LIVE REVIEW: Messer, Secret of Boris, The Leader The Legend, & The Drop Deadly’s

There was a lot happening in Deep Ellum on the 20th of April. If there was a bar that had live music, bands were playing. Several hundred people chose to gather at Trees for Messer’s album release show. After close to a decade of playing locally and touring nationally, the band is finally ready to unleash their debut album worldwide. Beside the usual Messer fans in attendance, and there were lots of them, the other local bands on the bill had their own fanbase out in force as well.

The Drop Deadly’s opened the evening to an overwhelming response from the crowd. Having developed a strong local following, it was no surprise the amount of Drop Deadly merch to be seen around the venue. Their new single “State of The Union” got the crowd fired up and the band never let their foot off the gas. The band was dynamic, they played their songs with precision, and they put the bands who followed on notice – bring your A-game or everyone’s going to forget you. Up next was Fort Worth’s The Leader The Legend and they built off of the energy established by The Drop Deadlys. Their set was an onslaught of high energy riffs and vocal prowess that seemed to incite a frenzy of mayhem. The pit became a war zone as the hard hitting track “Rise” began and the whole band began to bounce with the crowd and spill over around the venue, almost swallowing the floor. This one two punch set the tone for the night and got everything going for an awesome evening.

Secret of Boris followed with a typically awesome set. The band was celebrating the release of their new single and video for “Make it Out,” and seemed determined to drag off the energy created from The Leader The Legend and Drop Deadly’s and put a little pressure on Messer who would follow them. Aggressive and always compelling, the band is making their mark on the scene as one of the top hard-rock/alternative bands around. Their musicians know exactly how to build up tension and resolve it in explosive outbursts of loud guitars and rumbling drums. Feeding off this, their vocalist takes advantage of the catchy hooks and unpredictable crescendo’s to tie it altogether into a kinetic ball of fury.

By the time Messer took the stage, the crowd was suitably “warmed up.” The bands fanbase was ready to celebrate the long awaited album release and were charged up from the get-go. As the band fired through the tracks on their new album, it was obvious why they deserve the crowd they brought to Trees. The audience sang along, danced, and seemed truly delighted to a be part of the occasion. Songs like “Fight of My Life,” “Simple Man,” and “Still Better Off” had the crowd either swaying or bouncing about ecstatically. Vocalist Dereak was in top form and sounded strong as he moved from soft falsetto’s to raspy wails. The band behind him was amped for the occasion and clearly ready to leave it all out there. Guitarist’s Javier and Donnie complimented each others parts tastefully, while straddling the line between emotive hard-rock and more mysterious, atypical guitar licks. The rhythm section of drummer Kenn and bassist Maddox were also in lock-step and held down the back beat and low end flawlessly. As the bands set drew to a close, there were more than a few dozen people who pleaded the band keep going. But, whether the band knows how to leave them wanting more or just wanted to relish the outpouring of love, they accomplished their mission of getting their album out and whipping the crowd into a celebratory frenzy.