Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Helmet Headlines Hardcore Show at Chain

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The Chain Reaction, housing many great performances from bands such as Yellowcard, New Found Glory, No Doubt and Atreyu, is a cozy venue located in the outskirts of Anaheim. Every inch of the walls is covered with stickers and T-shirts from bands that have performed there, along with colorful wads of gum contributed by previous visitors.
The band Instruction, which sounds like an angrier, louder version of Nickleback opened the show on Oct. 28. The room’s walls vibrated with the band’s bass and percussion, and some listeners pulled out foam ear plugs to lessen the blow to their ear drums.
The songs that the band played weren’t fully appreciated because of the extreme volume. The music of Instruction might sound better on their album where the listener can adjust the volume to his or her own liking.
The lead singer of Instruction had a beautiful voice that he would occasionally morph into screamo vocals. In between songs he would educate the audience of fuzzy Disneyland sex and the band’s desperate need of album purchases. He seemed to be having a good time on the stage with his band, but the crowd did not appear to be necessarily responsive to him.
Everyone in the audience either had their hands in their pockets or their arms crossed; they granted only weak applause after each song Instruction performed. The band, who recently released an album entitled, ‘God Doesn’t Care,’ in August did not appear to connect with the crowd Thursday night.
It was apparent that the majority of the audience was there to see the headliner, Helmet,
perform.
After Helmet came onstage the crowd got into a livelier mood. They became more responsive to the louder, more energetic sounds of the band. Approaching 10 years of age, Helmet is oftentimes regarded as the fathers of hardcover heavy metal and the inspiration for such modern bands as Linkin Park and Korn.
‘Size Matters,’ Helmet’s most recent album, has created a consistent buzz for the band, propelling them back into the spotlight.
The songs that were performed caused movement of approval among the bodies of the audience. They were definitely more appreciative for the songs of Helmet and equally responsive to the grunts and other ad-libs. The music was towards an older more mature audience. The older crowd seemed to be having as much fun as they moshed, head-banged and sang along.
While Helmet’s music definately categorizes into the hardcore heavy metal genre, there are aspects of it that can be appreciated by all music lovers.
The invigorating electrical guitar sound accompanied the rough-sounding vocals of the lead singer. Instead of creating an atmosphere of loud noise pollution, Helmet was able to connect to the audience and convey a message