Picture this: It's November 6th at 7pm on a Wednesday night, at a location you ideally wouldn't find yourself at this time and day of the week, but here I am, ready to see two of the sickest hardcore/metalcore bands to come through central Florida. Saving Vice and Fight from Within are here at The Conduit, a small well known venue in Winter Park, Florida, shredding through their "UnWanted Dead or Alive" Tour with local special guests, Steps of Odessa and Royal Hearts.
The opening act for the night was a local band right out of Orlando named Steps of Odessa. A five-piece band with a progressive metal sound, featuring synths and solid riffs, have a sound worth checking out and definitely set a sick tone for the evening.
Next up was Royal Hearts, another Florida local. This group is from Fort Lauderdale with a 2000s-2010 metalcore sound, and they certainly displayed the energy to further fuel the crowd's excitement and energy for Saving Vice to take the stage next.
At long last was Saving Vice, hailing all the way from Vermont, ready to give us Floridians a hardcore night to remember. Kicking off their setlist was songs featured on their latest album "Good Days, Dead Eyes" (2024). Some of those songs played in order was "Leap of Faith", "Haec Est Ars Moriendi", "Cry, Wolf" and "The Cabal". Saving Vice displayed such a dynamic soundscape that they had the pits getting really intense. Lead vocalist Tyler Small gave the crowed the energy they desired with his crushing vocals, matched side by side with Robbie Litchfield shredding on lead guitar. Now, we can't forget about the drummer keeping things in sync hammered down by Sam Whelton, and, of course, bassist Nick "Beckoner" Madonna. They honestly sounded damn near as clean and tight live as they do in the studio. At the end of their set, the crowd was treated with vocalist Michael Hayes from Fight from Within joining Tyler to close out Saving Vice's set with some gut-wrenching vocals. This band was a lot of fun to see live and even more fun to photograph. I'm definitely looking forward to the next time they come visit central Florida!
Finishing off the night was Fight From Within, an aggressive metalcore group from upstate New York, consisting of Michael Hayes (Lead Vocalist), Paddy Mull (Vocalist), Simon Jackson & James Sacco (Guitar), David Pierson (Bass/Vocals), and Christian Smith (Drums). The six-piece group "sails" a tight ship, nailing their performances on stage with one of many songs including "Anxiety", "Full Send". They also played their latest unreleased single, "TCJ", which featured Tyler Small of Saving Vice, adding a nice touch to close out Fight from Within's set "full circle", so to speak. This brought the show, full of complete and utter chaos in all the best and memorable ways, to an end.
