FIT FOR A KING

Metalcore royalty arrives in the Northwest with the regal Fit For a King putting on a majestic display.

The Metalcore Dropouts tour has arrived in Vancouver, which is close to 4 hours of straight Metalcore.   Honestly, I was wondering if I could handle that duration of listening to Metalcore but with a stacked bill with Avoid, Counterparts, and with co-headliners Fit for a King and The Devil Wears Prada, I think this might work out.   After seeing the first 2 bands with Avoid and thereafter Counterparts, I was pretty entertained and warmed up as both those bands did an exceptional job.

Next up is the band we are aiming at tonight, who is Texas based band Fit For a King.   They have been around since 2007 with 7 full studio albums with the latest being the critically acclaimed The Hell We Create that was released in 2022.  The last time they were in Vancouver was back in 2018 at the Rickshaw Theatre.

I find these guys very much the same idea as the band Wage War, who can go from your typical Metalcore vocal phrasing with growly verses, then clean Chorus’s, but now  also can veer into deathcore like breakdowns.   These newer “Metalcore” bands that have this range of options in their toolbox are gaining in popularity because you are gaining appeal from these various audiences.  It’s little wonder that tonight’s show is SOLD OUT as well as most of this tour.

The band we see tonight is 4 piece, consisting of Ryan “Tuck” O’Leary (Bass & clean vocals), Daniel Gailey (guitar, backing vocals), Trey Celaya (drums) and Ryan Kirby on lead vocals.  They do have a fifth member of the band who is Bobby Lynge but he rarely tours and now mostly is involved with the writing process.

Fit For a King starts off with “End (The Other Side), which is a hard charging song with very hooky chorus.   Ryan’s vocal ability is definitely on par with the album and hearing him sing both cleans and growly vocals.   It is a good choice to start off with as it’s a easy win to get the audience involved, and not only with singing but also crowd surfing too.

“Breaking the Mirror” from 2020’s The Path is next and continues the pace with a nice little solo in there for Daniel.  His guitar tone sounds really good too as evident on the next one with another  new one with “Falling from the Sky”.  Have to put in a word for drummer Trey, I thought he was solid throughout this show, especially noticeable on the heavy stuff.

The Commodore Ballroom was sounding great too, noticeably no guitar amps were on the stage as these guys appears to be digital with the guitars.  Sounded legit though and all vocals sounded clean and understandable.   

Lots of cool lighting behind them too synched to the pounding deathcore influenced punches that you would appreciate in songs like “Pissed Off”, “Backbreaker” “Reaper” and another new one from The Hell We Create with “Eyes Roll Back”.   IF you were here for the heavy stuff,  then that was a nice string of songs that definitely sent it to a boiler in the mosh pit.

At song 9 “Keeping Secrets”, that’s a brand new song that is not on any album.  They just released that in mid January.  Definitely has more of a standard metalcore vibe to it unlike the previous 4 songs.

Song 12 is “Vendetta”, and that had the mosh pit moving again.  Their heavy stuff really comes off well in a live setting, very impressed.  Thereafter it’s the more mellow and sing able “When Everything Means Nothing” with bassist Tuck putting an admirable job with the vocals. Lastly the thundering “God of Fire” with Avoid vocalist Benny Scholl contributing with some high pitched screams that obliterates the audience one last time.

I really enjoyed this crushing 14 song set they put together that mainly consisted of 3 or 4 songs from the last 4 albums only.  IF you have been a fan from day one, you might of been disappointed not to hear the older material.  However, it definitely proves they can ‘bring it’ with the heavier more modern deathcore-like influenced songs, and squeeze a few of the more melodic clean metalcore in-between that doesn’t disrupt the flow of the show.  Forsure the heaviest band of the night, and I give this performance (and tour) a big thumbs up. Check it out!