Candiria @ Firehouse 13, Providence, RI
Live Reviews | Nov 17th, 2016
Date: November 16, 2016
Opening Bands: Dalek, Reason to fight, GASkill
Candiria returned for a brief run of shows in support of their new album While They Were Sleeping which is the first time the band has done any kind of touring in the last 10 years outside of the band’s tri-state area shows.
The show was at Firehouse 13 which is a very cool hardcore/punk venue that brought me back to when I first saw Candiria 18 years ago.
First up was Gaskill from New Bedford, Mass. These guys have been around for a while, they played a style of hardcore with slight melodic touches and clean sung vocals that reminded me more of Leeway and early Life of Agony. Really cool stuff, would not mind seeing these guys again. Next up was Reason to Fight from Providence. They played heavily in the 90s hardcore riffbox to which you’ll find no complaints here. Vocals had an old school upbeat delivery that was pretty cool to hear.
Dalek was up next. Dalek is a an experimental Hip Hop act from NJ, and it was very refreshing to see an act like this on a bill. I’d heard of these guys a lot over the years but didn’t check them out until just now. The presentation of their tunes flanked by turntables samplers and sometimes distorted rhymes was great. The atmosphere was heavy with ambiance as MC Dalek delivered his vocals in a thought provoking way. I got to say this was a great choice for an opener.
The first time I saw Candiria was December 18th 1998 at the chance in Poughkeepsie with Hatebreed/Earth Crisis/One King Down. After that, I became hooked on their extremely thought out technical style of metal fused with Jazz and hip hop. Their styling’s and influence are felt far throughout the musical landscape and even site Rob Trujillio of Metallica as a fan.
I was a little concerned that due to long time drummer Ken Schalk’s absence from the band, that maybe his energy not being there would take away from what would be my 9th time seeing Candiria. But they were in good hands in Ken’s student Dan Grossarth behind the kit. As I stated in the album review for their latest While They Were Sleeping, the band experimented around with other projects in between Candiria downtimes, and I wondered how this would go over live. It didn’t fail, the live presentation of the new material was spot on, with the more ambient jazzy parts to Carley Coma’s clean singing parts while they played about 4 songs in support of the new album.
The thing that drew me out was the old material and they did not disappoint, busting out classics like “Paradigm Shift”, “Mathematics”, “Blood” and more. I was a bit disappointed that ‘Process of self development’ wasn’t represented more in the set, but I’ve seen them 9 times so it’s not like I haven’t seen those songs played live before. I think the one thing I can’t say enough about is how the band maintained that same energy I saw them with from over 18 years ago, with Carley Coma’s signature jumping and the overall movement of the band and the world class musicianship they’ve been known for; considering the way the world’s been lately, I think we all needed that.
Bottom line is if you have a chance to see Candiria, well, they still got it, and it’s well worth coming out of mosh retirement and going back to the core.
