Archelon/Doors & Fours Concert Review!!

After a delay due to personal commitments, here's our review of Saturday night's Archelon/Doors & Fours concert at The Rockstar Bar! Nice to finally get back out to a show after a little too long, but unfortunately, the crowd was only about medium capacity. The fans that did make it out were vocal and invested, however, and by the end of the night, the floor was getting reasonably packed, which was nice to see! Now, onto the bands!

Opening this show were the debuting Re:Born, the new power rock quintet from Project 421, Eclipse, and Din alumni, so how'd they sound for their first public outing? So far, so good, in my opinion! Playing a set familiar to 421 diehards with originals like "No One Rides For Free" & "Into The Darkness" joining Iron Maiden and Diamond Head renditions, this new band also broke out a few new covers not done by the old band, including some AC/DC and Scorpions classics. Of course, Blair Burch and Frank McGillivray's pre-existing chemistry was on full display, Fred Dunn's bass work fit in well, and Brandan Glew's acclimiating nicely to this heavier sound (though the bass drum could be a little loud.) The great unknown here was with singer Robert Nevitt, who was making his debut in any band on Saturday, and while he needs to engage wit the crowd a little more and loosen up a bit, his voice is solid! I can see him handling hair metal covers with ease, and while I don't expect they're going that route, Re:Born are off to a solid start!

Despite being an out of town group, Hamilton grunge/punk trio Doors & Fours played next in their local concert debut (also a makeup date of sorts after dropping out of a show here last fall), and they made up for lost time with an entertaining and heavy set! Intense is one way to describe it, with the guys staying very focused and in the groove, uttering not one word to the crowd between songs, not even to announce a title. This does create a disconnect with the fans, but at the same time, Doors & Fours definitely held fans' early attention with songs like their new single "So Hard", and with their chaotic, always-in-motion stage presence, they were hard to keep eyes off of! Frontman Adam Peach could morph from a hardcore scream to a grunge throwback style with relative ease, and Rene Thivierge and Cody McAleney were well matched rhythmically for their set! It'd be nice to see Doors & Fours give and take more with the crowd, but hopefully this isn't the only time we see them on a local concert bill!

Co-headlining on Saturday were local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades in their first public concert of 2018, and just their second show with their current lineup, and fans were treated to another entertaining, high impact set from this favourite group! Their set was mostly business as usual, with originals like "Fear Corps" and "Breakneck Speed" dotted with covers of acts like Turbonegro and The Ripcordz, but there was one new song unveiled on this night, a more upbeat punk number called "Sewer City Radio" which seemed to go over well! That song aside, there were no true "surprises", but Jack Spades delivered a quality set, with J.D. Pearce's voice on point no matter where in the venue he was (even on a chair for a stretch!) Tiffany Stocco and Johnny Belanger are fully back in the groove after coming back late last year, Daniel Horton shone on lead guitar, and Rob Speers' bass skills fit in just fine also! Here's to more planet-jacking from Jack Spades in this new year!

And finally, your headliners were Sudbury groove metal quintet Archelon in their first local concert appearance since October 2014! Compared to that Halloween themed, covers-heavy set, this fast-rising group has matured but kept a positive, face melting spirit that encouraged the most fans onto the floor of the evening, which was welcome to see at last! Playing numerous selections from their "Bound By Bloodlines" like "LifeDebt" along with non-album tracks like "Path of Darkness", the guys brutalized the Rockstar Bar stage (I'm honestly surprised this wasn't downstairs!), with their sound touching on elements of death, groove, and thrash with aplomb, and Bobby Cobras' vocals were well suited all around! Brady McCoy made good use of his beautiful Dean Razorback once again, and he was a good match with Patrick Mallette in this department too! Archelon have grown a lot since we last saw them, and hopefully they get a much better turnout when they come back!

Overall, this was a very solid concert from all four bands, and hopefully J.D. has much more in the works as the year rolls along! ou can check out our photos from Saturday night at this link or via our Facebook page, and as for videos, here's Re:Born covering Megadeth's "Reckoning Day", Doors & Fours playing "Take Your Life Away", Jack Spades playing "Sewer City Radio", and Archelon playing "Light Side" (and yes, I know that other videos from this show have been posted publically by other attendees, we will touch on them this week in upcoming posts!)









That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!