Well known metalcore bands, We Came As Romans and Crown The Empire are currently co-headlining a North American tour which made its way to Seattle’s legendary El Corazon on April 3rd with support from Erra and SHVPES, for a night full of mosh pits, breakdowns and absolute madness. With fans lining up for doors to open many were excited to see We Came as Romans but there was a somber feeling with many fans wondering how WCAR’s performance with the absence of long time clean vocalist Kyle Pavone, who unfortunately passed away last August, would be different.

The first band of the night were UK nu-metal band SHVPES, who had already built themselves a small fanbase in Seattle without having performed here before got the crowd moving with their mix of metal and hip-hop as well as their overall high energy performance with vocalist Griffin Dickinson (who coincidentally is the son of Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson) jumping around the stage, interacting with the crowd, and getting his fellow band members hyped up during each song. This is a band that is great for fans of bands like FEVER 333 with similar sounds in their music.

The second band of the night were a band that are currently on the rise, Alabama based Prog-Metal Erra, who delivered a visually and sonically stunning performance with their very technical approach to metal. The band who put out a new album titled Neon, didn’t waste a moment to show a very attentive Seattle audience that they mean business, and the business for them is absolute heaviness with mosh pits all around. The band started off their set with some songs off of their very popular 2016 release Drift before moving into a few songs from their previously mentioned new release. Screamer J.T. Cavey interacted with fans as much as possible during their set and made sure there was no shortage of mosh pits and circle pits throughout their short set. As their set came to a close many people in the audience who had enjoyed the set kept chanting “One more song, One more song”.

Finally, it was time for the co-headliners to hit the stage, first up were Texas based band, Crown the Empire. The band has undergone some serious lineup changes with every album cycle going from originally being a six piece to now being a four piece band consisting of vocalist and frontman Andy “Leo” Velasquez, Guitarist/backup vocalist Brandon Hoover, Bassists/backup screamer Hayden Tree and Drummer Brent Taddie, even with all these lineup changes the band has not let that stop their ability to give a great high energy show. The band started off their set with 2 unreleased songs that the band has confirmed will be on a new album, which according to Velasquez was just until recently greenlit, the first an interlude simply titled (X) and the second a song titled Sudden Sky, which the crowd received very positively regardless of them not knowing the songs yet. From there they moved onto a few songs off of their debut release The Fallout and Memories of a Broken Heart, with these songs having cemented them in the genre as a whole the crowd went wild and all hell broke loose with mosh pits throughout the venue. In these two songs, vocalist Hayden Tree demonstrated that he could take over the vocal duties that former screamer David Escamilla left behind. From there the band performed their two newest songs since the release of their album Retrograde, 20/20 and What I Am, before jumping into two songs off of the aforementioned album. Throughout the night frontman Andy Leo playfully made fun the crowd as well as his bandmates, told some stories of the tour so far and of the band, and even got a bra thrown at him. The band wrapped their set up with their most popular song to date, Machines off of 2014s Rise of the Runaways. Thanking the crowd for an amazing show before getting off stage the band wrapped up their set.

Finally the second of the headliners came up to the stage and almost immediately the crowd let all hell break loose, We Came as Romans started their performance in a massive way, with the first song of the night Vultures with Clipped Wings off of their most recent album, Cold Like War, immediately getting the crowd moving, and almost immediately after the end of that song they moved into Wasted Age from the aforementioned album. All throughout the night the band was filled with the energy that the crowd just kept giving back to them. After the third song the band acknowledged the death of their former vocalist and let the crowd know that he brought a special spark to the band that they won’t every get back, but that they want his memory to live on, and they use this speech to lead up to the next song, vocalist Dave Stephens tells the crowd that Kyle Pavone always liked to get “Lost In The Moment”, a song that worked really well as a tribute to the young vocalist. Throughout the rest of the night the band didn’t focus as much on the past, they made sure to focus on the future and where the band will be heading to in the next few years. Performing heavy hitter after heavy hitter. The band were all jumping around the stage throughout the night. The setlist of the band was a healthy mix of old and new songs, and awesomely enough they let the fans choose some of the songs that would be on their set with a poll.

We Came as Romans is proving to the world that they are a band that can overcome any adversity that come their way, while giving a fitting tribute to their fallen brother. The night was full of hope for the future and high energy from the crowd. If you have the opportunity to go out and see this tour you won’t be disappointed with all the bands.

If you or a loved one suffers from addiction please don’t hesitate to call the addiction hotline, they are a wonderful resource that will help you seek help: 1-855-DRUG-FREE

If you would like to donate to the Kyle Pavone Foundation here is the link: Kyle Pavone Foundation

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY JONATHAN RUIZ | INSTAGRAM