeks ago, but has a wild history as a band. Aviana came out on stage looking like a Swedish metalcore interpretation of Sleep Token. All members are in completely black outfits, black skin paint, and masks, along with matte black instruments, and vocalist Joel Holmqvist is the only one without. Think “metalcore Ghost” for an aesthetic. A setlist full of pummeling riffs and some frankly, sick, dance moves from the guitarist and bassist on stage. It was like watching a gymnastics routine with breakdowns for the playlist. OH! And the drummer is crawling all over the drumset the entire time like some sort of untamed ghoul itching to unleash a fury of fills, all while looking like a metalcore marine in a ghillie suit. Favorite song from their set was for sure, “My Worst Enemy” which showcases Joel’s vocal prowess to the point that I could feel the power of his voice in my chest.
Bringing their own brand of metalcore from the land down under the stage, we have Thornhill. Here we have four high-school best friends pumping out some of the best emotionally atmospheric metalcore I’ve heard in a good long while and I am absolutely loving and am now a fan. A sea of orange lights poured over the stage almost as if to recreate the golden coastlines of Australia as Jacob Charlton, Ethan McCann, Ben Maida, and Nick Sjogren left it all on stage while visibly just having the time of their lives on stage. Honestly a pretty varied setlist in terms of vibe of the room. Some dancy anthemic songs, songs that’ll make you 2-step, and Andrew from Johnny Booth even came out to perform Thornhill’s song “Casanova” with them. Closing out their time on stage with “Where We Go When We Die”, not a bad time was had by a single person in the room.
And now onto the reason the tour is called Superbloom, ladies and mentlegen of the jury… Silent Planet! With a massive floor-to-ceiling projection screen behind them, Garrett and crew walked out on stage and immediately made it known that what almost took the band out completely back in 2022 did not and will not stop them from being the progressive metalcore giants that they are! Myself only having just recently gotten into Silent Planet was eager and excited to see what has been one of my favorite albums of 2023 get played live, and GAHD DAMN, did they not disappoint. A monstrous 17 song setlist, containing all but two songs from their latest album Superbloom (Solid State Records) and no signs of slowing down the flow of the show throughout the night, I was thoroughly impressed and now I need more of it. Tossing in a old school favorites was awesome to see live. Hearing “Anunnaki” directly into “I Drowned In the Desert” into “Native Blood” off of their first album The Night God Slept (Solid State Records) was like watching a hurricane of sound from the outside looking in. Closing out with “Trilogy” from Iridescent (Solid State Records), the band brought out local vocal hero David Benites of Renesans and Extreme Vocal Institute fame to close out the night on a extra high note.
This tour is nearing it’s end this weekend, so if you were able to see the show this past month… good on ya. If not, catch them next time as they put on a hell of a show.
Until time y’all,
This is Smallz, signing off…