This was my first time at Ace of Cups in Columbus, Ohio. It was opened in 2011 in the north campus area of Columbus by musician Marcy Mays. It’s well-known in Columbus for the “Sad Boyz” nights of emo music dance parties.
Kicking off the Columbus stop of Halocene’s Maleficent tour was ALPHAMEGA. They opened up fast and hard. A three-piece band from California, vocalist Adam Ryan dominated the stage with his commanding presence. They just recently released their debut album Regeneration Machine, available on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, and Deezer. Their advice to those going through hell – “keep going”, exactly as they’ve done. Writing a lot of their songs just prior to the COVID lockdown, they were forced to table a full-length release and keep their morale high. Stylistically, you’ll hear the influences of Avenged Sevenfold, In Flames & Shinedown in their music…a combination of metal with a twinge of emo mixed with melodic symphonies.
Chrissy Warner’s blast beats were incredible, and you can see (and hear) the passion behind the drums. Hailing from Los Angeles, Warner has been a studio and tour drummer for Butcher Babies, Dope, and Scars of Tomorrow.
Michael Muenzer, from Irvine, is an excellent guitar player and reminds me of a similar style to Ben Moody of Evanescence. While gritty and heavy, there is a melodic tone that seems to weave into the story of the songs.
Together, their purpose is to break walls put up by genres and create pure art and expression. Ryan, when explaining the release of the “Lords of the Flies” music video, stated “Our goal as artists is to find the beauty in what we all take for granted in our lives. Whether it comes from the shadows or the light, we want to give it new life and perspective.”
I believe my favorite song of their whole set was “To The Wolves” – as it has the perfect mix of heavy and melody that perfectly scratches the itch in the back of every metalhead’s brain.
After ALPHAMEGA‘s opening, Halocene took the stage, opening with their new song Maleficent (also the name of the tour!). The song is about finding self-confidence and embracing who you truly are, no matter how you are perceived to others.
Halocene is formed by the dynamic duo Bradley Halocene Amick and his wife Addie Nicole Amick, hailing from Phoenix, AZ. They also were joined on-stage by Lauren Babic (who recently just relocated from Canada to Nashville) and newcomers Cory (drummer) and Gerard Vachon (guitarist and vocalist) of Philadelphia, PA. Some cool trivia about Gerard – he was also the voice of Chris Redfield in the video game Dead By Daylight and is the singer in Life After Last.
Stylistically, Halocene can be described as everything from pop-punk to metal to emo to *insert genre here*. Addie has a phenomenal vocal range, and I think Brad is the only vocalist I know that can rival Chester Bennington’s “17 second scream” on Given Up (originally by Linkin Park).
When you combine them with the screams and growls of Lauren Babic, they’re absolutely unstoppable and have amassed quite a loyal following and collective group of artists they dubbed with the title of last year’s tour as the “HCU” or “Halocene Cinematic Universe”.
Halocene got their start over 15 years ago playing small venues and events like weddings and parties. Since then, they rose to fame on YouTube primarily doing covers of other popular songs, alongside writing many originals. They recently covered Closer originally by Nine Inch Nails alongside a music video that contains an obvious mature content warning!
Their original music often has some heavy topics revolving around mental health struggles, abuse survival, self-acceptance, and deconstruction. One such song, Repent, Addie wrote for (and to honor) her mother and for others who are survivors of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse.
