03/30/25
The Midland, Kansas City, MO
Killswitch Engage’s North American Headline tour tore through Kansas City and the Midland Theatre on Sunday, March 30th to a dedicated audience, called to the majestic theatre to headbang, mosh, crowd surf, and perspire amongst an army of friends and fans. Metal music, in its healthiest of circles, is more a family than anything else. If someone falls down, you pick them up. Even with the most in-your-face sound, there’s never a question that everyone is looking out for each other, sharing their love of the music.
The first of three Texas bands took to the stage, as Frozen Soul came in like an avalanche bringing their pounding, guttural death metal to a packed Midland Theatre. Flanked on stage by two “frozen” skeletons on pikes they dropped six songs of pure guttural death metal, mostly from their most recent album, 2023’s “Glacial Domination”, with two from 2021’s “Crypt of Ice” bookending the set. The riffs were scorching, tempering the chill of the band’s (figuratively) cold atmosphere production.
No frills, just fury. Fit for a King, the next Texas-based band of the evening followed, crafting their melodic metal craft upon the crowd. Ripping through songs over the course of their discography, from “Breaking the Mirror” to “Backbreaker”. Kirby’s screams hit like a gut-punch, and every breakdown had the floor shaking. It wasn’t a show—it was a battlefield, and the crowd was all in.
From beyond the steely stare of lead singer Matt Honeycutt’s imposing presence on stage, Kublai Khan TX enthralled the crowd. Nonstop and forceful, the metalcore quartet from Sherman, TX dropped their Texas-sized breakdowns and dominance on the audience at The Midland and left them wanting more. Unflinching and uncompromising, Honeycutt demanded of the crowd circle pits and energy throughout their set, to which they obliged. Mostly playing songs from their most recent release “Exhibition of Prowess”, they called back to older tracks like “Swan Song” and “The Hammer”. The state of Texas has a history of birthing some incredible metal bands in history, and one can only expect Kublai Khan TX to stand alongside some of the greats.
I’ll be honest, I used to be really big into Killswitch Engage during the days when Howard Jones was the front man for the iconic metalcore group. When he left, along with a lot of other bands I listened to regularly, they were one of those bands that fell off my radar. But with the new (and original) lead singer Jesse Leach taking over once again, he kept the energy and emotion flowing through their music, closing out an incredible night of metal. Covering 25+ years of music, the iconic group played hits from across their discography, from older hits during the “End of Heartache” and “As Daylight Dies” eras, to their newest release, “This Consequence”, playing several tracks from that album, including “Aftermath” and “I Believe”. Like most of the bands that played tonight, occasionally the set had to be stopped to allow for assistance to be given to fans in the crowd that might have been hurt or injured in the pit. Funnily enough, one stoppage came at literally the last note of “This Fire”. After everything had cleared up, the band finished the song, all one note of it, to roars of cheers and applause. Fulfilled and satiated, my first show seeing Killswitch Engage (and all the other bands, to be fair) brought with it a sense of peace and satisfaction. Live music heals.
