On June 10th, the metalcore giants, Upon A Burning Body, brought their "Rise of the Bull" tour to Hangar 1819 in Greensboro, North Carolina. This tour is in support of their recent "Blood of the Bull" album release. Joining them on this tour are Swollen Teeth, Carcosa, and Traitors. The tour started on June 4th and will be running strong until June 20th.
I was not too sure what to expect, in all honesty. I only really knew of Carcosa and Traitors prior to this show, but I was excited to see what Swollen Teeth and Upon A Burning Body had in store. While standing in line to enter, I got to chat with a dad and his daughter, Mark and Chloe. It was Chloe's first concert ever, and the tickets were a gift for her 14th birthday. After the show, they both helped give their ratings of each set so I could keep this review unbiased.
Swollen Teeth
Swollen Teeth is a fairly new, anonymous nu-metal/hardcore band based out of Boston, Massachusetts. Immediately, the first thing that I noticed before they started playing was that their fan base seems to be on the younger side. It was nice to see a lot of young people getting excited for new music in the genre.
Swollen Teeth kicked off their set by holding a banner up that read, "GRIMM FOREVER," and taking a moment in honor of artist Ricardo Grimm, who sadly passed away earlier this month. They dedicated the set to him as well.
Swollen Teeth then proceeded to give a fiery, fast-paced performance for their entire set, which included songs such as "Family" and "CAR CRASH." The crowd was enjoying their sound, and the moshers kept the pit moving.
The vocalist had some of the most energy I have seen from a frontman in a long time! He was jumping around, running, and spinning across the stage. At one point, he ran out of the door to the parking lot for a few seconds while still performing.
This was an interesting set for sure! I was surprised to see them utilizing turntables on stage instead of using backtracks. It is nice to see some new, unique sounding groups emerging in the metal scene.
MY RATING OF THIS SET: 3 horns down out of 5
Let's see what Mark and Chloe thought of the set:
MARK: Originally, I came in with a zero. They're kind of pulling off some Slipknot vibes, but as a hardcore band. I listened to some of [Swollen Teeth's] music online beforehand and, honestly, their videos on YouTube do them no justice because their live show stepped everything up! They've got a solid 4 from me.
CHLOE: I completely agree with a 4. It was really good! I came in blind, knowing nothing. They had really meaningful lyrics, and I liked what they were going for and the message they were trying to convey.
AVERAGE RATING FOR THIS SET: 3.7 horns down out of 5
Carcosa
Next to take the stage was Carcosa, a deathcore band based out of Vancouver, Canada. This is a band I have personally seen a few times, so I thought I knew what to expect from them; however, I was particularly impressed with this set from them.
Carcosa has been on a quite a few tours over the last two years or so, and it is very apparent—they are incredibly dialed in with their sound and performance. I think this is the best I have ever seen them. They kept the set lively and even had some decent banter in between songs. It was clear the crowd was enjoying themselves as the moshers from the previous set picked up momentum throughout this set. This was a great overall!
MY RATING OF THIS SET: 3.5 vermin out of 5
MARK: I brought Chloe here because this is the music that I grew up listening to. Carcosa is one of those bands that I've just always really liked. Seeing them on stage and hearing them live is just mind-blowing. When [you're] growing up and listening to them, you think, "Oh, these are these big, huge superstars!" But then you get to see them at this venue, and it's such a small, intimate venue that you really get to be up close with them. They're a solid 5!
CHLOE: I agree, solid 5! Coming in with also never listening to them before, it was really great!
AVERAGE SET RATING: 4.5 Vermin out of 5
Traitors
The Florida deep south deathcore boys, Traitors, hit the stage next. I absolutely adore Traitors and have been a long time listener! They definitely brought the heavy bass drops and energy that we all know and love from them. Vocalist Tyler Shelton got the crowd riled up and they were loving it. Not only were people moshing, but people of all ages were crowd surfing too.
The set sounded incredible! They played a new song titled, "Violence Is Necessary" and they even played one of my personal favorite songs, "Menace to Society," to top off their set. There's never a bad set from Traitors, and I am always sad to see the end of their performances!
MY RATING OF THIS SET: 4.5 side-to-side crowd call-outs out of 5
MARK: Traitors, straight out of the gate, you know, it's a 5, 6, or 7! I mean, they're awesome. Tyler [the vocalist] is amazing. I mean, his presence alone is like something kind of out of this world. He's so chill, but what he belts out is like just guttural and just primal. This dude is a freaking monster. If you've ever talked to him, he's like a teddy bear of a guy too. Yeah, I'd give this set a solid 5.
CHLOE: I absolutely loved it! I would give it a 5 too!
AVERAGE SET RATING: 4.7 side-to-side crowd call-outs out of 5
Upon A Burning Body
The Texan metalcore giants, Upon A Burning Body, took the stage promptly at 9:30pm. This was the first time I had seen them, so I wasn't too sure of what to expect. They had amazing stage presence and the crowd was wrapped around their fingers all night! Everyone looked like they were having a great time singing along to the songs, jumping around, and moshing.
This tour is to support their recent album release, "Blood of the Bull," which came out at the end of 2025. Many of the songs they played were off of this album, including "A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing," "Killshot," and "Voices In the Dark." They did sprinkle in some older material as well, playing fan favorites like "All Pride No Pain," "Extermination," and "Southern Hostility." Overall, it all sounded great and the crowd really enjoyed this set!
MY RATING OF THIS SET: 3.5 bloody bulls out of 5
MARK: They played one of my favorite songs! They made it before [Chloe] was even born and just getting that same feeling brought back, that angst that I had, was wild. A heavy-ass band like Upon A Burning Body can bring their Latin/Mexican heritage into this music and fucking rock it! It's amazing to see this crowd absorb that culture. We're just sitting there rocking out. There's no color, no race, no nothing. There's so much that goes into the words that they're saying, the feelings that they have, and the passion that they've got. I'm going off the scale, we're going to say screw 5—we're looking at in the millions, even billions!
CHLOE: I just started listening to them about couple weeks ago, and I was like, "Oh, you know, this is kind of fire!" I listened to a bunch of their old songs, and then I listened to their new album and I was like, "Whoa! This is really cool." I don't know what my favorite song is from them; I like them all! They deserve a score of millions for sure!
AVERAGE SET RATING: An innumerable amount of bloody bulls out of 5
If you want to feel the passion Mark and Chloe felt for this show, the "Rise of the Bull" tour is still kicking for a few more days. I highly encourage making your way out to support these heavy-hitting bands on the road while they're still out!
If you can't make it to any of the remaining dates, you can stream the deluxe remixed version of Upon A Burning Body's "Blood of the Bull" below!
