Every Time I Die / As I Lay Dying / The Black Dahlia Murder

About a year ago, cynically sarcastic upstarts Every Time I Die rolled into town with the reigning kings of the underground, the Dillinger Escape Plan, and nearly stole the show. At the very least, they served notice that their time as an opener was limited. Since then, ETID's star has been on the rise, touring constantly, receiving critical acclaim and even video airplay. Fast forward to March and ETID are no longer opening but are headlining two sold-out nights at the Rockit. Openers the Black Dahlia Murder were a welcome sight (the underground fashion police haven't totally abolished fat guys from their midst yet) and put on a competent, if generic, black/death metal set of thrashing numbers that featured at least one Return of the Living Dead sample and some solid drumming. As I Lay Dying followed and provided humour, with the singer trying to incite a circle pit at every "been there, heard that" breakdown. AILD ply competent metalcore with Gothenburg tendencies, but of the pack, they're firmly entrenched in the middle. Every Time I Die, however, made the miserable heat and humidity of the over-packed club, exhaustion and "blah" of the openers worthwhile. Opening with "Floater," ETID tore into the gathered throng. Quickly overcoming a shaky sounding start, the kids were instantly piled six-deep in a vain effort to sing along to ETID's darkly literate, sardonic turns of phrase, tear shit up in the pit or touch singer Keith Buckley's hat. The band, generally, were tight, only occasionally losing themselves in the cacophony that can result from plying complex, intricate music live. Southern catchy rock riffs, huge breakdowns and technicality, the crowd erupted as ETID played "Ebolarama" (the video "hit"), a new untitled track, "Off Broadway" and threw in a couple off of Last Night In Town. As ETID closed with "I've Been Gone A Long Time," with Buckley and crowd crying in unison, "Only the lonesome love us, only the careless can handle us, what's wrong with us that we're so unamused?," it's clear that, tonight at least, there was nothing wrong.