Trapped Under Ice returned with 2 shows (Disturbin’ The Peace pics & NYC review with Bulldoze, Crown of Thornz & more)
Trapped Under Ice came out of hibernation for two rare shows this past weekend, Flatspot Records' Disturbin' The Peace festival in the band's Baltimore hometown on Saturday (1/28), and a show at Brooklyn Monarch the next night (1/29) with an epic eight-band bill that may as well have been a mini festival. (And with Mutually Assured Destruction at Saint Vitus on Friday and the two Mindforce shows at Vitus on Saturday, it felt like there was an unofficial hardcore festival going down in Brooklyn all weekend.) I caught the Brooklyn Monarch show and photos of Disturbin' The Peace by Angela Owens are in this post.
TUI slowed down after the 2017 tour that supported their comeback album Heatwave, and hadn't played at all in over three years, but you'd never guess that from how they looked and sounded at Monarch on Sunday night (not to mention you'd never guess Justice was in the ER just hours before the Baltimore show). They were a well-oiled machine--tight, intense, artistic, and had the crowd losing their minds from start to finish, without a single lull. It was a classics-heavy set, loaded with fan favorites from Big Kiss Goodnight, Secrets of the World, and the Stay Cold EP, plus a couple from Heatwave, and even those songs felt like classics/faves by now. Justice Tripp shouted out the two veteran NYHC bands on the bill as huge influences on TUI, Bulldoze and Crown of Thornz, and he also said the younger bands like Pain of Truth were getting him excited to play hardcore again. I think I speak for the hundreds of people at this packed show when I say that we'd all be very, very happy if that's the case. Justice also shouted out Turnstile ("our other half"), whose vocalist Brendan Yates is usually TUI's drummer, but Brendan isn't taking part in these shows and Derrick from Never Ending Game did a fine job filling his role.
Directly before TUI was a set from beatdown pioneers Bulldoze, who were paying tribute to their vocalist Kev One, who passed away this past September, like they also recently did at Keystone Hardcore Jam and FYA Fest, the former of which was their first show in nearly a decade. Bassist Puda (who also fronted post-Bulldoze band Train of Thought) handled lead vocals, McG from Bulldoze-related band Homicidal joined for a song too, and it really felt like the tribute that Kev would've wanted. The band was on fire, and the crowd ate it up, with a sizable group swarming Puda and yelling along. Puda called the show a celebration of life, not a mourning of death, and before going into "Herb," he called not for a moment of silence, but a moment of violence, inciting one of the night's most furious pits.
Breaking up the two veteran NYHC sets was a set from rising Long Island hardcore band Pain of Truth, who have an anticipated new album on the way. They played two songs from that album (one of which is on their new Live At TIHC 22' record and one of which is entirely new), along with a Madball cover and stuff from their 2020 EP and their 2021 split with Age of Apocalypse (who opened those Mindforce shows the day prior and who P.O.T. shouted out on stage), and the whole set was wild: tons of stage-crashers, tons of guest vocalists, and a riotous pit.
Like Bulldoze and Pain of Truth, Crown of Thornz were also fresh off playing FYA Fest, and they sounded great at this hometown show. CoT recently reunited with guitarist Mike Dijan (also of Breakdown, Skarhead, Outburst, Sai Nam with Justice Tripp, and more), and it was a treat to watch him rip those iconic riffs as Danny Diablo (repping other '90s-era New York giants with his Mobb Deep hoodie and Patrick Ewing Knicks jersey) commanded the crowd. They looked like they were having a ton of fun up there, and it was a blast to watch them dish out those classic songs with all the urgency they had when they wrote them.
Also on the Monarch show was Division of Mind, Illusion, Volcano, and Carried By Six. Disturbin' the Peace also had End It, No Warning, Scowl, Never Ending Game, Zulu, Law of Power, Buggin, Mutually Assured Destruction, Jivebomb, and Hold My Own. Pictures of DTB by Angela Owens continue below.
TUI are also playing the UK's Outbreak Fest and Detroit's Tied Down fest. Justice will also be back in the Northeast with Angel Du$t, for their weekend run with Drug Church and Fiddlehead, which hits Brooklyn Monarch on February 23.