It was a night of cathartic chaos at the Music Farm in Charleston, SC. Soul Keeper and Kingdom of Giants got the crowd gassed up and ready to go. The crowd swirled and transformed into a sea of crashing flesh and big goofy grins.
Things erupted when Chelsea Grin took to the stage. Lead guitarist Stephen Ruthishauser hit the crowd with the opening riff of “Recreant” from Desolation Of Eden building to Josh Miller’s double kick drum that whipped the crowd into a frenzy. For a solid hour, the floor of the Music Farm churned with hair, limbs, and sweaty but smiling faces. When Chelsea threw it back to “Crewcabanger” from their self-titled EP, bodies began being transported on the up-stretched limbs of fellow concertgoers. The barricades shifted and shook from the crowd splashing against it. Lead singer Tom Barber belted out while the venue’s security had very little downtime between plucking giddy crowd surfers safely from the top of the crowd. Almost all the surfers received a coveted fist bump from the band's lead singer giving the hyped fans even more of an incentive to start climbing to the top of the crowd. Ending their set with “Hostage” from 2018’s Eternal Nightmare, Chelsea Grin had the crowd by the throat and never loosened up setting the bar, and amping the energy up for Fit For A King.
Fit For A King took to the stage last, and the roar of the crowd was ear-splitting. The energy level built up by Chelsea Grin had not dissipated and the crowd was chomping at the bit for more. Fit For A King opened with a banger, “End(The Other Side)” from The Hell We Create. Guitarist Daniel Gailey and bass player Ryan O’Leary explosively leaped into the air, while frontman Ryan Kirby tore into the mic. The crowd was a constant flow of bodies, the pit became a massive whirlpool eagerly gobbling up anybody that dared get close to it. FFAK nearly brought down the walls with “Backbreaker” from the album Dark Skies and “Reaper” from The Hell We Create. Devil horns and fists stretched to the sky and flowed with tattooed flesh and the pit never ceased. “Deathgrip” seemed to be everyone's queue to go insane. Fans raced to climb up above the crowd, where they would lay back and let the current of hands drift them to the front barricades and when the breakdown hit Trey Celaya’s drums seemed to empower everyone with the strength to run through a brick wall. FFAK closed their set with “When Everything Means Nothing” from the Guardians of the Path EP. Kirby drew the crowd in with the melodic opening vocals, before leading the crowd in a chorus of the the song's explosive hook. That may have been the last song in the set, but the charged crowd was by no means ready to call it quits. The venue echoed with the chant “FIT FOR A KING, FIT FOR A KING” pulling the band back out on stage for an encore. They went out with a bang hitting the crowd with a jawbreaker, “God of Fire” from The Path. Ryan Kirby, Ryan O’Leary, Daniel Gailey, and Trey Celaya ripped and tore through the track with lethal precision. The stomps of the headbanging masses caused the floor and barricades to vibrate, and bodies bubbled over the top of the crowd like an overflowing pot on a stove.
Chelsea Grin and Fit For A King lit the crowd on fire. This show is a one-two punch that would knock out any metalcore fan. It was loud, gritty, raw, and a hell of a good time. If you are lucky enough to catch these two on the road, do not hesitate as this is one you do not want to miss!
