Counterparts deliver spiritual experience in Chicago

Complemented by Pain Of Truth, Malevolence and Foreign Hands, followers of Counterparts were delivered into the first layer of hell on Thursday in Chicago.

Foreign hands brought the most nostalgic sound of the night with Myspace metalcore chaos, delivering a breadth of screams and cleans over classic chugging. Those who planned to dance had plenty of opportunity to stretch their moshing muscles, encouraged by Foreign Hands with “let’s see it, it’s just metalcore who cares!” from their guitarist. Even a child (was it really a child or am I just getting old?) was bouncing around the pit while a guy in a tie-dye shirt cartwheeled through. If metalcore is anything, it’s definitely fun.

English metalcore group Malevolence continued the build of energy, immediately launching into their low growls and hearty screams. Their newest single “If It’s All The Same To You” will be featured on their recently announced album Where Only The Truth Is Spoken which drops June 20th.

Now that the metalcore moment was wrapped up, hardcore could take the stage. The Long Island group came out swinging hard, on-stage energy beaming from vocalist Michael Smith. The movement provided by the crowd started low but grew with every song, with a few dedicated to Chicago. Three or four guest vocalists took the stage, each one delivering a punch to complement the group and keep the crowd on their feet. All they needed were some blast beats to create a two-stepping ripple, all styles of metalcore and hardcore mashing together to throw down.

The spiritual finale began with almost 5 minutes of eerie, low etheral tones, with a neon red light scanning the crowd. The stage, dressed in gothic cathedral adornments, was one of the most unique stage sets I’ve seen in hardcore. Playing every song off their latest EP and stage set inspiration Heaven Let Them Die, Concord Music Hall shuddered as fans walked through pieces of Counterparts discography. Each band’s merchandise was so well-done and fashionable, the choices were tough (although grabbing the Pain Of Truth hoodie was an easy one) and the night felt perfectly well-rounded across the two genres.