Nonpoint at Masquerade
By: Chuck Thomas | Category: Concert Reviews | 11/25/05 | 02:44 AM
 Date: November 19, 2005
Location: Atlanta, GA
The band recently released To The Pain (Bieler Bros. Records), their fourth major studio album, which has been selling marginally well in its first couple of weeks. This also included roughly 800 CDs being donated towards hurricane victims in a Fort Myers benefit show. Beginning appropriately with the sounds of war, the Spanish influenced band rocketed into "There's Gonna Be a War" which began a solid setlist filled with fast moving rockers, most off of the band's recent album "To The Pain."
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"Our live show is fueled on those moving tracks," singer Elias Soriano said before the show, "so those are the ones that we like to write, now more so than ever. I think people have enough easy-going stuff to listen to, they need to get hit in the face a little."
When asked why the setlist wasn't more mixed with older material, Soriano replied, "We've been touring so many years, people have seen that show so many times already. Now that we've got the new record, now's the best time to play all that new stuff."
The band has enjoyed moderate success in the music business, but they've garnered the most fame from their extremely high energy live shows. In fact, their latest album reflects this in its title, To The Pain.
"We've been doing this for a long time," singer Elias Soriano said before the show, "and we move a bit around on stage and we go pretty hard. People constantly ask us, 'how do we do it night after night?' Sometimes you just do it til it hurts, regardless knowing whether it's going to hurt or not. So we take it to the pain every night."
Drummer Robb Rivera was his usual insane self, often getting up from the drums after songs were finished to throw the sticks away and stomp around the stage.
"Robb's a stick of dynamite, no doubt, ready to go off at any time," Soriano said. "He's the quiet...he's like that tiger, it strolls quiet because he knows if anybody pokes him he's going to completely destroy them."
Guitarist Andrew Goldman and bassist KB held their own as well; in fact, the entire band sounded as tight as they ever have. Every song was solid, with Elias jumping over the entire stage, alternating between screaming at the top of his lungs and crooning better than the best singers in the field.
The setlist did include some older material, such as "Victim" and "What A Day" off of Statement, plus "Your Signs" and "Excessive Reaction" off of the lukewarm Development and hit single "The Truth" from Recoil, a slam against the Bush Administration's deceptions. Also played was the Spanish language song "Rabia" from Recoil, one of their many Latin flavored songs.
"If the music is written for it, the lyrics come out in Spanish. This [album] there are two tracks, maybe three that have Spanish lyrics or elements. But it depends on how we're feeling. We don't sit down and consciously do anything you know. If Robb starts writing a Latin beat, then Latin lyrics just seem right for it. We do what's right for the music."
Doing what's right for the music has made Nonpoint not only a fan favorite over the years, but has ensured that the band sounds like none of their peers, or even their influences.
"[We] don't bring any influences to the band. That's how we sound like us. That's the rule. I don't want to write anyone else's song, and I would hope that the guys wouldn't want to either. When we're sitting around writing we're consciously trying not to sound like other people."
The crowd seemed to enjoy the show, as heads bobbed and mosh pits erupted. The band rocked the house for a little over an hour before erupting into the set closer "Endure" off of Statement, an ode to anyone who's ever held a job that they despise. These every-man themes are what keep the hardcore fan base that they've developed over the years coming back for every show. Make sure to catch them when they hit your area for a great night of Latin influenced hard rock.
Read the full interview with Nonpoint's Elias Soriano.
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