In This Moment & Motionless in White: Dark Horizon Tour
In this Moment
Initially conceived as a metalcore counterpart to Evanescence, In This Moment moved into more melodic territory with its fantastical 2008 breakthrough album The Dream. Though capable of throat-scraping screams, vocalist Maria Brink shone brightest on mature and atmospheric material, putting In This Moment in the running as a promising goth rock band. The Los Angeles-based act also widened its exposure by touring with the like-minded Lacuna Coil as well as metal veterans Megadeth and Ozzy Osbourne.
Born of a chance meeting and the innate musical rapport established between vocalist Maria Brink and lead guitarist Chris Howorth, In This Moment quickly grew from local cult favorites performing in Los Angeles clubs to a MySpace phenomenon before landing a deal with Century Media. Along the way, the group was fleshed out by rhythm guitarist Blake Bunzel, bassist Jesse Landry, and drummer Jeff Fabb. In This Moment embarked on several U.S. tours with the likes of Diecast and 36 Crazyfists and gradually honed its melodic metalcore songwriting for their 2007 debut album, Beautiful Tragedy. The band supported it on the Hot Chicks of Metal Tour, featuring Lacuna Coil and Within Temptation, among others. The Dream arrived in 2008 and became their breakthrough as well as their first on the album charts. It was followed by the Top 40 A Star-Crossed Wasteland in 2010.
Multiple changes to the band’s original line-up took place in their earliest years, with Landry leaving the band in 2009, replaced by new bassist Kyle Konkiel. Konkiel only lasted a year before he too left the band and was replaced by Travis Johnson in 2010. One of the largest line-up shifts occurred when founding members Jeff Fabb and Blake Bunzel left in 2011. Their replacements — drummer Tom Hane and guitarist Randy Weitzel — stepped in to complete the recording of electro-charged fourth album Blood in 2012. The album was a Top 20 hit.
The group moved to a major label, Atlantic, for their fifth studio long-player, 2014’s Black Widow, and were rewarded with placement inside the Top 10. In 2016, Hane left the band and former 3 by Design drummer Kent Diimmel took over. In June 2017, the band dropped the single “Roots” in anticipation of the release of sixth full-length Ritual, which arrived in July and hit number 23 on the chart. The following year, recording for their seventh album coincided with a tour, teasing the theme of “mother” in its stage show. The band pushed their sound into heavier territory, including on the single “The In-Between” and the album Mother, which appeared in March 2020.
Motionless in White
In 2006, Motionless In White materialized out of Scranton, PA with an inimitable conjuration of sharp metallic rock, nocturnal industrial, magnetic melodies, and larger-than-life visual imagery. The quintet—Chris Motionless [Vocals], Ricky Olson [Guitar], Ryan Sitkowski [guitar], Vinny Mauro [drums], and Justin Morrow [bass]—quietly clawed their way to the forefront of hard rock, gathering nearly half-a-billion cumulative streams and views to date. Following the success of Creatures [2010] and Infamous [2012], Reincarnate [2014] sunk its teeth into the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200, bowing at #9 and capturing #1 on the Top Rock Albums Chart. Both Graveyard Shift [2017] and Disguise [2019] cracked the Top 5 of the Top Hard Rock Albums Chart and Top Rock Albums Chart. The latter yielded the band’s biggest hit to date, “Another Life,” which gathered 37 million Spotify streams followed by “Brand New Numb” at 24 million and “Disguise” at 17 million. Along the way, they sold out headline tours and supported everyone from Slipknot and Korn to Breaking Benjamin. Not to mention, Motionless In White have collaborated with Jonathan Davis of Korn, Maria Brink of In This Moment, Dani Filth of Cradle of Filth, Tim Sköld of KMFDM, Caleb Shomo of Beartooth, and more. The five-piece kept busy throughout 2020, releasing the Another Life / Eternally Yours: Motion Picture Collection EP and Deadstreaming aperformance of Creatures for its decade-anniversary. The band also dropped a cover of The Killers’ “Somebody Told Me,” and the standalone single “Creatures X: To The Grave.” Once again, Motionless In White return to the studio and the road in 2022 as they perfect the poetically pummeling sound they patented.
Fit for a King
Employing a compelling mix of melodic hooks, punitive breakdowns, and lyrics that peer into the darkness of the human condition in search of some light, Fit for a King are a Christian metalcore unit based out of Tyler, Texas. Following in the sonic footsteps of post-hardcore luminaries like As I Lay Dying and Underoath, the group emerged in the late 2000s and caught fire in the 2010s via the chart-topping studio LPs Slave to Nothing (2014), Deathgrip (2016), and Dark Skies (2018), all of which were released on Solid State Records. The again topped both the Rock Albums and Christian Albums charts with 2020’s The Path.
Formed in 2007 and made up of singer Ryan Kirby, guitarists Justin Hamra, and Bobby Lynge, bassist Aaron Kadura, and drummer Jared Easterling, the band spent their early years relentlessly hitting the road before self-releasing their debut, Descendants, in 2011. Their hard work eventually paid dividends when the band was picked up by Solid State Recording, which reissued their debut in 2013. With the backing of a label, Fit for a King went into the studio with producer Andreas Magnusson, and began work on their Solid State debut. The fruits of their labor, Creation/Destruction, arrived in 2013, and found favor with both secular and non-secular crowds. The Will Putney-produced Slave to Nothing arrived the following year, and saw the band enter the Top Ten on both the Billboard Christian Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums charts. Opening with the fiery single “Pissed Off,” which was written in the wake of the 2015 Paris attacks at the Bataclan, Deathgrip arrived in 2016 and featured guest spots from August Burns Red’s Jake Luhrs and Miss May I’s Levi Benton. In June 2018, the band issued a quartet of hard-hitting singles ahead of the release of their fifth studio long-player, Dark Skies, which arrived later that September. Lynge departed before 2020’s The Path was issued and was their first record to feature his replacement, Daniel Gailey. The album hit number six on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart and number one on the Christian Albums chart.
From Ashes to New
From Ashes to New utilize their outlier perspective to break boundaries. The Lancaster, PA band churn out an anthemic hybrid of hard rock, hip-hop, electronic, and alternative with enough energy to inspire you to get up, move forward, and maybe even, make a change. The group has risen from humble beginnings to the top of the 21st century rock vanguard with hundreds of millions of streams, radio hits, sold out shows across the country, and acclaim from LoudWire, Alternative Press, and more. With hit singles like “Nightmare” and “Heartache” paving the way for this new project, From Ashes to New returns with BLACKOUT, a return to their roots, a fresh spin on the sound that broke them onto the scene. Angst and unrest are at an all-time high worldwide and so the record was written to capture those feelings, to put them into music. An album that encapsulates the distress of the 2020’s with a sound reminiscent of the 2000’s. Heavy driven music coupled together with angsty lyrics that all walks of people can find common ground with.ients to turn your world, and the entire scene, on its head.