CHAOS & CARNAGE TOUR 2022 – Las Vegas – June 2, 2022 – 24oxford, Virgin Hotel
On Thursday, June 2, 2022 CHAOS AND CARNAGE hit Las Vegas at 24oxford inside the Virgin Hotel & Casino. (Formerly Vinyl at Hard Rock.) This tour originally featured SUICIDE SILENCE, CARNIFEX, UPON A BURNING BODY, LORNA SHORE, ANGELMAKER & DISTANT. While that line up is bitchin’ in its own right; later on it was announced that SIGNS OF THE SWARM were added. Upon a Burning Body ended up not being part of the final three dates of the tour; which included Vegas. In their place deathcore veterans WINDS OF PLAGUE were added to fill that void.
I was not disappointed in any of this at all. I like Upon a Burning Body, but I like Winds of Plague more, so there’s that. And Signs of the Swarm are always a fun time as well. Overall this updated lineup is SOLID. The doors were open a little bit after 4pm; which is also appropriate for an all ages show with this many bands.
Distant & Angelmaker
DISTANT kicked off the night for us. I felt that it was a fitting start for this specific set of bands. Having seen the name around, but not having heard them; I was pleased by their energy and the fact that they already had the pit active. They definitely packed a punch for the first set of the night!
ANGELMAKER was up next; and I was already eager to see what they brought to the stage since they have two vocalists that only focus on vocals. And that’s not all that common in general. Another set that I am pretty pleased over. I am very interested in seeing these guys on future tours and maybe picking up some more traction. They’re definitely worth checking out in my book. It’s also worth noting that the band states in all their info that there are 6 members, but we counted 7 on stage this night. Definitely wondering if they have a touring extra member to make them sound even bigger live. Either way, no disappointment here!
https://angelmaker.bandcamp.com/
Signs of the Swarm & Winds of Plague
SIGNS OF THE SWARM were an addition to Chaos and Carnage that many fans in the scene were excited for; and it’s not hard to see why. These guys are definitely a fan favorite out here. By the time they hit the stage the venue was PACKED and the pit was in full swing. During their set we saw Nick Arthur (ex-Molotov Solution) join them to sing a song. I’ve seen Nick around the scene for a long time, and it’s always cool to see him hit the stage! (He is also featured on an Ov Sulfur track; so I wouldn’t be shocked to see him again at least on the upcoming Vegas date performing his part for them.)
https://www.facebook.com/signsoftheswarm
WINDS OF PLAGUE have to be one of my all time favorites when it comes to deathcore. There’s just something different about them in comparison to a lot of other bands in the genre. I feel like the vocals are more guttural and I definitely dig the symphonics they add with their keyboard pieces. Although the keyboard player wasn’t present at this show, they used backing tracks for those parts. I don’t have any issues with this, you do what you gotta do. It’s been quite some time since the guys hit the stage; and despite Johnny seeming to struggle a little bit with his vocals; (I think a friend of mine told me he puked on stage? Can’t confirm though so take that at face value.) they put on one hell of a set.
Most of the performance was comprised of their main popular songs from 2008’s “Decimate the Weak” album, and I couldn’t see any visible disappointment from literally anyone. I’d say that album is 100% a fan favorite and the reaction was on the positve side; which I expected. I have seen these guys so many times through the years and I lose my voice almost every time. So no complaints really from this fanatic!
Lorna Shore & Carnifex
As I mentioned in my pre show piece, LORNA SHORE have made some waves the last year or so with the addition of their new vocalist, Will Ramos. Overall these guys just fueled the energy of the crowd. I felt that they performed better this time around in comparison to when I saw them a few years back. They just overall seemed more put together and more complete with Ramos fronting them. Definitely another one of those bands to keep your eyes on and come out early for if they’re on an opening bill.
CARNIFEX took the stage next, and what stood out more than anything else was their tribute and words said in regards to The Black Dahlia Murder’s Trevor Strnad. (I’m guessing we’re going to see a lot of this with some of these heavier shows we cover. It’s rightfully expected as well. I don’t think deathcore would have ever been a thing if it weren’t for Trevor and TBDM.) There was a certain amount of pain that I could feel in Scott Ian Lewis’ voice as he spoke on this, and I felt this on a level that I wasn’t expecting to. Carnifex also later on made tributes to Slipknot members Paul Gray and Joey Jordison; along with playing The Heretic Anthem.
The guys played all of their songs that made them super popular in the come up of 2000’s deathcore including Slit Wrist Savior and Lie to My Face. They appropriately closed out their set with the song Hell Chose Me.
Suicide Silence
Alas, the finale of the night. SUICIDE SILENCE really closed out the night right for all of us show goers. The guys kicked off their set with “Unanswered”, which is one of the most popular songs off of 2008’s The Cleansing. Followed by the hard hitting “Disengage” off of 2009’s No Time to Bleed. Between “You Only Live Once” and “You Can’t Stop Me” we saw Dan Kenny lift his bass up to show RIP TREVOR in tape across the back, I felt that this was an appropriate dedication to Trevor, and vocalist Eddie Hermida REALLY made the already emotional crowd get their energy up for this dedication.
It was during this time that we also saw local artist Auzzy Blood come up onto the stage. For those who don’t know, Auzzy has been a part of Las Vegas Deathfest, as well as a number of other “freak show” like performances and is well known for his sword swallowing and very expressive presence. He is defintely a cool artist to check out so go do that!
Suicide Silence closed out their set with the fan favorite “No Pity for a Coward”, in which the entire crowd could be heard singing and screaming the lyrics. We saw band members from Angelmaker come up and join in for the final screaming of, “Seconds from the end, what’s it gonna be, pull the trigger, bitch!” This is always something that I think is really cool. It’s very clear that the bands on this run of Chaos and Carnage really bonded over all the high energy sold out shows and this finale was definitely proof of that.
Feels
It’s hard for me to actually put into words how I feel about Suicide Silence and their live shows. This is one of those bands that have been monumental and so important to me as far as discovery of heavier music. So while I love my thrash metal to no end, these guys really opened the doors for me when it comes to deathcore and death metal in general. That might sound silly, but I don’t really care. If you know me already- you already saw my long emotional post about how much this actually meant to me this night. I do have Mitch Lucker’s autograph tattoed on my leg, I won’t ever regret that. He is still one of the nicest guys I ever had the pleasure of meeting back when this all blew up.
I am also very happy that the guys have such great chemistry on stage with Eddie; as it was something I was weary about in the past. But having seen them a couple times now with him as the front man, I’d say they’re doing well and I really can’t wait to see where this journey takes them now.
Chaos and Carnage Final Thoughts
I know that this isn’t the most objective review I’ve done. That’s mostly because I was riding so much excitement this entire day. I love that they added Winds of Plague onto the final three Chaos and Carnage dates, and Suicide Silence was always a big photo bucketlist band for me. My only real complaint about the entire show was just how close the barricade was to the stage, since that brings on some safety hazards. There was still more than enough space through the venue even though it had sold out for the barricade to be pushed back another foot or so.
At one point during one of the bands one of the front speakers fell off the stage because of a crowd surfer, (said surfer also fell onto my shoulder) and I signaled security in hopes that they would help me get it back onto the stage. They didn’t, and I picked it up myself with one camera dangling from my neck and the other on my hip. I hope in the future that things like this are taken into consideration, but also I understand the need and want to get as many bodies into these shows as they can.
Overall I left very blissful and happy about this run of Chaos and Carnage; and I look forward to seeing these bands again in the future!
Until next time…
All photos by Courtney Ware for ZrockR Magazine 2022, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.