On March 7th, 2025, Thrown brought absolute chaos to Seattle’s El Corazon on their “Excessive Guilt” North American headlining tour with special guests HEAVENSGATE, No Cure and Varials. Thrown has recently released their brand new album August of 2024 titled ‘Excessive Guilt’. If you have not yet to stream that album, please do so.
The first band to take the stage this evening was Australian metalcore band HEAVENSGATE. Australian bands have been hitting the charts recently and bring loads of attention to the music scene today. HEAVENSGATE is a metalcore band based in Melbourne, Australia that formed in 2020 during COVID-19. Members of the band consist of founders Aki Vickneswaran on bass, guitarist Josh Ang. To complete the band’s lineup, they introduce fans to current members vocalist Nazareth Tharatt, guitarist David Wilder, and lastly drummer Kofi Badu. Ang was a studio member that joined forces with Vickneswaran to create demos for upcoming singles and album work at the time. Since the start of the band, these guys have released numerous singles, their most recent titled “OBLIVION” via Pure Noise Records.
To kick off their set, fans in the crowd immediately opened the pit. To open the night, the band performed their latest single “OBLIVION”, which was released on February 19th of this year. Considering this venue did not have a barricade, it felt like I had to sort of fight for my life and I was left in pure shock. The next song took the crowd’s energy to a different level. HEAVENSGATE hit fans with “Violent Joy” which was released in July, 2023. Vocalist Nazareth Tharratt hit fans with a massive BLEGH and immediately the pit turned into everybody getting on their feet and all began two stepping. For a venue like the El Corazon, it felt like we were all squished together and it made it such an enjoyable experience. Drummer Kofi Badu, I have to give this man so much respect for playing and doing those insane double kicks live.
Keep Up With HEAVENSGATE Online: Instagram | TikTok
The next band to take the stage this evening was No Cure. No Cure is a metalcore band based in Alabama and are known for their memorable hard crushing breakdowns. The band’s lineup currently consists of Blaythe Steuer (vocals), Aesop Mongo (guitar), Kyle Ray (guitar), Jake Murnane (bass), and Duncan Newey (drums) and they are currently signed with SharpTone Records. As of December, 2024, the band has unveiled their latest album titled ‘I Hope I Die Here’ via SharpTone Records. The band has such a unique sound and unleashes such brutality within their lyrics. On this tour, it was the first time No Cure has ever performed in Seattle.
No Cure has opened their set with “Forced Coagulation”, which is off their recent album ‘I Hope I Die Here’. Considering the crowd engagement from HEAVENSGATE’s set, fans immediately knew what to do from the start of the song. Fans were immediately in shock once vocalist Blaythe Steuer took the stage wearing a massive winter jacket. Even though it is winter, the cold from the outside did not stand a chance against the body heat produced inside the venue. Everybody in the crowd went absolutely FERAL and people were moshing nonstop. It was absolutely insane. The next song the band performed was “Embrace Death” from their EP ‘Cursed From Birth’ which was released in October 2022 and features River Elliot. Let me tell you.. this song definitely gave fans a workout. During the breakdown, Steuer screams into the crowd “open this shit up” and everyone listens and obeys him. Once the breakdown hit, everybody was showing off their karate moves, crowd surfing and stage diving all at once. Midway through the set, Steuer has a conversation with the audience and says, “Damn Seattle, we’ve been meaning to come see you since the beginning of this band” and he apologizes for the long wait. Seeing the fans' interaction with him is truly astonishing and the amount of love and support everybody had was so heartwarming. After this heartwarming discussion, the band performs “The Final Truth” off the ‘Cursed From Birth’ EP and immediately everybody on the stage calls for two steppers and stage divers. To close their set for the night, they performed "No Cure Straight Edge Die Slow Fuck You”, which was released on their former album ‘The Commitment To Permanence’ which released in 2023. My body kept getting squished against the stage and unfortunately left me a few bruises but it was all worth it.
Keep Up With No Cure Online: Instagram | X
The last band before the headliner took the stage was the one and only Varials. My first thought when Varials hit the stage was: If you think Knocked Loose is wild, Varials will give you a run for your money. It comes as no surprise that the already rowdy crowd managed to match the bands’ energy because they have over seven years over the other bands on the tour and a loyal fanbase. Formed in 2013 in Philadelphia, the band currently consists of Mike Foley (bass), Shane Lyons (guitar), and Sean Rauchut (drums) with Skyler Conder of CELL filling in on vocals. Described as controlled chaos, the band's perfect blend of metalcore, hardcore, and pure energy, they are the perfect anger management therapy. Over the years the band has toured with some of the heaviest hitters in the industry including Knocked Loose, Wage War, and Loathe. When researching the band, I discovered it has had a plethora of lineup changes to the point where I had two other names listed as the vocalist. It’s unclear whether Conder is a permanent member but he might as well be, because they put on an unforgettable show.
