Of Mice & Men are on tour after the successful release of their album Defy, their debut record without former vocalist Austin Carlile. Blessthefall, Fire From the Gods, Cane Hill and MSCW joined the band on tour.
Despite Carlile’s absence, Defy is an album that demands to be listened to. Long time and new fans packed The Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac, MI last weekend to see Of Mice & Men.
Elizaveta Tursunova is the front woman for MSCW, a rock band from Los Angeles, CA. Her sound gives off a Marlyn Manson vibe, but Tursunova’s talented clean and harsh vocals proves her spot in the industry.
MSCW released her debut album Queen of Sin in October of 2017. Her set featured the debut single from the album “Black Widow” which mixes pop-like vocals that mimic that of Brittany Spears with the heavy rock sound.
Tursunova turned heads and she ended the set by jumping down to the barrier, and kissing fan Alex Deherder.
“This is already the greatest show I’ve ever been to,” Deherder said, “I don’t know if the show can get any better from here.”
The lights dimmed to set the mood for metal band Cane Hill. The band just released their new album Too Far Gone and included songs “Lord of Flies” and “Too Far Gone” in their set. Despite the new album having only been out a few weeks, the crowd was hyped and singing along to the new songs.
Fire From the Gods stormed onto the stage. The band brought forth an immense amount of energy, as vocalist Eric July was all over the stage. The band blends metal music with elements of hip hop. Their set included fan favorites “Excuse Me” and “End Transmission”.
Blessthefall was greeted by an uproar of cheers from the crowd. Vocalist Beau Bokan spewed water onto the crowd as the band kicked right into “You Wear A Crown But You’re No King”.
Blessthefall recently signed to Rise Records and have announced an upcoming album Hard Feelings that is set to release March 23. The band performed their new song “Melodramatic” and closed their set with “Hollow Bodies”.
Finally, Of Mice & Men took the stage and opened with “Defy”. Fans sang along every word to almost every song. The band played their known cover of “Money” by Pink Floyd.
While most of the set included songs from the new album, it did not ignore old work. The set included “Bones Exposed” and “Would You Still Be There” off of Of Mice & Men’s 2014 album, Restoring Force.
After the addition of “Forever YDG’n” on Defy, the band closed their set with the YDG trilogy including “YDG”, “Still YDG’n” and “Forever YDG’n”.
The set included a two song encore of “You’re Not Alone” and easily the band’s heaviest song, “The Depths”.
The Defy tour will continue through March across North America. Defy can be streamed and purchased on all major distributors.
Check out the gallery of photos from the show below!
Kailey Howell can found on Twitter @kailey_howell, and for continuing music coverage, make sure to follow The Pit on Twitter at @ThePit_SE.
