Between The Buried And Me, Cynic, Devin Townsend Project Concert Review

When Between The Buried And Me came to Philadelphia on January 31, 2010,, they didn’t just bring a full headlining set with them. They brought the underrated progressive death metal band Cynic, instrumental up-and-comers Scale The Summit and the return of Devin Townsend, touring for the first time in over three years. The Trocadero was completely sold-out, as waves of young fans crammed into the club mostly excited for Between The Buried And Me. However, the support acts weren’t just tossed aside by the crowd.

The instrumental progressive metal band has been gaining a following over the past year, with the release of their critically-acclaimed sophomore album Carving Desert Canyons and high-profile tours supporting Dream Theater and Protest The Hero. The crowd was largely into them from the very start, keeping quiet and listening intently to every note played. Much of their set was drawn from their recent album, with “Dunes” and “The Great Plains” coming off as the strong points. The applause came loud and quickly after every song, which the band acknowledged a few times in the only vocal interactions with the crowd the whole set.

Devin Townsend Project

Devin Townsend and company delivered a 30 minute set of what Townsend called “nerdcore” music. Even after all the years off the road, Townsend’s vocals were flawless. Every high note and every growl was hit to perfection; he even did the female vocal sections of “Supercrush.” Townsend’s charisma and humor shined through in everything he did, whether it was odd facial expressions during solos or evil tongue action ala Gene Simmons on “By Your Command.” He did something that some supporting acts fail to do; make the crowd want more by the end of the set.

Cynic may not be as aggressive or heavy as the other bands on the tour package, but their songs have a dark emotional beauty to them. “The Space For This” and “King Of Those Who Know” retained their majestic glory in a live setting. While the crowd wasn’t as into them as they should have been, Cynic still put on a solid performance that was largely made up of songs from their recent album Traced In Air. “Celestial Voyage” was the only song from Focus, disappointing considering how influential that album was back in 1993. The band even debuted a new song, “Wheels Within Wheels,” which was the closest thing Cynic has gotten to a ballad to date.

The band’s crowd interactions were limited, save for an odd impromptu yoga session in the middle of their set. It was clear that guitarist/vocalist Paul Masvidal wanted the music to speak volumes on its own. The band was tight as a musical unit, especially the interplay between bassist Sean Malone and drummer Sean Reinert. Reinert’s drum kit was positioned right in the front left side of the stage, allowing the audience to get an unusually close look at Reinert’s controlled frenzy.

It was clear from the very beginning that the crowd was there to see Between The Buried And Me more so than the other acts. As they hit the stage and went immediately into “Obfuscation,” the Trocadero erupted into a cataclysmic sonic outburst. The band stuck to their later output during the 90 minute set, though the primitive rawness of “More Of Myself To Kill” was brought back from limbo and given a boost by vocalist Tommy Rogers. Rogers harsh vocals were strong, but it was his clean singing that was the real highlight on the future classic “Disease, Injury, Madness.”

Over the years, the band has leaned more towards the progressive metal side with 2007’s Colors and 2009’s The Great Misdirect, and the set list reflected this aptly. Epics like “Ants Of The Sky” and “Swim To The Moon” were embraced by the crowd, even as the songs went into the 15th minute and beyond. Chuck Johnson even came on stage to do the guest vocals for the latter; he jumped off the stage after his brief appearance to be crowd surfed all the way to the sound board in the back of the club.

The band was top-notch on an instrumental front, sounding as good as they do in the studio. However, there were sound issues where the audio feed would cut out, most notably during closer “White Walls.” The band worked through them, but they were very distracting. Most of the problems were near the end of the set, so people just dealt with it the best they could.

If there was any hope that progressive metal could thrive in the mainstream, Between The Buried And Me is the answer. It’s been a long time since the Trocadero had been that packed for any metal show. The audience was decisively of a young demographic, one that waited in a block-long line for over an hour in the coldness of a January night to witness a show by the past, present, and future of progressive metal.

While Between The Buried And Me and Cynic put on clinics, it was Devin Townsend that left the lasting impression. His on-stage antics and passionate performance won the crowd over and gave hope that he might go on a full headlining tour in the near future. Many in the audience may had never heard of any band other than Between The Buried And Me before that night, but each band definitely won new fans by the end of the night.

Disclosure: A record company provided free access to this concert for review purposes. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.