The sellout crowd of rockers at Hollywood’s House of Blues on St. Patrick’s Day may not necessarily have found the legendary pot of gold beneath the homey venue’s corrugated tin roof, but they surely encountered precious heavy metal of another variety, when Killswitch Engage headlined a savory show sponsored by No Fear energy drinks, which also featured fine performances by Chimaira, DragonForce and He Is Legend. And sure, instead of the traditional “wearin’ of the green,” there was much wearin’ of the black t-shirt instead, but still there were dashes of emerald hue here and there among the crowd, which was a good mix of mosh-ready metalheads and Hollywood hipsters.
The site was still filling up when He Is Legend hit the stage for a 30-minute set. The band’s bearded front-man, Schuylar Croom, blended tuneful crooning with ground-floor growling over an instrumental foundation from guitarists Adam Tanbouz and Mitch Marlow that had glam-like hooks and thrash-metal churning and the occasional Audioslave-style riff. Rounded out by Matt Williams on bass and Steven Bache on drums, He Is Legend is a crew with an underlying spiritual message, for those who look for it, but the members didn’t put their faith right out on front street for the crowd – except for when Croom sketched a cross in the air in front of him during the last song, and then one to his right, and one to his left. Viewers could interpret for themselves.
The audience was much more ripe and ready by the time Chimaira came on, and expectations were enhanced by the fact of the Cleveland-based band’s recent CD release, Resurrection, currently making a big splash on the metal charts and airwaves. Following an extreme-sports video montage on an overhead screen, an ominous, looming, booming tone negated the sitcom jingles that had been playing on the house monitors, and a grim green light settled over the stage, presaging the entry of guitarists Matt DeVries and Rob Arnold and bassist Jim LaMarca. Up stepped singer Mark Hunter an
d keyboardist Chris Spicuzza, and with Andols Herrick stationed behind the off-center drum kit, the band broke into the title cut from the new album, and the crowd roared in approval. Chris shared gruff vocal duties with Mark through the insistent song, till it powered down to a low-E finale.
And Chimaira kept the power going strong, right into “Power Trip,” from the group’s previous, self-titled CD. Announcing that it had “been too long” since the band’s last appearance, Mark made effort to rouse ever-greater enthusiasm from the audience, and in preface to the song “Needle,” also from the new release, the singer somewhat “needled” the crowd, noting that he’d be pleased to see more moshing. Of course, the first crowd-surfer of the evening had already made his heads-high foray, and the people packed up front made nodding bobs towards compliance with Mark’s desire, and overall, folks were fired up by Chimaira’s performance. The song “Severed” saw bright, hot lights on both band and crowd, illuminating the practiced interplay between guitars and keyboard, and from then on the energy blazed on, right through to the set-closer, “Pure Hatred” from the “Impossibility of Reason” release. Chimaira put on a beastly good show, top-heavy with talent but not tameness.
An animal of a different flavor was prog-rock sensation DragonForce, a band whose members hail from nations all around the world, including South Africa, Hong Kong, New Zealand, England, France, and Ukraine. Magic-fingered guitarist Herman Li bounded onstage with fellow axe-man Sam Totman and lead singer Zippy Theart, accompanied by bassist Frederic Leclercq, drummer Dave Mackintosh, and keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov. Vocals 
were clear from the start, when Zippy asked “Are you ready?” The answer was a resounding “Yes,” as the band plunged off for an excursion to the mythic, mystic lands envisioned in the band’s amazing songs. Zippy’s presence reminded one partly of a larger version of Ronnie James Dio, partly of a rock-star incarnation of Johnny Depp’s pirate captain Jack Sparrow, while his well-tuned vocals were countered by backing growls from Frédéric. Herman, who has some of the longest hair in rock-and-roll today, swapped phenomenal licks with Sam, back and forth, up and down, throughout the set, while Vadim maintained magnificent riffage on his Korg Triton keyboard. The band repeatedly enlisted audience support with chants of “whoa-oh” and “hey-hey,” and compliance was enthusiastic. Finally, for their traditional set-closer, “Valley of the Damned,” Herman, Sam, and Frederic demonstrated an incredible three-way circle-jam, in which each man played another’s axe – and they made it work well. And then, after extending props to all their partners on the No Fear tour, the boys from DragonForce left the stage, returning to their lair.
Massachusetts metalcore crew Killswitch Engage was heralded by searching, twisting, industrial-strength spotlights, and as Justin Foley’s pounding drums kicked in, the spots went through a series of colors before settling to red, when beefy singer Howard Jones strode onstage in a white short-sleeve collar shirt. Standing before a sea of pumping fists, Howard was joined by guitarists Adam Dutkiewicz and Joe Stroetzel, along with bassist Mike D’Antonion, and together they blasted into “Daylight Dies” from the studio album of the same name, their latest. Moshing broke out by the second song, and crowd-surfers headed for the stage again and again. Howard hailed “unity in diversity,” urging the crowd on to more movement and participation, taking his own counsel 
during “Declaration” by hoisting Mike on his shoulders for a brief prance-about. Next, when he jokingly said to the crowd, “You guys are jaded,” and sought to see a circle-pit, he promptly got his wish, for moshing was rife on the floor.
The whole band was twist-top tight for the entire set, hardly breathing hard by the time they reached “This is Absolution,” during which Howard welcomed those daring crowd-surfers who managed to reach out and shake his paw. One more song, and the set was through … but … the roar of the crowd was sufficient to bring Killswitch Engage for one final offering, and the choice was a surprise. For their last song, the fellows blasted into their version of Dio’s “Holy Diver,” during which Howard, now wearing a Machine Head tank-top, himself sallied out onto the raised arms and hands of the audience. Excellent musicianship, true interplay between players and payers, good give and take all the way around – have no fear, the No Fear World Tour featuring Killswitch Engage, Chimaira, DragonForce, and He Is Legend was a winning bill at the House of Blues, and everyone there was glad to be sharin’ the luck of the Irish for St. Patty’s Day, aye! Much mighty metal was on hand, and indeed, ’twas good as gold.
