Another great line-up hits the DC area on a Thursday night. I know i’ve said this before, but the DC area is worthy of a Friday or Saturday show. It may not always be feasible, but more and more bands are either skipping this city, or playing on a weeknight, and the MD/DC/VA hardcore scene deserves better. Anyway, this was a nice study break for me, and three of these four bands are worth seeing no matter what day of the week it is.

DEATH BY STEREO, arguably one of the best up and coming acts out there brought this show to life with a thrashing 30 minutes of non-stop music, mixing the craftiest elements of punk, hardcore, and metal. It was good seeing these guys again after I had the pleasure of hanging out with them in July, and of course, they didn’t dissappoint on stage. Right off the bat though, the sound at the Nation didn’t seem right. This club has a great sound system, but its sound guys are often hit or miss. I did notice a half empty case of beer next the sound guy though, and that could explain a lot. Anyway, the Death mixed things up with a few new tracks off their yet to be released new album, “”Day of the Death,”" and Efrem was his usual manic self, romping around the circle pit with the rest of the crowd. “”Hippie Holocaust”" is really crazy song, try to find an mp3 of it! I long for the day when these guys headline their own tour, because I envision some incredible crowd sing alongs. Can’t wait to see these guys again.

CKY (Camp Kill Yourself) sucked. Ya know, it just ain’t far. The New York City date of this tour got CAVE IN, and we get some real shitty heavy rock band with full blown rock star attitudes and songs that have the same stolen bass lines over and over again. One of the guitarists had some smoke device thing attached to his instrument, which still failed to make up for the lack of creativity this band had, and finally, the other guitarist smashed his guitar after the set, while BOY SETS FIRE was setting up. Yeah, real cool. Ya know, I usually don’t comment on stuff like this, but CKY had this monster RV sponsored by Volcom outside of the venue, and I felt like screaming “”injustice!”" because there were three other bands that played tonight that deserved those kind of accomdations instead. Ah whatever…I’ve wasted enough space on this band. Maybe CKY should visit what their intials stand for.

The ever powerful and emotional BOY SETS FIRE played an incredibly tight set, even with the sound fouls ups from the club. Hitting such favorites as “”After the Eulogy,”" “”Rookie,”" “”My Life in the Knife Trade,”" “”Toygun Anthem,”" and may others, the crowd was into it with full force. Although BSF didn’t play my favorite, “”Compassion as skull fragments on the wall,”" they made up for it with a screaming version of “”Unspoken Request.”" With barely 30 minutes to work with, BSF wasted more than a few minutes of time in between songs with tuning problems, which was kind of annoying. This band has truly seemed to master the ability of writing songs with monster screaming parts. Few bands ever evoke me to “”feel the music,”" but when BSF gets going, their momentun is hard to stop. Look for these guys headlining their own tour in the near future.

When I saw SNAPCASE in March, it was in a tiny venue that converted into one giant dance floor when these guys hit the stage. With a similar size crowd at a much larger place, it was pretty lame, but that didn’t stop SNAPCASE from roaring along. Playing mostly tunes off of “”Designs for Automotion,”" and mixing in a few classics like “”Harrison Bergeron,”" and “”Incarnation,”" we were treated to a strong blend of the “”bounce,”" as I call it. There’s that trademarked SNAPCASE sound that proceeds to make people bounce up and down, and side to side with every grove. Every song tends to sound the same ever some time, but it’s a groove that is mostly unique and comfortable to get into.

I had to leave to catch the last metro before SNAPCASE finished, and by the time I left, the crowd had dwindled to probably less than 100. This wasn’t the show of a lifetime, but for avoiding a night of studying – not too shabby…

- above picture is SNAPCASE, courtesy of Danielle Dombrowski.