In This Moment's 'Black Widow Tour' With Butcher Babies

In this Moment kicked off their U.S. ‘Black Widow Tour’ on April 18th. The Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ welcomed them, along with supporting acts Butcher Babies, Upon A Burning Body, and The Nearly Deads.

The first band opening up the show for the evening were The Nearly Deads from Nashville, TN. Band members are Theresea Jeane-Vocals, Steven Tobi-lead guitar, Kevin Koelsh-bass, Javier Garza jr.-Rhythm Guitar and Josh Perrone on drums. They are a Rock Alternative band with a lot of spunk and an overall fun attitude up on stage. They closed out their set with “Never Look Back” and asked the crowd if they liked zombies, because the song is in reference to hungry eating zombies. Zombies? Love Zombies and so did the crowd yelling “YEAH!” Be on the look out for The Nearly Deads coming to a city near you.

Upon A Burning Body hailing from San Antonio, TX were all suited up and ready to throw down. Yes, they were dressed in suits and looked very classy delivering serious full throttle death core metal. Lead singer Danny Leal’s growling vocals along with pronounced drumming and thick guitar tones had the fans full attention. Quickly, the moshing began, and the crowd’s adrenaline was through the roof. Throughout their set lead singer Danny Leal had a giant grin planted on his face. Leal calling out to the crowd to get louder, he raised the fist pumping adrenaline to a higher level. Find their new album “The World Is My Enemy Now” on iTunes.

Butcher Babies Heidi, Carla, Henry, Jason and Chris from LA, followed with high powered energy searing from the stage right into the crowd. The moshing continued as well as body surfing, knocking over a few security guards that weren’t expecting the bodies coming forward. Lead vocals Heidi Sheperd and Carla Harvey together are amazing. The band as a whole delivers a loud crashing blend of heavy metal punk, and thrash. They are in your face and invite you to join in and whip your head around as they do with aggression. It obvious they love their fans and invite them to sing along and feel their energy. At one point during the show Heidi crouched down at the crowds level singing to them and pointed her mic into the crowd for them to sing with her. Some of the band’s influences are Slipknot, Slayer, Iron Maiden and many more. They dig horror movies, which makes sense because their stage presence embodies the horror antics that are similar to Rob Zombie. Catch them at their next performance as they continue on tour with In This Moment.

The time for In This Moment to hit the stage was soon approaching as the crowd grew anxious. A large Black Widow Drapery covered the stage. You could hear the rustling around of the band members taking their places, and conducting sound check. Fog filled the stage and as the drapery fell to the ground, there stood Maria Brink wearing a large black hat, a cape and long creepy finger nails that resembled Freddy Krueger’s razor sharp claws. You could hear the crowd yelling “Maria we love you!” Maria’s singing voice is powerful, passionate and dark. Chris Howorth and Randy Weitzel showcased their spectacular talented guitar playing while bassist Travis Johnson brought the energy from the back portion of the stage. Drummer Tom Hane’s intense drumming was fun and entertaining.

Black Widow is In This Moment’s highest charted album to date. “Sick Like Me” has become a hit among fans along with their latest single “Sex Metal Barbie.” The show in itself is something to experience, because of all it’s theatrical aspects along with their heavy metal sound. This is a band that breaks down genre barriers and not afraid to show the world who they are. Fronted by a strong female singer Maria Brink. She is proof that women can be a heavy metal singer in a male dominated industry.

Throughout the show Maria had several costume changes each one more bizarre and sexy then the other. The costumes and props gave each song a life of its own and mimicked their music videos. Last year Maria had mentioned in an interview with Loudwire how she is madly in love with the idea of visually bringing the songs to life on tour. Maria’s two dancers fuse their eerie dance moves to match the heavy metal sound and nothing looked or felt out of place. The one thing that the band encourages are the fans participation throughout the show. Maria invites everyone to “become the show”. The band really likes when their fans dress up, as they call them “Blood Legion.” If Maria spots a fan dressed up to resemble the band she will definitely recognize your effort and you will have the chance to meet the band and perhaps get a little gift.

This is a band you don’t want to miss because they deliver a dark and twisted Broadway style performance. They are the theatrical heavy metal band of our time. Watch out for In This Moment as they continue to rise to the top.

The Nearly Deads: