LDBBB Fest 2024 Recap and Review Featuring Sunami, Obituary, Harms Way, XWeaponX, and Tons More!

Life and Death Brigade and Triple B Records worked together with 502 Shows to put on their annual LDB festival in Louisville, KY on March 22nd and 23rd. I was able to make the trek from Chicago to Louisville to catch the chaos and get as much coverage as possible. LDBBB festival focuses on hardcore punk but this year with the addition of Triple B and Maggot Stomp Records, there was a heavy focus on Death Metal as well. The bill was stylistically diverse while staying in the general realm of heaviness. The lineup was capped off by a Hatebreed 30 year anniversary performance, a Sunami set while they are on fire beyond belief, and an Obituary set that showcased one of the greatest Death Metal bands of all time. LDBBB felt very much focused on showcasing the heavy music community in an innovative way that highlights younger artists and shows an unbelievable amount of hope for future generations of punk and metal.

FRIDAY:

• Friday was opened by Oldham Country Hardcore band Surfaced who had the task of opening up the whole weekend but genuinely crushed it with their style of DIY hardcore that had the mosh pit open up bright and early at 11:30, playing their new music featuring single "Right With God" Surfaced represented Kentucky hardcore early with a great set.

• Balmora from Connecticut representing Ephyra records came out next with a set that throws back to bands like In Flames and At The Gates. Balmora played a tight set full of dramatic metalcore setting off the metalcore oriented Ephyra records into the LDBBB realm.

• Hold My Own on DAZE records comes from my hometown of Chicago and they seem to be on almost every local hardcore bill and are landing a ton of festival slots like this one. DAZE hardcore is stylized by a thematic focus on being macho and tough and the lyrics and guitars are focused on making an audio version of that macho energy. Hold My Own has gotten really tight and groovy after playing as many shows locally and on the road and their music with songs like "Entitlement" and "In My Way". The band represents a style of hardcore that sticks close to the origin of hardcore in it's "what it means to be a man" messaging.

• Soul Blind was such a huge surprise to me and was one of my favorite sets of the weekend. they were in an important spot having had the festival just begun to file in people and have Soul Blind be one of the first major sets of the weekend. Soul Blind from Hudson Valley New York, mixes so many styles together like grunge, shoegaze, and hardcore (duh) but does so in a really novel and unique way. It's difficult to use grunge influences and in 2024 and have it be done in a way that sounds new and fresh just due to the amount of saturation grunge has had in mainstream music. However, Soul Blind comes to grunge with a background in hardcore that makes grunge sound fresh and new again and all of their songs are so well written and groovy it really works without a doubt. The guitars are definitely inspired by bands like Quicksand and Helmet that originally took hardcore styles to an alternative rock standpoint in the 90s. Soul Blind sounded tight, concise, unique, and original with their style of grungy hardcore and it genuinely blew me away. This band is now on the top of my new bands radar.

• Big Boy "real bay shit" also on DAZE records came on after and woke the pit up in such a dramatic transition from the rest of the day it was shocking. Big Boy comes from the ever-fantastic San Fran/Jose Bay hardcore scene and features Josef the lead singer from Sunami on bass. Big Boy does make some hefty beatdown but their stage energy and really well written songs put them as leaders of their label. The moshers at LDBBB did not come to play around and Big Boy woke them up for the first time into throwing kicks and doing flips.

• Anxious kicked off a pop punk style suite for the festival after Big Boy that also contained One Step Closer and then closed with Militarie Gun. Anxious hails from Connecticut and features the vocalist/guitarist from thrash crossover band Broken Vow on guitar. Anxious, like many bands starting the bill, have been touring incessantly working on their craft and it really paid off at LDB which came off as a bit of a celebratory show for the band's hard work. Anxious sits in a pocket of pop punk that is inspired by bands like Title Fight as equally as the origin of pop punk in bands like Blink-182. However, Anxious is really carving their own path away from their influences with really well written songs like "Growing Up Song" and an amazing sense of melody.
  

• Militarie Gun capped off the short little alternative/pop punk suite that LDBBB hosted on Friday. Militarie Gun lead by Ian Shelton has been making seismic waves in the world of alternative hardcore, being put on the lollapalooza lineup in Chicago, coming off a successful tour with Spaced and Spiritual Cramp, and now honing in even more on playing shows. Their last album Life Under the Gun featured a lot of really well written, extremely catchy, alternative rock from the lens of hardcore. Being put on LDBBB is a tall task considering how much the majority of LDB-goers love their music to be heavy and aggressive. However, it was great to see how popular MG was at LDBBB and how well-received all the bands that were softer that played on Friday were. MG's setlist featured bangers like Ain't No Flowers, Very High, and Never Fucked Up Once that showcase Ian Shelton's awesome lyricism and vocal style. Ian has a great stage presence that makes all of MG's songs pop even more live. This band has been making waves with great reason lately and I am excited to see them continue to innovate.

