The club walls shook inside Clifton Park’s Northern Lights as the Chimaira metal beast tore up the stage in Upstate, New York. Opening their set with Black Heart, I could feel the talons of this metal monstrosity wrapping itself around my mind. As I looked out into the crowd I could see I was not the only one being devoured by their music. These new wave, heavy metal hard-hitters ground out some massive sound that could turn your insides to mush. Jim Lamarca’s bass felt like it was shredding our guts apart in tandem with Andols Herrick’s relentless drumming eating away at the essence of time itself while Mark Hunter’s vocals, which are somewhere between a growl and a scream, took us to the edge of sanity.

The stage was set up with two large, rotating spotlights flanking the sides, blue lights in back and even an eery fog. I kept flashing back to scenes of Resident Evil. The growing darkness was only reinforced when Chimaira started into Secrets Of the Dead. The song was very well-received by the audience as young and old fans alike head-banged along with Chimaira’s punishing riffs and deeply disturbing electronics. Rob Arnold was on lead guitar with Matt Devries doing rhythm and Chris Spicuzza on keyboards, creating an infectious blend of pure, all-out metal saturation.With the release of their newest album in 2009, aptly named The Infection, these intense, do-or die metalist musicians have generated an extremely loyal and large fan base.

Their unapologetic attitude along with in-your-face lyrics makes them a force to be reckoned with. They went straight into Resurrection after Secrets Of The Dead (so that was their secret!) following up with the incredibly fierce Dehumanizing Process and finishing out the relentless set with Pure Hatred, another fan favorite. For that matter, every song seemed to be crowd pleasers with a never-ending mosh pit that could kick your teeth out, that is, if you survived that long. As they exited the stage amidst cheering and hooting, the fans were clearly pumped and ready for what was to come next.

Shadows Fall stormed the stage, blasting everyone away with a wrathful King Of Nothing. If you had any doubts as to whether this staple, thrash metal band could come out sounding even more aggressive then Chamaira’s brutality, these were blown to bits in the first few seconds of their set. With an almost instinctual and still technically proficient sound, they led their fans into War.  I personally thought that Brian Fair was wildly entertaining in his own right as he danced about recklessly on stage, his dreds trailing almost to the floor. There were strobe lights going off at various intervals which made all the madness around him look even more surreal. At one point he whipped his hair around in the manner of a lasso, capturing the audience’s admiration.

For the third song, Thoughts Without Words, Brian lept across the photo pit and onto the barrier, giving the fans who had pushed, prodded and squeezed their way up to the front a real treat as everyone that could stretched out their hand to touch this iconic, larger-than-life figure. It was incredible to watch the interaction between Fair and the fans, whose insatiable appetite for more could be seen visibly. The crowd wanted more and Shadows fall gave them more, going into Still I Rise. I happened to notice a puddle of water sitting on the floor, possibly from someone’s discarded or spilled water bottle. It reminded me of the dinosaur footprint in Jurassic Park, the one just before T-Rex made his big debut. It was literally shaking with the bass and I had a mental image of T-Rex bursting into the tiny club. This definately is metal at its most extreme!

Shadows Falls music is compelling in its simplicity. Don’t mistake this to mean that their set is anything less than absolute, melodic, death metal perfection. Matthew Bachand and Jonathan Donais’ assaulting riffs, combined with Paul Romanko’s bone-crunching bass and Jason Bittner’s prevalent percussion all add up to one thing; the evolution of metal as it was meant to be. Please, let’s not forget that this band also puts on one hell of a show, as if you could.

Brian and the band continued the attack on our senses with The Power Of I And I, followed by Bark At The Moon and ended the night with The Light That Blinds. Before we knew it, the set was over. I was still hungry for more, so it looks like I’ll be adding a few songs to my ipod list until I can catch another live show. In the meantime, Chimaira and Shadows Fall will be continuing their tour with The Mayhem Fest so make sure you catch them while you can!