May 16th, 2017 I drove south to the city of Joliet, to a venue known as The Forge. A venue that has changed owners and names a few times. Previously this place had been called Mojoe's when I was last here. The venue was much cleaner, and had great food(hey just a bonus!). The opener who was local, Bullet To The Heart played a solid twenty five minutes. I had no clue who they were, except I learned two things while, I was watching them, 1.) They are young(20-22 ish) and 2.) Very talented musicians, who deserved a little more overall quality from the sound guy. Audrey Behun the singer, she at times sounded drowned out by the rest of the instruments. When I could hear here, I could feel the emotion and power in her vocals. She has great stage presence, and warmed up the crowd for the later bands. You can see the video for Locked Inside, HERE and The Dead Are Walking, HERE. A solid set from an upcoming young band from Chicago, who have the chance to grow with their sound, and make a name for themselves. Not a bad start for a band, I didn't know I would be seeing or reviewing that night.

Next came Melodic Death metallers, Once Human, featuring ex- Machine Head guitarists, Logan Mader. On vocalist, Lauren Hart, an Australian, with a powerful growl and scream this side of Angela Gossow. Very impressive set, melodic and technical, and for the most part brutal. If you have not heard of them, check out the track Eye Of Chaos, HERE, and the brutal Dark Matter, HERE. Ill be honest I never seen a growler smile so much between songs, but Lauren had this infectious attitude and stage presence about her, and the chops to back it all up. The rest of the musicians including Mader, also shined during their five song set. If you are looking for something a little different than Arch Enemy or The Agonist, then Once Human, female fronted or not, is the band you should check out!

Next came one of my favorite bands, in Kobra and The Lotus. I also had the honor of interviewing Kobra Paige, their lead singer. She is a very gracious and kind person, who was nice enough to spend her late lunch, allowing me to interview after I was late, due to Chicago traffic. As you may have read my review of their latest Prevail I, it is in my opinion their most diverse disc. I really want to see them when they play more than forty minutes, or just 8 songs. The setlist consisted of songs, from their previous three releases. With openers Gotham and TriggerPulse, being performed in the order they appear on their latest disc. The self titled release's, Hold On followed, while one of my favorite High Priestess songs followed, in Solider. I believe Kobra Paige is one of the most dynamic vocalists in music, she has the range to find bottoming lows, and operatic highs, and does them both with the same emotion. Live, the rest of the band is plays pitch perfect to discs. Their most well known song, 50 Shades Of Evil closed out the energetic set, to a crowd like myself, wasn't ready to give them up yet.
Listen to my interview with Kobra Paige, HERE.

About thirty minutes later came, Xandria. I had seen them as the opener two years before, with Delain and Sonata Arctica headlining above them. Dianne Van Giersbergen has a beautiful and powerful operatic voice, and fits the symphonic metal perfectly. Most of the set consisted of what I call the symphonic metal side of the band. With the exception of the always popular Ravenheart, everything else came after the Neverworld's End release. Two from their latest Theater Of Dimensions, Where The Heart is Home and Call Of Destiny opened things up with a lot of speed/tempo and soaring melodies. Forsaken Love showed the power and emotions of Giersbergen's voice, while later in the set We Are the Muderers(We All), showed also the power she can create with her vocals. The popular Nightfall followed not long afterwards. The encore closed with the song, that reintroduced me to the band, and that is Valentine. Overall a great performance of fourteen total songs, that also came with two great opening bands that made this a great night of music, all(including the opener) with female lead singers.