Nestled in the heart of North Carolina’s capital city lies the Chapel of Bones, a remarkable locale that acts as a coffee lounge by day and an extreme music venue by night. Adorned by the macabre beauty of human skulls and other skeletal remains, the Raleigh spot is continuing the legacy of its previous iterations, Volume 11 and The Maywood, by booking a variety of heavy music and other counterculture acts. This past weekend, Chapel of Bones truly put itself to the test by hosting a particularly vicious tour package: A co-headlining show from Pennsylvania’s 156/Silence and Illinois’ VCTMS, which made for a wonderfully ear-splitting night inside of the building.
156/Silence struck gold with their latest record, last year’s People Watching, perfectly blending the intensity, emotion and atmosphere of their metalcore sound to achieve genuine sonic catharsis. Since dropping in September, the album has been met with widespread acclaim, making it to the top of many “Best of 2024” lists and thrusting the Pittsburgh band into a bigger spotlight than ever before.
“Honestly, we're really surprised by the crowds on this tour.” Guitarist Jimmy Howell shared that evening in Raleigh. The sold-out show was packed with people before even a single note was played; a vast sea of moshers, headbangers and crowdsurfers greeted each band as they took the stage. Local act Attracting the Fall got things warmed up before North Carolina’s own Wiltwither - whose excellent 2024 effort The Yellow Wallpaper has been turning heads - broke the barriers down and unleashed havoc. Stage divers took control and continued on into Heavy//Hitter’s set, splitting the room several times over and keeping the floor moving.
Once VCTMS arrived the Chapel of Bones was in full frenzy, with bodies smashing together from the front of the stage to the front doors of the venue. Chicago’s “Bad Luck Crew” dropped a new album themselves only a month before, the relentlessly razor-sharp pain processing. Fresh tracks like “snuff.tape”, “mental // prison”, and “kill.me_please” somehow felt ten times as powerful live, setting off whirlpools of movement throughout the crowd.
“We've known them since, I want to say 2018.” Howell said about VCTMS. “I think Meredith actually posted about it. We played with Falsifier to literally nobody there. Like, we were playing to 20 people every day. Then we toured Canada with VCTMS again and that time was also kind of a rough tour, for many reasons. So this is like redemption time.”
156/Silence closed the night out with a full set rightfully dominated by songs from People Watching, bringing passionate fans to the front to scream and sing the words right alongside vocalist Jack Murray. Murray’s incredible range was showcased brilliantly throughout the night, perfectly blending aggression and melody alongside the rest of the band. Those in attendance who were less familiar with the band’s music were completely blown away, especially from massive tracks like “Better Written Villain”, “Product Placement”, and “Target Acquired”.
“We've had, I think, seven sold out shows now, and there's gonna be at least two or three more that I know of.” Howell also said. “We've never really played to big crowds. Even when we play on support, nobody knows us, so it's different. Hearing people screaming the words over us playing, that's like, super surreal to me.”
Howell continued, “The beginning of any tour is super stressful, especially with this one. We were not planning for the shows to be this good.” he laughs. “So, for example, we're already almost out of merch and we have to get more now. We were not prepared for the response at all.” From the monstrous opening riff off album opener “Character Development (Cold Start)”, to the very final song of the show, 156 had the sold-out crowd in the palm of their hand, keeping fans hanging onto every word without ever losing their intensity.
When it came to translating the songs from People Watching into a live setting, Howell admits that he was worried about one in particular: “Blood Loss”. “Because it's mostly electronics and the production does a lot of the heavy lifting. We have a front of house guy, his name's Jeremy, he's amazing, and he's making it work. But if we were still doing things the old way, where we didn't have our own sound guy and were relying on the house sound, it would have been really hard to do that. Just making sure that that sounds the way it’s supposed to sound was tough, but it's been probably one of the highlights of the set every day.”
Even as the band take their victory lap for not just their greatest album to date, but one of the most vital artistic statements in heavy music last year, they’re still keeping one eye on the future. When asked about any potential new music, Howell shared that 156/Silence was already well underway with a follow up.
“It's written instrumentally. Jack is still working on the vocals. We have a good bit of songs done, but it's gonna be a while for sure. I mean, we gotta ride out People Watching.” he told us. “We don't have a way to write on the road. It's hard to be locked in unless you're in a bus or something, you know what I mean? The way that I write is I will write a whole album at once, instrumentally, and I just won't stop till I'm done with it.”
As the night came to a close and the crowd filtered out of the Chapel of Bones, it was clear that this was more than just another stop on the tour for 156/Silence and VCTMS - it was a testament to the growing hunger for heavy music and the connection it fosters. For fans, it was an unforgettable night of catharsis and chaos, while for the bands, it marked another milestone on their upward trajectory. With People Watching cementing their place in the metalcore pantheon and a bright future on the horizon, 156/Silence has proven that their time is now.
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People Watching, the latest album from 156/Silence is now available via SharpTone Records. Order the album - HERE
