A good friend of mine invited me to tag along with him to hang out and watch Los Angeles based metal band In This Moment at the Masquerade here in Atlanta. I was really pumped for this because I had never even heard a lick of music from In This Moment. While I had heard the band name within the Metal realm of bands such as Lacuna Coil and Within Temptation, they were just a band that slipped through the cracks for me. When I was given the opportunity to join my buddy along for this adventure, I happily did so. It had been so long since I literally saw a band and knew little to nothing about them so I was going in completely unbiased at this point. My buddy and I got to go on the tour bus and meet guitarists Chris Howorth and Blake Bunzel before the show and that was a very cool experience to start things off. Upon walking on the bus, they were cranking Ozzy Osbourne’s “The Ultimate Sin” album and they greeted us and welcomed us onto the bus. These guys were probably the nicest guys I’ve met yet and they are total fans of music. Chris and I talked a lot about the importance of great production, old school metal shows we’d been to (which were a lot of the same tours) and just being music dorks so we hit it off right away. This was a nice way to start off the night and it made me really excited to see them perform that night.
In This Moment is in the last stretch of a tour in support of their 2008 release “The Dream. This collection of songs is beautifully melodic, aggressive and catchy all at the same time. Lead singer/lyricist Maria Brink’s lyrics deal with issues of love lost, love sought and abandonment among other things. It’s the kind of lyrical content that captures emotion and feeling while making that connection with their audience. As I surveyed the crowd, I could see that these are topics that know no age barrier and that this audience of young people (and some older folks like myself) could feel a connection with. The lyrics are darkly poetic and surprisingly uplifting at times accompanied by music that compliment the lyrics as it is also melodically beautiful yet intense and aggressive. “The Dream” is an album chock full of what I call “repeaters”. What I mean by that is that the album is full of songs that once a song is over, I have to play it again just to take it in. Most albums might have 2-3 at the most whereas on this particular album, I have counted 7 repeaters. The songs are so damn catchy and full of all kinds of ear candy. This album has an amazing production to it and this is something I feel really makes or breaks a band. There are so many bands that are great bands with great musicianship yet it all gets lost in a muddy mix during the production process. Listen to “Karmacode” by Lacuna Coil for instance. 
Amazing band with amazing songs but the production left them sounding muddy and sludgy which is far from what they sound like live. Kevin Churko completely captured every element of In This Moment as a live band and managed to apply that in the studio to create a really pleasurable listening experience. Another thing that I find really exciting about this band is the fact that while driven by lyrics and melody, the band themselves are a kick ass, tight as a drum unit. Guitarists Chris Howorth and Blake Bunzel are two outstanding guitarists that have an obvious love and passion for the metal guitar gods of old. Their rhythms are tight and locked in together without even trying and the deliver some really tasteful and soulful lead solos. I never understood why bands who have some obviously amazing guitarists don’t utilize them and let them cut loose on a good guitar solo.
Seeing In This Moment live for the first time reminded me a lot of when I was a teenager in the mid-80’s and early 90’s. I could remember my friends and I doing everything we could to seek out new music and experience bands for the first time. I can remember reading the “Rock On The Rise” section of Metal Edge magazine, being really psyched to read about new bands and waiting impatiently for them to come to Atlanta so that my friends and I could go see these bands. Of course, 95% of the shows I went to were metal bands. Heavy Metal music was, and still is, a genre that really speaks to a lost generation of kids of all ages. Most “real” metal fans weren’t the cool kids. We weren’t invited to parties and we usually just did “OK” in school but among our own little group we were each bonded together by a genre of music that we seemed to be able to escape to and connect to. As In 
This Moment took the stage last night, I was immediately drawn to take in the audience. These were “my” people in a different time. These kids were so pumped to see this band and were so appreciative of this band. This was an audience of kids that reminded me of myself. They weren’t the cool kids and they weren’t the kids that cared what anyone though of them. They were there on a Tuesday night to pay their respects to a band that they obviously connected with. The band themselves showed an obvious connection to their audience and it was obvious that they fed off the energy and all night it was a push and pull fest which really makes for an entertaining and fun show.
The band opened the set with “Next Life” from “Beautiful Tragedy” to an audience that while not large in numbers was huge in energy and response. They thrust their fists in the air in unison along with the band and sang literally every lyric back to the band. With each song, the band seemed to push back a little harder only to be met with resistance from the audience who gave it right back to them twofold. The dynamic between band and audience was very intense. Lead singer Maria Brink thanked the audience numerous times for singing all the songs and for being there to support the band. The band delivered a nice mix of songs from their latest release “The Dream” and their 2007 debut “Beautiful Tragedy” but it was the song “The Great 
Divide” from “The Dream” that struck a chord with me. The song was delivered with beautiful, heartfelt and melodic vocals that were mixed with guttural vocals that would make Tom Arraya of Slayer speechless. In my opinion, this song really showed just what this band was capable of doing musically. The band seemed to push extra hard on this song and the crowd gave it all right back to them. Another song that really seemed to make a connection with the audience was the closing “Daddy’s Falling Angel” which whipped the audience into a frenzy and had them moshing and singing every word of the song right back to the band.
I was really drawn into the connection between the audience and the band at this show. It was very impressive to not only see such a great live band but to see a band that really plays for their audience and not just “to” them. In This Moment is definitely a band that has so much potential to move up to new levels of greatness. If they can keep the focus that they have now and continue to build that connection with their audience, I can see it going nowhere but up. It’s all about building that connection with your audience. Whether you’re playing to 5, 50, 500, or 5,000 people, you have to just give them you’re all because eventually, they will come to you. In This Moment is without a doubt a fan’s band and because of this, they’ve made a fan out of me. They must be doing something right.
In This Moment – Atlanta, GA – 12/07/2009
Next Life
Prayers
The Great Divide
All For You
Mechanical Love
Forever
Violet Skies
Into The Light
Ashes
Beautiful Tragedy
Daddy’s Falling Angel
About The Author