• Harms Way was at least half the reason I made the move to go to LDBBB this year. Coming off of their 2023 instant classic Common Suffering, the Harms Way live performance is absolutely a spectacle. Their mixing of styles between guitarist Bo Lueders' riffs and vocalist James Pligge's screams mixes metal and hardcore in a way that makes it seem completely natural and is innovative and unique. Harms Way comes from Chicago which already makes me bias but they have been elevating Chicago hardcore for as long as they have been a band. Making music that is incredibly tight and lyrically potent, Harms Way are leaders of the hardcore scene into the next generation. They played a setlist that featured songs of their 2023 album like Cyanide and Terrorizer but also capped off with classics like Become a Machine. Harms Way have always been leaders in hardcore having been a band since the early 2000s and have resonated with hardcore fans regardless of age which was prominent when looking at the mosh pit which featured people of all kinds and not just hardheaded dudes. Harms Way's set at LDBBB showcased a band that has been in their prime for years now and will continue to bear the flag of love for hardcore into the future.

• Friday was headlined by Hatebreed's 30th anniversary performance. Featuring a little mini-documentary about the bands influence before the show with appearances from about all the members of Rancid, WWE's Braun Strowman, and Arizona Diamondback's Randy Johnson. Hatebreed took the stage with an incredible volume ripping through their setlist of classics mostly from their flagship album "Satisfaction is the Death of Desire". Hatebreed revolutionized hardcore in the 90s and early 2000s taking Hardcore's prominent messaging of self-improvement and taking it to another level. With songs like Smash Your Enemies and Looking Down the Barrel of Today, Hatebreed made hardcore a lifestyle that resonated on so many levels. Their cultural impact for hardcore really left an impact that every body felt. Their LDBBB set showcased their immense influence and importance in a scene that is re-inventing itself.

SATURDAY:

• Scarab was the first band I caught on Saturday after the doors opened and they were another band I was really excited about. Featuring vocalist Tyler Mullins who got his intro to hardcore through Year of the Knife but is now further proving his immense talent with his new band Scarab. Mullins has such an aggressive and ferocious vocal style showcased on songs like Last Day where the way he manipulates his screams really stands aside from many other hardcore vocalists. Scarab as a band is really tight and exciting too as they speed through really intense and dark hardcore passages. Scarab is relatively new with two EPs out but I am really excited to see how the band can continue to innovate.
  

• Inclination went on 2 PM and absolutely tore it up. Inclination has been making the rounds as one of the most important bands in midwest straight edge hardcore and the LDBBB crowd received them incredibly well. Inclination is another hardcore band that makes a style of punk music that is really catchy and exciting while also splicing in metal style guitars and breakdowns. Most of Inclination's songwriting features the self-improvement and straight edged mentality and the crowd in Louisville really resonated with that message often getting up on stage and crowding around the mic to sing along. Bryan Garris from Knocked Loose also has a vocal spot on an Inclination song and came up on stage psyched to be with the band. Inclination is a really important contemporary in midwest hardcore not just in the straight edge realm and their set at LDBBB brought a ton of energy.

• XWEAPONX took the stage around 3PM to play a really rare set for the supergroup. Featuring Bo Lueders from Harms Way on guitar, Isaac Hale and Bryan Garris from Knocked Loose with Hale on guitars/vocals and Garris on bass, and Trey Garris on the drum kit. XWEAPONX will come out with a set on big hardcore festivals like LDBBB and FYA and it was great to be able to see them in KY. The band played songs from their set of EP's like a Brother's Blade and In Spite Of. Weapon is another really important band for the creation of midwest straight edge and shares a lot in common with Inclination. The crowd in Louisville was evidently very excited to catch this rare set as the stage was rushed multiple times and the members of the band were so captivating in their stage presence they put on one of the best shows of the fest.

