July 13, 2025
The Rino, North Kansas City, MO
Kansas City’s The Rino hosted Orthodox’s “A Door Left Open” tour featuring other Metalcore bands like Mugshot, Omerta and fromjoy.
When I arrived, everyone outside the venue was talking about fromjoy set, saying how fromjoy dominated their performance. The first band up was Omerta, a Nu-Metal/Metalcore band from Houston, Texas. Omerta has a mix of sounds in their music, which includes hardcore screams, electronic elements, and rapping. Partway through their set, the lead singer from Mugshot joined on stage for one song. They performed with furious energy to each song played through, giving the crowd a show of relentless intensity.
The next band was Mugshot, a hardcore band based out of California. They performed songs off their new album, “From All Devils Die Here,” released last June. The band hit the stage with adrenaline-fueled anger; the lead singer let out an almighty, sounding scream, with the band’s rhythmic rumbles of noise complementing it. The KC crowd resonated with emphatic anger and chaos breaking out in the crowd, moshing and going on stage, even moshing on stage with the lead singer. The bassist caught some air by jumping into the crowd, certainly living up to the expectations of hardcore music fans.
The main band was Orthodox, a hardcore band from Nashville, Tennessee. They entered with “The Door is Still Open to my Heart” by Dean Martin as they took the stage. Playing in support of their new album “A Door Left Open”, their music was fueled with rage, setting the bar for the hardcore scene. As this was my first show seeing Orthodox, not to mention listening to them, I couldn’t help but head bang along with the crowd, even with my camera in hand. They immersed you with emotions of built up anger released with each song. Lead singer Adam Easterling rocked side by side to the aggressive beats of the band. One of their songs that really caught my attention was “Cave In,”. The guitar screeched right through the audience’s bones followed up by the bassist’s riffs and drummer’s beats shaking the venue through the door.
Adam had the crowd diving off the stage, even with the venue feeling like a sauna inside. It was crammed so tight you could hardly move. Orthodox brought a new mix of self-expression out from the crowd, leaving you wanting more from this chaotic, fury-fueled, and amp-breaking band.
