Veil of Maya Causes Mayhem in North Carolina!
- Fallon O'Neill
- Feb 10, 2024
- 7 min read
On February 6th, 2024- Veil of Maya performed in Charlotte, NC at The Underground with special guests; Alluvial, Reflections, Until I Wake, and Angelmaker. The venue was completely packed with attendees within 15 minutes of doors opening. I knew the night was going to be chaos when I noticed people forming a mosh pit in the center before the first band even started. These people were READY to unleash hell on everyone around them!
The first band of the night was one of my favorites; Alluvial. In 2023, I had the opportunity to photograph this band twice during their tour with Tesseract. Each time I saw this band; they did not disappoint and always brings explosive energy to the stage. Alluvial consists of; Kevin Muller (Vocals) , Wes Hauch (Guitar) , Tim Walker (Bass) , and Zach Dean (Drums). The setlist had songs such as; Ulysses, Fog Belt, Bog Dweller, and Sarcoma. "Death Is But A Door" is the bands latest EP and Fog Belt and Bog Dweller are the top songs on Spotify currently with over 200k Spotify listens between both songs.
The band opened up with the song Ulysses from their "Sarcoma" album released on May 27th, 2021 and the second the musicians went on stage; the crowd at the barricade instantly starting head banging and went feral in the best way possible. Before they performed the next song; Kevin asked the crowd, "Has anyone ever heard of Static-X before? Cause they are performing next door tonight" He asked the crowd this question because earlier in the night I told him I never listened to that band before and basically didn't know who they were and I know that he was trying to be funny. I didn't feel as embarrassed because I wasn't the only one who didn't know who they were. It was definitely a good laugh cause he made eye contact with me in the photo pit and smirked.
During the song Bog Dweller; I decided to attempt to get crowd shots and that was not the best idea; As I was moving around the crowd, the mosh pit was not formed yet, but within 45 seconds of the song; the mosh pit formed and I was in the middle of it. During the chorus of the song; the mosh pit grew in size with increased amount of people moshing and I knew I had to get out of there quick because the moshers were kicking in the air and I saw this couple grab each others hands and span in circles aggressively.
If you are looking for a new death metal band to add to your playlist on the way to work; this band is perfect for you!
Next up to perform was the band; Reflections. Reflections formed in 2010 in Minnesota consisting of; Jake Wolf (Vocals) , Patrick Somoulay (Guitar) , Francis Xayana (Bass) , And Nick Lona (Drums). On December 20th, 2023; the band released their new single "Alone" which currently has 110k Spotify plays. This band has been around for about 14 years and you can see during their set they haven't lost their passion for music which is very rare for some bands. We love seeing bands continue to strive to be better and keep releasing bangers for new and old fans!
The two songs that they performed that I personally liked was Alone and Scapegoat. When they started performing Scapegoat; the mixture of all the instruments and vocals reminded me of Emmure. So, If you like Emmure; you will love this song. That's why its one of my favorite songs from this band.
If you want to continue supporting Jake; he made a side project "Surgeon" in February 2023!
It was finally time for one of my favorite bands to perform; Until I Wake. Until I Wake is from Buffalo, NY and formed in 2019 consisting of; Justin Smith (Vocals) , Ryan Ridley (Bass) , Alex Curtain (Drums) , Niko Karras (Guitar) , and August Geitner (Guitar). The band had a recent vocalist change and Justin has transitioned to being the full time vocalist and the pressure was real to fill in the shoes of the original vocalist. Before I begin the review; lets stop and appreciate those that are part of the UIW team such as; Carlos Mayorca (FOH) , Tyler Dennett (Merch) , Adam Seitz (Photographer/Videographer/TM) , and special guest photographer; Dylan Fipps of Parris Bridge. Currently UIW is allowing photographers photograph their set on the tour to support and share photos of other photographers in the scene.
Currently Until I Wake has 555k Spotify listeners with songs such as; Self Medicated, Octane, Intoxicated, Cold, and Inside My Head being the top songs!
They opened their set with the song Blue Beam and Justin wasted no time with jumping off the stage and standing at the barricade screaming in every ones faces. Between watching Justin be an absolute beast at the barricade; I also noticed Niko and August head banging and performing guitar riffs in sync. Blue Beam set the tone for the rest of the set and Justin defiantly knows how to get the crowd moving. We love to see vocalists who constantly move around and still able to perform their vocals. Anyone can perform vocals standing still and sound good, but this vocalist sounds good as he is jumping consistently and making sure the crowd stays hyped up!
