By: Brady Lavin
When Times of Grace started, Adam Dutkiewicz and Jesse Leach had songs written but they didn’t know if they would record them. When they had recorded an album, they didn’t know if they would release it. And after they released their debut record, The Hymn Of A Broken Man (Special Edition)(CD/DVD)
Times of Grace Live
The openers were solid. War of Ages are a Christian metalcore band, who were brutal and unforgiving with constant breakdowns. As well, Straight Line Stitch are a female-fronted metalcore band who were a bit more melodic and also have the interesting, occasional R&B influence. Both bands got pits going with well-timed breakdowns in almost every song, but by the end of Straight Line Stitch’s set, the continuous pattern of double time-breakdown-double time-breakdown was getting a bit tedious.
The bill had progressed from less to more melodic up to that point, and when Times of Grace took the stage, they continued that trend as the most melodic band on the line-up, but they were also the heaviest. Their status as the headliner might have had something to do with that, because sound guys will often keep the volume slightly lower for the opening acts, but their heaviness should not be underestimated.
Times of Grace took the stage with a swagger that can only come from playing sold-out metal shows since the late 90’s, which both Jesse and Adam have done with Killswitch Engage and the rest of their touring musicians have done with various bands.
Times of Grace Live
After their high-energy opening song “Strength in Numbers,” which was the first single off their album, the rest of their set was surprisingly slow, with double-time parts used very sparingly. This lack of speed may seem like a negative at a metalcore show, but it actually helps their music be more powerful. There were multiple slower (and when I say “slower” I definitely don’t mean “less heavy”) songs with huge choruses that got the whole crowd chanting the lyrics. Even for those folks like myself that didn’t know all the lyrics, it was easy to listen to the first chorus and jump in on the second.
Times of Grace’s breakdowns are how it should be done. It is fun to have one or two (or four) breakdowns in a song, but Times of Grace had two or three their entire set, though they were gigantic and far more impactful.
Since Adam Dutkiewicz recorded all the guitars, bass and drums on the record, Times of Grace’s live line-up includes Killswitch Engage guitarist Joel Stroetzel, former Five Pointe O singer Daniel Struble on bass, and Dan Gluszak, former drummer of Envy on the Coast, along with Adam on guitar and Jesse on vocals.
While the live additions are all obviously very technically skilled, they must have been chosen for stage presence as well because they were all very active and energetic onstage throughout. Adam was all over the place as he’s been known for at Killswitch Engage concerts, but never missed a technical passage. Sometimes it’s easy for metal bands to just stand still and head-bang because of tricky guitar work, so it’s awesome to see metal guitarists really rocking out on stage. Jesse Leach’s vocals were stellar, whether he was using his various screams and bellows or his incredibly clear and powerful singing voice. And the fact that the lyrics were actually understandable (even while screaming) was a big plus.
Times of Grace Live
The lyrics are such an important part of Times of Grace, because they accentuate the pain that is apparent in the music, making it that much more emotional and moving. That raw emotion is really the biggest difference between them and the opening bands. Straight Line Stitch and War of Ages got the kids circling up, but Times of Grace got the kids circling up and cathartically releasing all their pent up emotion. This expressiveness is a huge part of why Times of Grace is a great live band.
Their current tour just ended, but hopefully that’s not the last we’ll hear of them. After all, they originally didn’t know if they were even going to record these songs. With any luck, the success of their tour will transfer into more touring or even a follow-up.
