Code Orange

Live at Mayhem Festival

San Bernardino, California

June 27th, 2015

Review and Photos by Travis Baumann

Code Orange were the first band on the roster for the day and were playing the Victory Records stage towards the back of the festival grounds. I was not familiar with them before this tour so investigated them a bit before the show.

They hail from Pittsburgh, PA and fall somewhere between Extreme Metal and Hardcore so I guess that is the definition of Metalcore.

They have three vocalists that interchange duties. Jami Morgan plays drums and sings, his vocals taking a more punk style reminding me of a more abrasive Rage Against the Machine.

Eric Balderose handles guitar and vocals, his being the most intermittent and the harshest of the vocals. His mic stand was faced away from the crowd so it was hard to see his face while singing.

Finally we come to the most interesting and unique voice of the band, Reba Meyers, who also plays guitar. Her vocals range from growled and snarled pieces to a more conventional voice but I hesitate to use the word "melodic" as it still has an edge to it. She wore a Fear Factory shirt which wins instant points with me and you could see the influence of FF in the use of samples and electronics throughout the set.

The band was then rounded out with Joe Goldman on bass who jumped around in the center of the stage and made fittingly gratuitous facial expressions as he laid down the heavy end.

It was definitely one of the more unique performances of the day, as many of the bands followed either a more NuMetal or Death Metal formula and these guys were a good way to start the day.

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