The one song that was performed during their set was Octane and this song is one of my favorite songs off the "Inside My Head" album released in September 8th, 2022. The band stated in an interview; "Octane is basically about the after effect of putting too much of your faith in someone only to constantly be let down. And Octane is a big fuck you to the ones who don't stick around and can't keep up" This song has the best chorus to sing along to and no one in the crowd had an issue singing their heart out along with the vocalist!
UIW will be performing at several festivals this year such as; Rock Fest, Festival Mystic, Welcome to Rockville, Rock For People, and CopenHell.
Next up was the band; Angelmaker. Angelmaker is from North Vancouver, British Columbia that formed in 2011 consisting of seven members;
Casey Tyson-Pearce – Vocals
Johnny Ciardullo – Rhythm Guitar
Matt Perrin – Lead Guitar
Mike Greenwood – Vocals
Cole Rideout – Bass
Steven Sanchez – Drums
Colton Bennett – Rhythm Guitar
Every musician went on stage to perform instrumentals at first and this is the second time seeing this band live. The first time I've seen this band was at Blue Ridge Rock Festival in 2023 and I was barricade for their set. I stood in that sun for hours to wait for them to go on stage. The sunburn that made my tattoo ink ooze out of my arms was worth being in front for their set. The second both vocalists came onto the stage; hell broke loose. Literally. Crowd surfers would not stop for a good 18 minutes and there would be 4 at a time. Having dual vocalists perform in the same band intensifies the lows and highs that each vocalist performs. The mixture of both vocalists sounds like your soul is being ripped out of you.
The one song that I highly enjoyed during their set was their newest single; Suffer Forever. The song was released on November 9th, 2023 with 400k Spotify listens. The band headlined on their first tour in over 6 years "The Suffer Forever Tour" in 2023 before they released this single in November. The band stated in an interview; " We want to thank every single one of you who came to see us on the "Suffer Forever" tour. As a sign of our appreciation we wanted to give you all this song as this chapter of the band ends and a new one begins. We hope you all continue to follow us on our journey as we venture forward as a group".
The time finally came; it was Veil of Maya's turn to turn the venue upside down! The last time I seen this band was in Richmond, VA at The Canal Club performing with Orbit Culture on May 27th, 2023. Veil of Maya formed in 2004 in Chicago, Illinois and is currently signed to Sumerian Records consisting of; Lukas Magyar (Vocals) , Sam Applebaum (Drums) , Marc Okubo (Guitar) , and Danny Hauser (Bass). I've been listening to this band since 2010 when [id] was released on April 5th with my favorite songs being Mowgli, Namaste, The Higher, and Unbreakable.
From their recent album [m]other released on May 11th, 2023; Tokyo Chainsaw, Artificial Dose, God Head, and Red Fur were performed as well as Mikasa from the album Matriarch and Doublespeak from the album False Idol. As I was photographing the beginning of their set; a girl pulled me to the side and told me "Girl, I don't know who you are, but you are KILLING IT and I CAN'T wait to see photos from you If you tag this venue" Throughout their set; This girl crowd surfed at least 8 times and every time she saw me, she gave me a high five. During their set; I could not keep my eyes off the guitarist and bassist due to both of them having long hair and they would "swoosh" their hair constantly and I do love catching the best hair swoosh moment on camera.
When Mikasa and Doublespeak was being performed; I can see fans from earlier years go insane in the crowd with moshing and singing along to the chorus's of both songs. With Mikasa being the most played song on Spotify with 29 million plays, you can definitely get an image in your head what the crowd looked like when that song was performed. With Lukas jumping off the stage and standing on the barricade and allowing fans scream into the microphone while everyone else embraced around him. And during their set; Niko from Until I Wake actually crowd surfed and everyone in his band was cheering him on! You can always count on Niko crowd surfing at every show he goes to! You can tell Mikasa was every ones favorite due to it being the most popular song!
This show was one definitely one of my top favorite to photograph and I got to see all my friends during this event. All the bands did an awesome job and each band had mosh pits and crowd surfers, which is very rare to see! If you haven't been able to come to this tour yet, please do. The tour will continue to February 16th and will be ending in Joliet, IL at The Forge! After their set; a young gentlemen came up to me and stated; "I don't know who you are, but Veil of Maya is one of my favorite bands and seeing you up there made me want to pick up photography. I want to capture moments like you! Im only 17, but I hope I succeed"
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