Metal Moment - Atonement North America 2022 Tour Featuring Killswitch Engage Show Review - February 19th, 2022 in Las Vegas

All Photos Credited to Dylan Duncan @nacnud92

The Atonement North America 2022 tour featuring Killswitch Engage, August Burns Red and Light The Torch made a stop in Las Vegas on Saturday, February 19th.

The band had a set-time of 30 minutes, which saw them perform crowd favorite tracks such as “Die Alone” and “The Safety of Disbelief.” Seeing Howard back on stage was a treat for everyone, as he was all smiles. Any band that he is involved with is guaranteed to put on a great show. 

Next up, metal-core titans August Burns Red. The band took the stage with a crowd treating them as headliners. This band's presence is well known, especially if you are in your 20’s-30’s, as they played many Vans Warped Tour shows and were one of the more “shreddier” bands of the mid to late 2000’s.

If you weren’t aware, this band is heavy. Not many sing-along choruses, or catchy hooks… just top-notch musicianship.

They displayed this by ripping through popular tracks like “Mariana’s Trench” and finishing with a personal favorite of mine, “White Washed.” Leaving everything on the stage, the crowd was set for the night’s headliner. 

Killswitch Engage is one of the most popular metal bands of the last 20-30 years, and they demonstrated that with a furious set that started with the perfect opener “Unleashed”.

The band gave a retrospect of their career, performing tracks from seven of their eight albums and included favorites such as “This Fire,” “Hate By Design,” and the monolithic “My Curse.” There may not be a more iconic metal song from the last 20 years. 

Personally, while I love current Killswitch Engage vocalist Jesse Leach, I’ve always been more attracted to the band when Howard was at the helm. The albums he was apart of were some that helped the band reach their current status.

Thankfully, the band saved the best for last and invited Howard on stage to perform the final three songs on the setlist.

Howard performed “Rose Of Sharyn” on his own, and then was joined by Jesse to perform a duet during “The End of Heartache” and “The Signal Fire” from their newest album Atonement.

Towards the end of the night, Leach stated “You all have no idea how much pride I have in knowing everyone resonates with the fact that these heavy songs are about hope and love for yourself and one another. We are all the same. We all have issues; we all have day-to-day stuff that makes life hard.” 

I have not been to a show with a line-up this stacked in quite some time, and it was certainly a treat.