Locals Crisis in Consciousness opened up the night. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Crisis in Consciousness narrowly beat out other SLC locals for the opening spot to Fear Factory’s show. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Eric Howerton and his amazing Ted Cruz Zodiac Killer shirt. Crisis in Consciousness. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Brandon Parkin of Crisis in Consciousness. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Matt Johnson and Dylan Givens of Crisis in Consciousness. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Kurt Bowers of Crisis in Consciousness. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Crisis in Consciousness’ brand of thrash/metalcore was a perfect start for the night. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
DINO CAZARES, the legend. Fear Factory. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Writer Bryer Wharton managed to score an interview with Dino of Fear Factory before their set—look out for it soon! Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Burton C. Bell, co-founder and the longest-running consistent member of Fear Factory. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Tony Campos, who joined Fear Factory just last year. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Tony Campos of Fear Factory. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
OmniKage hailed all the way from Italy. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
And OmniKage are super Batman fans, apparently. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Dirk Verbeuren of Soilwork. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Markus Wibom of Soilwork. Photo: Megan Kennedy // abuseofreason.com
Tuesday night, old-school industrial metalers Fear Factory descended on In The Venue to give a wild crowd a once-in-a-lifetime performance: the entirety of their Demanufacture album, in celebration of its 20th anniversary. The band was joined by the astounding Swedes in Soilwork, and a few young-gun acts, including OmniKage from Italy, and Spades and Blades from California. Opening for the tour was local thrash/metalcore outfit Crisis in Consciousness, who earned their spot rallying their fanbase in a down-to-the-wire voting contest.
The 21-and-older show definitely got crazier as the night went on and the drinks kept flowing. Although there was some ugly instances of harmful, metal-bro behavior, mostly the crowd was stoked as hell to see the legends in action, happy to open up pits and send up crowd-surfers. Every band had an enormous energy onstage, and even in the smaller space, they managed to make the place feel 10 times bigger.
