Devoting
Destiny
Cure North America Tour Review
On May 28, ERRA’s Cure North America Tour arrived at Saint Andrews Hall in Detroit, Michigan. On this tour, ERRA leaned into the newer elements of their sound with the international support powerhouse they brought out, these bands being Make Them Suffer & Void of Vision from Australia, and Novelists from France, each other with their own flavor of electronic-groove-injected metalcore. I have been a fan of every band on this lineup for at least 5 years now, so seeing all of these bands play together made me very happy. ERRA picked great bands to open for them.
NOVELISTS
Novelists kicked off the night by immediately grabbing the crowd’s attention, as vocalist Camille Contreras took the stage to sing a stripped-down version of the first verse of “Lost Cause” before the whole band came in for the chorus. Novelists did a great job of getting the crowd to participate and throughout the night I overheard several people talking about how much they enjoyed their set. Novelists played a selection of newer songs such as “Prisoner”, “Mourning The Dawn”, and “Terrorist”, balancing beautiful heaviness with intricate solo bits from guitarists Florestan Durand and Pierre Danel. As someone who has been a Novelists fan for around 7 years now, even despite no older songs being played, it was such a great feeling to finally see them live.
void of vision
Void of Vision was the next band to take the stage. From seeing them at the tiny Loving Touch in Ferndale in October, to now the larger Saint Andrews, not much has changed quality-wise; they still sound excellent live. However, they did drop a new single since then, named “Empty”, which was a great choice to open the show with. Void of Vision played an assortment of tracks from their CHRONICLES album, some of my favorites being “ALTAR” and “INTO THE DARK,” as well as playing older songs “Ghost in the Machine,” “Year of the Rat,” and part of “Kill All My Friends” which made me happy as a long time fan. Between lead vocalist Jack Bergin’s intensity, the dual low-tuned 7-string chunk of Mitch Fairlie and James McKendrick, and the groove-based drumming of George Pfaendner, as well as the bouncy electronic layers that color the backdrop, Void of Vision’s sound translates extremely well live.
Make Them Suffer
Make Them Suffer played next, a veteran of the Australian metal scene, and a band that has been growing its North American audience over the last few years. Opening their setlist with a trifecta of bangers, those being “Ghost of Me,” “Bones”, and “Hollowed Heart,” their sound was massive. Make Them Suffer was a blast to shoot and after the first 3 songs, I had a great time watching them from the balcony. They sound cohesive and heavy live and every person in the band looks like they are having a great time when they play which just adds another layer to the enjoyment of watching a Make Them Suffer set. They closed out their set with one of my personal favorites, that being “Doomswitch,” which has so many elements that translate excellent live; bitey guitars, fluid rhythms, a big chorus, heavy breakdown, and an ending complete by none other than a keytar courtesy of background/clean vocalist and keyboard player Alex Reade, who has become a wonderful addition to this band. Similar to Novelists, I’ve listened to this band for around 7 years now, and this was my first time seeing them live. I am going to make every effort to see them whenever they play in the area in the future, and I urge you to see them if they play in your city.
ERRA
Around 20 minutes after Make Them Suffer finished their set, ERRA took the stage to play their longest set to date in Detroit. I have seen ERRA at Saint Andrew’s Hall 5 times now, and it has been great to see them go from selling out the basement to supporting sold out shows on the main floor, to now selling out the main floor twice. Detroit loves metalcore and Detroit loves ERRA and it was evident from this set. 15 songs of discography stretching fan favorites, going back as far as “White Noise” from Impulse in 2011 to playing around half of CURE, released just a few months ago. This tour is ERRA at the top of their game; the sonic quality of their performance, the perfectly curated light show, and everything in between. It’s worth noting that some sets (not tonight thankfully) will have lulls in pacing which can remove the crowd from the immersion and change the vibe incidently, but ERRA’s set flows very well despite the changes in keys and vibes between songs. It’s obvious that they know what they are doing. ERRA played fan favorites “Snowblood” and “Skyline” at the end of their set which were the perfect songs to end with, as from the balcony I could hear the crowd singing/shouting along and the energy was kicked up a notch, especially for “Snowblood”. Well done ERRA. This tour has since drawn to a close at the time of finishing up this review, but all of these bands are absolutely worth seeing next time they play close to you, and Make Them Suffer & ERRA especially are seasoned vets that put on an excellent show. Go check these bands out.