The opener was a five piece local death metal band by the name of Emanifest. To quote Kelly Scott Nunn of Maylene "That band was the metalest." By the second song of Emanifest's set I had already concluded that this band and most bands like them are why I personally believe the T.V show Dethklok should be taken off air.

With little to no stage presence and nothing more to offer, musically, than a barrage of blast beats and monotonous, low-end, growls and screams I was convinced this band was doomed to get very little reaction from the crowd. I wasn't far off with my assumptions. With the exception of a few small pits that broke out as their set progressed, the audience mostly observed with almost no participation.

The second band to take the stage was Attack Attack. Musically, they brought an aggressive sound with softer, slightly more catchy undertones and a lot more energy to the stage and their fan base was quick to respond. Mosh and two-step pits didn't just form every song but damn near every break down the band produced. Between that and random stage dives it was hard to know what was really going on but enjoyable all the same.

The third act was Showbread, the first thought that entered my mind when I saw this band was the word "gimmick." Even now, I stand by that very same thought. With matching outfits, matching synth players, even matching synth rigs. It was hard to digest anything that was coming out of the mouth of their lead singer. That didn't seem to stop any of their fans from bum-rushing the stage, stage diving, screaming, two-stepping or grabbing the mic from the hands of front man Josh Dies. Overall, Showbread wasn't to my taste but everyone else seemed to like them.

The next band to take the stage was Confide. I would be lying to anyone who reads this if I told you I knew who these guys are let alone anything else about them. What I can tell you with confidence is that this band loves their fans. So many kids were jumping on and off stage, grabbing the mic, singing and screaming in place of the bands front man. Mosh pits exploded all over the floor space of State Theater. The energy in the room was unified between the band and their fans and forceful to say the very least.

After Confide, A Static Lullaby took the stage. ASL is a hard hitting, fast paced post hardcore band that really didn't get the attention that they deserve. They opened with "Rattlesnake!" the title track from their new album and pushed through their set getting heavier and heavier as they went along. It was almost as if the room spent so much energy during Confides set that they had to use ASL's set to rest in order to prepare themselves for Maylene's set.

I personally found ASL to have a refreshing sense of aggression that more than made up for the 2005 bomb they dropped called "Faso Latido." Although I do hope they don't consider the cover of Brittany Spears "TOXIC" to be an improvement in any sense of the word and I'm very glad that the cover didn't find it's way onto the new album “Rattlesnake!" I only wish the cover wouldn't have found it's way onto ASL's
set list either.

Maylene opened their set and within two minutes of the set starting Dallas has already broken his microphone. This didn't stop him or the rest of the band for that matter. The mic was quickly replaced and Dallas continued to toss his mic around and stick it into the faces of anybody that got into his line of sight. It had been since Warped Tour that I had seen Maylene and the Sons of Disaster play live and I had almost forgot about all the energy that this band pours out and onto the crowd. I had almost forgot about how much fun, Maylene had on stage and how much fun the band encouraged their fans to have as well.

The connection that Maylene and the sons of disaster forms with their fan base is cult-Esq and unlike any other connection I've every seen between a band and their fans. The room chanted and screamed the words to song after song while Dallas did everything from mic tricks to pulling kids up on stage with the band to taunting bassist Roman Havaland with high-fives to stage diving and crowd surfing all while singing and screaming the lyrics to each song.

The power and puissance of this band is relentless, a force that just won't stop pushing and neither do their fans. The State Theater became a room full of mad men, crazed by the Southern sound of Maylene's melody. Kids were climbing on speaker towers, climbing over each other just to get closer to the stage if not to get on the stage. there were kids climbing on stage and grabbing Dallas, wrapping their arm around his neck and helping him sing then running and stage diving off the stage as quickly as they had
got on stage.

Mosh pits formed out of nowhere. People pushing and shoving and kicking and punching at absolutely nothing. It seemed as if there was not end to the pure mayhem. Then as quickly as madness had overtaken the room. The room had soothed and came to a quiet stir as Maylene played their last song of the set, followed by an encore.