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Walls Of Jericho, With Honor, Modern Life Is War, The Banner
The Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta, GA
11/12/2005
Reviewer: Drew Walton
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Up first were two local Atlanta bands, Depression and The Twilight of Idols. This was Depression's first show, and they did quite well. The band features Hunter, formerly of Love Is Red, on vocals, as well as some former Instilled members. The band played a good set of new-school hardcore with a positive reaction from the audience. I look forward to seeing and hearing Depression again in the near future. Up next was The Twilight of Idols, who I have seen several times now. They haven't cut back on the vegan/atheist preaching between songs, but they also announced they've been forced to change their name. Once the singer is done talking, the band is actually quite good. In comparing the Twilight of Idols to another band, Misery Signals comes to mind. The band is talented, and often uses long, melodic passages that build up to something much heavier.
Up next was the first of the touring bands, The Banner. I've seen The Banner before. They did nothing for me then, and they did nothing for me this time. They seem like an interesting band, and what I have heard on record I have enjoyed. However, they just don't move me when they play live. I can't tell you how many old or new songs they played, as I'm not familiar enough with their recorded material. I can't provide too many details because The Banner's set was nondescript and didn't do anything for me.
The band I wanted to see most, Modern Life is War, began to set up and the crowd began to refill The Drunken Unicorn. As soon as the guitarists began sound-checking, everyone who was standing outside filed in quite quickly. I believe they only played one song off of their debut full-length, My Love, My way, and the rest came from their newest offering, Witness. Modern Life Is War played one of the most passionate sets I've ever seen. You can tell those guys love the music they're playing, and the singer has a hell of a stage presence. Mic-sharing, sing-alongs, pile-ons, and stage dives were as abundant as girl pants at the local Hot Topic. This is the second time I've seen Modern Life Is War and being amongst a crowd that knew every word to every song definitely made it better than the first time I saw them.
I was pretty stoked to see With Honor as well, but it didn't seem that most of the crowd shared my enthusiasm. For whatever reason, most of the crowd emptied outside during With Honor's set. The band played a mix of songs from all of their recordings. I'm only familiar with their debut full-length, Heart Means Everything, and I recognized a few songs. The band was pretty energetic and played very well, but I'm sure it's hard to be motivated when the crowd empties right before your set. With Honor played well, but I won't really comment on their performance until I see them with a better crowd reaction.
I thought the crowd was empty for With Honor because everybody had left after Modern Life is War, but I was wrong. Apparently everybody was just standing around outside, because the room filled back up for Walls of Jericho. I was a little interested in seeing Walls Of Jericho just out of my curiosity. It was odd to see a female on stage for a couple reasons: It was the first time I'd seen someone on stage wearing girl pants who was actually a girl, and her movements and speaking voice were quite feminine, but her scream was quite the opposite. The band played a good set with a lot of crowd participation. After one song had finished, someone in the audience yelled, "play something heavy," to which the singer responded, "yeah, right" and started laughing. Their set was good and everyone had a good time (minus a fat dude who got naked in the pit). I wouldn't mind seeing them again.
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