I have been to Strummers in Fresno plenty of times and usually get in the action. I would have to say that on Monday April 27, it had to be one of the more if not the most intense show! The venue in itself isn’t large to begin with there is no photo pit so this was a close and personal show sweat and bodies everywhere!
The first band of the night was Your Spirit Dies a five piece band from South Carolina. They just released a new single titled Starless on April 21st. This band came out of the gate swinging setting the tone for what the night was going to be like. The best way I can describe the genre is a mix of metalcore and hardcore. Catchy writing but when those breakdowns hit oh man are they nasty and the venue felt it as arms and bodies started swinging around. Aside from the band being energetic and inviting the crowd to get closer one thing stood out to me the most. They had a photographer that would take photos, jump on the stage to scream a part and immediately got down to start a moshpit, one of the best hype men I’ve seen!
The next band on the bill was Massachusetts/Connecticut’s own Vomit Forth. Now this band kicks your ass in a more straightforward way, by playing brutal music with deathmetal and deathcore influence. This band encompasses brutality in their live set it is truly great to see that death metal is still being made and this band is one of the few that I believe will carry it forth. Their last album was Terrified Of God in 2024 recently they released an EP labeled In The Name Of The Father on April 23rd. The Ep came about after frontman Kane lost his father and dealt with grief, a testament to the. power of music and how it can heal people.
The third act of the night was Mugshot a band from the San Jose hardcore scene. Let me tell you the energy they put out on the crowd and their style of music can only be described as extreme and angry and it definitely shows. I have not had a band I didn’t know move me like that in a long time it was an act to remember. I have never in my years of going to Strummers seen so many crowd surfers and people diving off the stage. In terms of albums their latest release is “All The Devils Are Here” on June of 2025. While most bands seem to soften over time Mugshot just finds a way to get more pissed.
Last but not least is Thrown a metalcore/nu metalcore band from Sweden. This is my second time seeing thrown the first time was at a festival early on in the day, seeing them at night just felt more right. Two things immediately stand out about this band. One is the instrumentals that can be attributed to the drummer/producer Buster known very well in the metal community for just creating the nastiest tones on guitar and drums, you get this controlled chaos a combination of the most polished sounding but most chaotic instrumentals you can tell he prides himself in his craft. The second thing that stands out on first listen of this band is how instead of having brutal screams it uses almost like a rap/trap cadence with slight distortion. You loose none of the aggression with this style of vocals if anything you can feel more emotion and anger from the vocalist because it is a little easier to understand. The band started off a little slow but by the end of the night they played their bigger hits and had the crowd going wild and stage diving. Loved this show because there was no barricade its as personal as it can get the performers inviting the crowd up to jump off the stage while they rock out…. That is the raw energy of metal.
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