The band’s set was filled with heavy hitters, starting with the old school banger “Deadweather” which is taken off of their 2015 EP 'Failure//Control' and fans wasted no time opening the pit up and throwing elbows and kicks in all directions with others taking advantage of the lack of a barrier and climbing up on stage to stage dive. This continued into the next song, “E.D.A”, the fourth track off of their 2017 debut album 'Pain Again' and into “.50” from the latest release 'Scars For You To Remember'. Conder was making constant demands to the pit, telling Seattle he ‘wanted to see some blood!’ and the fans, just like they always do at a Varials show, caused utter destruction and chaos. It wasn’t even like they waited a few songs to do it too, they went all out in the metallic breakdown of “Deadweather”, setting the tone of what Seattle could expect for the next 30 minutes. He also told the crowd the stage was theirs and wanted to see more stage diving before kicking off “.50”. Conder showed incredible vocal power on “In Darkness” and demanded more violence on “The Cycle of Violence: Chapter 1”. The crowd kept the violence and diving going and even threw some two stepping in there. The band had Seattle tear things up during “South of One” and spent the rest of the set revisiting their debut album 'Pain Again'. The crowd was off their feet on “Colder Brother” and the whole room joined Conder in screaming the chorus chant of "Anything To Numb”. With one song left, the band played THAT song, yes the one and only, “Empire of Dirt” which features Bryan Garris from Knocked Loose. The room screamed every single word out and re-opened the pit back up on the song’s raw breakdown. Blaythe Steuer from No Cure came back out and screamed Bryan Garris’ part in the song along with the crowd and the pit gave it one last chance on the ending breakdown to turn Seattle into a war zone.
Keep Up With Varials Online: Instagram | X | TikTok
After a little bit of a delay at the show, we finally have made it to the headliner for the night. Thrown immediately blew fans away from the moment they walked on stage, including myself. This is the second time I’ve seen this band perform live and they always continue to amaze me every time. The first time I caught Thrown live was when they performed and opened for Invent Animate in 2023 on the Heavener Tour and all the bands who performed that night gave me such an incredible experience. Thrown is a metalcore band that formed in 2019 in Stockholm, Sweden and made their debut into the music scene in 2021. Members of the band consist of Marcus Lundqvist (vocals), Johan Liljeblad (guitar), Andreas Malm (guitar), and Buster Oldeholm (drums). Since the start of their career, the band has already achieved so many huge accomplishments, for example; they have toured with Invent Animate, Wage War, Counterparts, Fit For A King and many more. The band has also shared a new album in August 2024 titled ‘EXCESSIVE GUILT’ via Arising Empire. Thrown has grabbed the attention across the globe as they have amassed just under 1.1 million monthly listeners with their most streamed song being “on the verge” which has garnered over 38 million streams on Spotify.
Thrown jumped to the forefront of heavy music when they released their debut album 'EXCESSIVE GUILT' on August 30th, 2024. Thrown created the perfect balance between metalcore and hardcore with a nu metal swagger that fans have adored ever since the record dropped. Thrown would play a plethora of songs from this album. The lights went out and a catchy trap beat was played that had fans yelling “HEY.. HEY”. The band took the stage in pitch black soon followed by an eerie blue glow that filled the stage. Liljebad and Malm played the opening riffs to “backfire” the second track off of 'EXCESSIVE GULIT'. Their bouncy but heavy guitar riffs are unlike others because they blend metalcore, hardcore and nu metal all in one. Their song writing is creative yet bold, but they found the recipe for success. The whole crowd sang along with Lundqvist throughout the track.
The crowd really started causing chaos when Thrown played “dislike”. Fans crowdsurfed to the stage. The catch was that there was no barricade so fans ended up on stage. What else are you supposed to do in that situation? Stage dive. Fans began stage diving like crazy. The pit was just as crazy as fans did their best two step and dance moves as they sang along. The blend of rapping and screaming from Lundqvist is his strong suit. Not many vocalists can pull that off with the perfect consistency Lundqvist. It really gets the crowd amped up and moving. It was time to play their hit song “on the verge”. Another beat played and the fans roared. Lundqvist and the crowd dueled to see who was louder for the opening lyrics. The crowd won that battle as they drowned out the venue with their voices. Fans moshed away while someone opened their water bottle and threw the water into the air. Lundqvist challenged the crowd for the breakdown as he said “you know the words” before the breakdown hit. Fans nailed it again as the thundering breakdown unleashed while Oldeholm on drums smashed away on the symbols that rattled the soul of everyone in the venue.
Thrown ended their set with “grayout” a song from their debut EP 'EXTENDED PAIN' which was released on March 23rd, 2022. The lights changed to a deep red that brought a new type of vibe to the show. Fans opened the pit wider than before and tore the roof off the El Corazon. The room flashed a combination of warm colors as Liljebad and Malm gave the fans a final breakdown and all you could see was bodies bouncing around like a pinball. That would conclude Thrown’s first headlining show in Seattle and it couldn't have gone any better. A perfect mesh of good fun chaos with some of the best heavy music you could listen to. Thrown will finish out this tour and go back overseas for their UK/EU tour with Crystal Lake, UnityTX and Graphic Nature.
Keep Up With Thrown Online: Instagram | X | TikTok
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