On Thursday night, November 20th, the Uptown Theater in Minneapolis filled quickly for the Ascend Above the Ashes Tour. The room was already packed when I walked in, and the crowd seemed ready for a night of heavy metal.
English metalcore band Heriot started the night with a tight, focused set. I had never heard of them before, but was impressed from the get-go. They were heavy, and the vocals were sick. I would recommend their songs “Siege Lord,” “Commander of Pain,” and “At the Fortress Gate.” Even with a short setlist, they made a clear impression, and I will definitely be adding their music to my playlists.
Jinjer came out next and immediately settled into a tight groove. The rhythm section carried a lot of the weight, and the band kept everything locked in from the first song on. Tatiana Shmayluk didn’t make a big show out of switching between clean and harsh vocals—she just did it, and it sounded solid every time. Highlights for me were “Green Serpent,” “Fast Draw,” and “Perennial,” although every song hit strongly. The whole show had a steady, deliberate feel to it—no gimmicks, no extra chatter, just a band that knows its parts and plays them well. The crowd was audibly disappointed when Tatiana announced they only had time for one more song. It was obvious that many fans were there to see Jinjer. They finished their set with “Pieces.”
As the lights dimmed, the sound of “Capsizing the Sea” played from the speakers as Trivium took their places on stage. As the intro ended, they came out firing with “In Waves,” which got everyone moving immediately. They covered a good stretch of their catalog—older stuff like “Like Light to the Flies,” “A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation,” and “Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr” mixed in with newer-era songs like “Strife,” “Until the World Goes Cold,” and “The Heart From Your Hate.” The energy in the crowd stayed strong throughout. The highlight of the set was hearing their two newest hits, “Bury Me With My Screams” and “Struck Dead.” As usual, Matt Heafy was an incredible frontman- playing flawlessly, interacting with the crowd, and it was hard to take eyes off of him. The night wrapped up on a strong note, with “The Heart From Your Hate, “Down From the Sky,” and “The Sin and the Sentence.” If the rest of the tour looks anything like the Minneapolis stop, it’s worth catching.
Be the first to comment