A metal show in Brooklyn on Halloween?! How in the hell can you go wrong? Halloween is a special holiday for us metalheads, and there is no better way to celebrate than with a kick ass night of live music. With Gwar at Irving Plaza for the second Halloween in a row, NY Hardcore legends Murphy’s Law at Kingsland and Polyphia, Hail the Sun and Covet at Music Hall of Williamsburg, there was something for everyone that night.

As someone who has seen Polyphia many times before, their shows are something else for metalheads. Yes, they definitely appeal to the fans of bands such as Animals as Leaders, Chon, Intervals, ect but the extend their fan base way beyond that. Polyphia has been able to incite moshing, walls of death and hardcore dancing and at the same time, they were able to get people to salsa dance. While there were plenty of people in Slayer shirts there, there were plenty of people who wouldn’t touch a metal band with a ten-foot pole there as well. That is the beauty of this type of music and these kind of shows, they can appeal to anyone. I have always called this style of music, Elevator Music for Metalheads. Polyphia has played with many bands who have a similar style as them such as Chon, Jason Richardson, ect but has also played with bands such as Between the Buried and Me. It goes to show that these guys can do just about whatever they want.

Onto the show! Music Hall of Williamsburg is a venue that knows what they are doing. Friendly staff, sound is phenomenal and intimate shows. The line was pretty damn long which was surprising to me. Not only was I a tad concerned on how the turnout would be due to Gwar and Murphy’s Law playing all in the same night, but being that Polyphia has played in NY quite a lot, there was a radius clause concern running through my mind. That thought went completely out the window the millisecond I saw the line. Before the first band took the stage, the main floor of the venue was already half full.

An hour after doors, Covet took the stage. Covet actually came to NYC before with Polyphia and Jason Richardson and they killed it then, so expectations were high! With their new album effloresce out, I was very excited to hear the new material live. Right when they took the stage, the immediately caught the audience’s attention with their mixture of prog, djent, atmospheric and technical sounds. It was as if they turned the venue into a dream. Yvette had a great element of improvising as well as hitting the songs note for note. With this style of music, there is not a lot of distortion on the guitars, so it is very easy to hear if something is just one note off or the slightest step out of tune. Their set was memorizing and enjoyable. Add their bass player, David’s funny remarks and jokes between songs, that is what you call a fun set. They even mentioned that this was the first Halloween show they have ever played, so it was an honor to witness such an awesome event in a great bands career.

Up next, we have Hail the Sun, which was the only band on the bill that I have not seen before. We went from one extreme to the other with this one. This is a band that utilizes more vocals and a heavier style. They do have some similar instrumental elements as Polyphia with their guitar riffs and soloing so this band was not out of place on the bill whatsoever. Their style had elements of both Progressive and Metalcore. Imagine Polyphia meeting with a band like While She Sleeps, or even Circa Survive. The first moshpit opened up to night and it seemed that they had no problem getting the audience on board. Their new album Mental Knife is out now!

Finally we had the headliner Polyphia. It is so impressive how this band grew so much. Seeing them play on their first headline tour in a small 500 cap venue (Marlin Room at Webster Hall) to direct support at Playstation Theater, to Packing an entire room to about 1000 people is something truly inspiring. It seems with each show, the try to top the other by incorporating some more humor between songs, adding more production and increasing their stage presence. Being that it was instrumental music, their music is open to interpretation so some people enjoyed moshing and crowdsurfing while others were dancing.

A Polyphia show is truly a sight to see, and with people in banana suites owning the moshpit, it was truly a once in a lifetime experience. Every band on this bill brought their A-Game and had great new music to share with the fans on this Halloween night.

Check out Polyphia’s new album, New Levels New Devils

Check out Hail the Sun’s new album, Mental Knife

Check out Covet’s new album effloresce