Fit for a King pummeled House of Blues Orlando on Wednesday, Dec. 3, with their signature blend of metal riffs and soaring, triumphant choruses.
The show supported Lonely God, the band’s eighth studio album, released to critical acclaim in August. It’s tough to find new ideas and sounds this deep into your discography – and almost 20 years as a band – but FFAK continues to evolve and surprise with every LP.
“Begin the Sacrifice” kicked off the set and set the tone for the night, the slow build up to the final, punishing breakdown inspiring a massive pushpit. Lonely God dominated the first quarter of the setlist, with “The Temple,” “Extinction,” “Shelter” and “Monolith” all showcasing a polished but uncompromised commitment to punishing metalcore.
A fan favorite made an appearance mid-set, taking the now sweaty crowd back to 2018’s Dark Skies. This album marked the first hint of FFAK’s evolution as a band to more accessible anthems that was carried to completion with 2020’s The Path. Frontman Ryan Kirby played call-and-response with the crowd on the devastating “Backbreaker” before delivering an unbroken growl for 30 seconds to finish the song.
A hallmark of FFAK’s albums are the ballads; some of the best are “Reaching Out” from The Hell We Create, and, for my fellow OG fans, “Selfish Eyes” from Slave to Nothing. On Lonely God it’s “Between Us,” a powerful and relatable ode to endings and loss, with its haunting line: “I just wanna drift away into nothing / I just wanna feel this pain miles away.”
A key to FFAK’s growth was the addition of Daniel Gailey (by way of Phinehas and Becoming the Archetype) in 2017, who not only elevates the level of shreddage but contributes superb backing vocals. That shined through on “Between Us,” which started with just Gailey and bassist Ryan “Tuck” O’ Leary on vocals before the rest of the band joined in. This tour also featured the addition of Ryan Leitru (For Today, Nothing Left) on guitar, giving FFAK a triple attack on backup vocals. Combined, it added incredible depth to FFAK’s live sound.
Between O’Leary’s acrobatic mid-air splits, Kirby’s headbanging and the guitarists shredding it’s easy to lose drummer Trey Celaya at the back of the stage. “Technium” showcased his masterful drumming, with a double bass pounding away at warp speed.
While Lonely God doesn’t completely abandon the predictable metalcore formula (you know it: intro-verse-chorus-verse-build-up-breakdown-big finish), FFAK does experiment with a more deathcore sound on this album. Encore finisher was the cinematic “Witness the End.” With its blast beats, synths and classic heavy metal guitar solo it could serve as a fitting homage to Lorna Shore and Carnifex.
FIT FOR A KING: WEBSITE |YOUTUBE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | X
Setlist
- Begin the Sacrifice
- The Temple
- Extinction
- No Tomorrow
- Shelter
- Monolith
- Blue Venom
- Backbreaker
- Between Us
- Keeping Secrets
- Engraved
- Breaking the Mirror
- Technium
- Lonely God
Encore
- When Everything Means Nothing
- Witness the End
Keeping FFAK company on the road was New England’s premiere metalcore ambassadors, Currents. (Alternate tour dates included Make Them Suffer.) Their setlist pulled chiefly from 2023’s The Death We Seek, with standout tracks “Living in Tragedy” and “The Death we Seek” gaining huge applause from the crowd. It was the triple whammy of set closers “Monsters,” “Kill the Ache,” and “Better Days” though that made the biggest impression.
- Living in Tragedy
- Rise and Fall
- Remember Me
- Guide Us Home
- Making Circles
- The Death We Seek
- It Only Gets Darker
- Monsters
- Kill the Ache
- Better Days
- CURRENTS: WEBSITE |YOUTUBE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM
While FFAK and Currents blend beauty and brutality, opener Spite wastes no time going straight for the jugular. Adopting the downbeat chug of Pantera and unbridled anger of Paleface Swiss, Spite inspired arguably the biggest mosh pit of the night. A nonstop maelstrom of crowd surfers, flying fists and swirling kicks accompanied Darius Tehrani’s brutal vocals on tracks like “Free for All,” “Kill or Be Killed,” and “Psychopath.”
SPITE: WEBSITE |YOUTUBE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM
Kicking off the show was Pittburgh’s 156/Silence, which played almost exclusively from 2024’s superb People Watching. Their sound keeps its metalcore edge, while experimenting with melodic choruses and synths.
