Seemingly returned from oblivion, an aging titan of the Seattle post-hardcore scene, The Fall of Troy, delivered a two-hour long barrage of intricate, emotional splendor to their former haunt—the Showbox at the Market.
Drawing much of their material from early records, The Fall of Troy held nothing back despite their five long years of dormancy.
First, they opened with a crushingly upbeat track, “The Hol[]y Hills” from Doppelganger, to get the crowd moshing. Already fans were throwing their elbows, fists and shoulders into each other so by the end of the song, a look around the room revealed a few cut foreheads and a lost shoe or two.
Then they transitioned into some more dynamic tracks as the crowd slowed their circle pit into more of a circle stroll until they introduced “Sledgehammer” from Manipulator—that’s when all hell broke loose.
The entire room seemed to pulse to the beat as bodies spun, flew and ultimately crashed into each other.
After the song ended, there was finally a moment of peace as the lead singer, Thomas Erak, explained their plans for the future. He said that The Fall of Troy had no intention of signing to another label, preferring to remain unsigned and subsist purely off of show money and outside donations to make their new record.
The fans could not have been more supportive—dozens of variations on “I love you!” or “You rock!” sounded throughout the crowd.
The tenacious trio kept up the energy with some classics like “Whacko Jacko Steals the Elephant Man’s Bones” from their self-titled album before they left the stage for an encore.
Much to the crowd’s excitement, they retook the stage and then played the song most responsible for making them famous beyond the Seattle-Tacoma area: “F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X.” from Manipulator.
Everyone in the room seemed to be bouncing and singing along to the hooky chorus, “I don’t wanna see the day, my words cannot make it safe / Her heart in my hands, no regrets.”
Before they closed for the night with “Ghostship Pt. V” from Phantom on the Horizon, Erak explained that the entire set was being recorded with a Seattle startup company called Lively, which posts audio and video footage onto a free app found on both the App Store and the Google Play Store.
He also expressed his amazement at headlining a venue which had been such an important part of his own show-going days as a hardcore kid in Seattle—“To see this place from up here is just incredible-so thank you for making that a reality for us.”
