Haddonfield MD on purevolume™

Screamo / Emo / Post Hardcore

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Chaotic. Visceral. Passionate. Frantic. Reckless. Emotional. Technical. Poetic.

These are words that accurately and entirely describe the fury of a live Haddonfield show. Offstage these five musicians are as down to earth as anyone, often making jokes about their own lack of talent. But once on stage, its apparent that their sarcastic demeanor is just that, and they quickly become an audible force to be reckoned with.

Amid the melodic guitars, thundering drums, and violent screams, something almost animal is born in Haddonfield. They play with a passion and a turbulence that borders on agony. Drummer Tim Wickman is a metronomical machine behind the kit, paving the course for a bludgeoning force of bassist Eric Flores, who pounds ruthlessly on the low end. Guitarist Brian Finch Flores and Nick James throw caution to the wind, as well as their guitars, swinging and wielding them in battle like fashion. All this carried to the crowd through the vocals of the frontman Darren "Sicboy", whose monstrous growls and tortured screams drive Haddonfields signature sound, and alert the crowd that what theyre hearing is just as violent as what theyre seeing.

With guitar necks swinging and bodies moving on stage at all times, quintet often put each other in danger, proof in the form of countless bruises from fellow band members who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Offstage, the crowd is relentless towards each other. Various mosh pits open up on the floor and innocent bystanders quickly find themselves lost inside a boisterous, whirling storm of fans, pushing and shoving one another to the intense symphony of chaos.

But with brutality, there is always beauty, and this is also where Haddonfield shines. Gritty distortion quickly becomes a soft and intricate melody, and screams are faded and make way for emotion filled singing, sometimes by bassist Eric, but primarily by guitarist Finch. This drastic and often unexpected Jekyll & Mr. Hyde approach to Haddonfields songwriting is what has earned them a rightful place in the new-school Screamo genre, but because of their wide range of influences from bands like Tool, Converge, Poison the Well, Coheed and Cambria, and other music innovators, Haddonfield will not be so easily pegged, and are more than comfortable covering all bases of modern rock music.

To witness a live Haddonfield show is to bare witness beautiful carnage on all sides, and live to tell about it.

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