• Gates To Hell began Day 2's Death Metal theme in contrast to Day One's pop punk theme. GTH has been a mainstay in hardcore festival lineups and having seen them at LDB this year it was not hard to see why. Gates To Hell sounds incredibly tight live and bring their ferocious brand of Death Metal to the forefront with some of the stankiest breakdowns sure to impress any hardcore fan. Gates To Hell just got signed to Nuclear Blast records and dropped a single "Resurrected" which absolutely bangs and went even harder in person at LDBBB. Gates to Hell comes to hardcore through the filter of death metal and their ability to mix the two genres is really unique to them as their music is full of intensity and depth.

• Sanguisugabogg blew me away with their live performance. The band has made waves in the worlds of death metal and hardcore equally, so I had been familiar with their music and a frequent listener but their live performance changed how I viewed them entirely. LDBBB was the first time I have been able to catch them and their live performance is just absolutely crushing. Both guitarists bring an immense wall of noise to every single song with their swampy and brutal distortion. Lead singer Devin Swank has incredible stage presence and at LDBBB set himself aside from the many other bands that played through his sense of humor but also his crazy vocal talent. Their set included bangers like Necrosexual Deviant and Dragged By A Truck and the mosh pit was so insane to witness. Unlike other metal ortiented bands on the bill, Sanguisugabogg made no pretense that they wanted to be perceived as a hardcore band. Devin Swank came out ready to unleash his beastly vocals and geniunely shattered any prior expectations about the band with a next level performance. They closed out the set with their insane song "Dead as Shit" which actually felt like a fever dream to see performed live.

• Mindforce was really amazing to be able to catch live. Their style of guitar playing in it's bright treble thrash attack has always been inspirational to me especially coming from a background of Metallica and Slayer. Mindforce does an incredible job pushing thrash innovation forward mixing it with hardcore in a really seamless way. Hailing from Hudson Valley New York, the band has always been really humble and kept local when they can all attending to their families. Their gratitude really came across in their set and the ability they have to absolutely crush while also remaining humble was something to appreciate. The lead vocalist really comes to each song with great energy keeping his vocals clean in an East Coast NYHC style that helps the band make that crossover even more seamlessly. Their setlist included songs like Smother My Foes and Survival is Vengeance but capped off with their so good it should be illegal song Excalibur which the LDBBB crowd ensued to open one of the biggest mosh pits I have ever seen. Mindforce crushed their set to bits and it was awesome to witness.

• Obituary being included on this lineup was the final decision maker for me to get my ass out to Louisville Kentucky because seeing Obituary in a hardcore environment was instantly on my bucket list and it did not disappoint. Obituary are certified Lords of the Game when it comes to heavy music. Obituary comes from the 90s Tampa Death Metal Scene that birthed the genre from their contemporaries Chuck Schuldiner's Death. Obituary was really well received by everyone in the crowd regardless of musical background which speaks to how accessible their brand of heavy death metal is. Obituary allowed Sunami to close out the night because they wanted to showcase the younger bands in heavy music which is really respectable. They absolutely crushed their set coming out to songs off their 2023 album "Dying of Everything". The band sounded at the absolute top of their game and vocalist John Tardy's original brand of mid-range guttural vocals soared across the mix. Guitarist Trevor Peres is one of my all time favorite guitarist for the way he makes his strat soar through the distortion and catch melody at the same time. His riffs are unique and have never been replicated and getting to see them live at LDBBB made the Obituary set all the more legendary. The band has carried the flag for heavy music before hardcore had taken off and seeing them continue to absolutely crush was affirming in the power of heavy music.

• Sunami closed out the weekend in Louisville which was a fantastic choice due to how much hype the band has around them. Sunami's bay area style of hardcore is part of the reason hardcore is having a resurgence right now, their music is both accessible and crushing and Josef's stage presence is just unmatched. The guitar player's riffing ability to connect both speed and aggression with their beatdown influenced style was really impressive and the whole band sounded incredibly tight. Sunami has really become synonymous with hardcore and it's easy to see why they are scene leaders. They are young and exciting with a fresh style of hardcore that is revolutionizing heavy music on a bigger level making it accessible to a whole new generation. Sunami stands for all that hardcore is about. Being yourself but watching your back, being focused on self-improvement but also having a great time. Sunami's bay area flow is one of the most exciting parts of being a fan of heavy music in 2024.

LDBBB in 2024 made me really excited about the future of heavy music regardless of it's influence. Hardcore is a place for everyone to feel included and the more bands focus on that the more we can have events like LDB. LDB showcased Louisville's amazing hardcore scene that is revolutionized by local bands like Knocked Loose but also showcased just how passionate people are about heavy music. Big THANKS to Life and Death Brigade and Triple B for showing what heavy music is all about.