The hardcore scene in NYC united this past Monday night(12/15) at The Gramercy Theatre to welcome the post hardcore unit Chiodos. The band had some help from Sleepwave, Slaves and We Came As Romans to bring the post hardcore sound to New York. The Gramercy Theatre was packed with hardcore,pop punk/screamo kids who were ready to
hear some screaming vocals and start moshing.
The first band to kick off the show was Sleepwave, a rock band from St. Petersburg, Florida. The band was founded by vocalist Spencer Chamberlain after the disbandment of Underoath. Shortly after, he recruited longtime friend Stephen Bowman to fill in on guitar. Their recently released album Broken Compass features the single “Through the Looking Glass” which peaked at No. 37 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.
Shortly after them, the band Slaves took the stage bringing the energy to another level. Slaves features vocalist Jonny Craig, best known for his work with Emarosa, Dance Gavin Dance and Isles & Glaciers, Alex Lyman and Christopher Kim of Hearts & Hands, and drummer Tai Wright of Four Letter Lie and Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows. The bands set list included songs off of their debut album Through Art We Are All Equal. Fans formed a mosh pit in which they all danced and displayed a full-hearted amount of love and energy to the band. Lead singer Jonny Craig was very emotional in saying “Thank you guys so much for tonight, and thank you so much for letting me live my dream which allows me to be free of heroin.” The audience cheered after his statement, which made them all realize that they can actually make a difference in the artists’ lives.
Next up was Chiodos, the band everyone was waiting for. The band, who’s from Davison, Michigan, has been tearing down venues since 2001. Although the band went through some line-up changes from 2010 to 2012 when Brandon Bolmer replaced lead singer Craig Owens and drummer Tanner Wayne replaced Derrick Frost, their new album Devil marks the return of both Owens and Frost. Playing hits from many of their albums including “There’s No Penguins in Alaska” off of All’s Well That End’s Well and “Expensive Conversations in Cheap Hotel Rooms” from their latest album Devil, the band managed to form an even bigger pit amongst the audience. Lead singer Craig Owens has a certain kind of humility that is seen even while on stage. Speaking to fans as if they were his personal friends and smiling with everyone all around, truly enjoying the moment. Not to mention his on stage antics such as swinging his mic. around and catching it perfectly in his hand is sure to capture anyone’s attention. By the end of their set, fans were left wanting more and were more than excited for the last band of the night. 
We Came As Romans came out to finish the show, bringing the melodic metalcore sound to the mix. Founded in 2005 in Detroit, Michigan, the members were just in high school when they first started off and went through many line-up changes to finally settle on permanent members. Their latest album Tracing Back Roots debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200. The band gave the audience a different sound from the previous bands but didn’t fail to keep the mosh pit going. The show turned out to be a great line-up of harcore bands that have kept the genre alive over the past 10 years, luckily enough for NYC, we got to witness it all at Gramercy.
SLAVES:
