On the evening of Easter Sunday, four bands found themselves performing at Sagebird Ciderworks in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Most notably, Machete.exe was doing an album release the same day.
The first band on the lineup was Aeonia; a metalcore band out of Harrisonburg. Along with their lineup of Miles Roth on vocals, Brady Bridwell on guitar, Julian Flood on drums, and Bryan Lefcowitz on bass, the band also used digital synths backing tracks. They started their set off with their most recent single, “Face Eater.” This set the tone from the get-go, bringing the energy. Aeonia’s use of electronics created a unique atmosphere, and it was clear the crowd was into it. Their next three songs were all from their EP, Empty Eyes, before following up with an unreleased tune, “Blank Pages.” Throughout all of this, Flood’s drumming was incredibly tight; keeping the band on point. They finished their set with a single released last October, “Skin.” This was the perfect song to end with, going all out with, in my opinion, their best song.
Second in line was Wastoid from Charlotte, North Carolina; a harcore band with some of the most unique song titles of any band this evening. Wastoid is fronted by Mike Smith on vocals, Kyle Sullivan on lead guitar, Matthew Tice on rhythm guitar, Kirk Cobb on bass, and Andrew Knockenhauer on drums. By the second song, “Far from Cars,” Mike Smith was joining the pit whenever he got the chance. This only took the energy in the room from an already high level all the way to eleven. Their next song, “My Brother Was Eaten By Wolves On The Connecticut Turnpike,” was easily one of my favorites of the night. The song comes from their most recent album, I Should’ve Stayed Home which was released on February 28th of this year.
Their entire set had a good mix of songs from across all of their albums, having five complete and one EP since 2022. They even played an unreleased song titled, “Yappin’.” One of my favorite moments of their set was when Smith asked the crowd if they had been evicted, and after answers were shouted, he told us he hadn’t, before going into their song, “Eviction Day.” Overall, an incredibly exciting band.
The band of the hour, machete.exe followed, celebrating their new album, Midwife. The harcore/punk band also out of Harrisonburg makes this their second following their 2025 album, The Gift of Salmon Jesus. Opening with “Warsaw,” the crowd loved it with the pit opening almost immediately. This was one of the most energetic bands of the night, mainly due to the lead singer, Cornell. The rest of the band was right behind him, Shane on guitar, Z on drums, and Elias on bass. Elias at one point even stood up on the amps despite the small space in Sagebird.
The crowd was absolutely loving it, and despite this not being the usual kind of performance space for them, this seemed to not make any difference. The stage presence machete.exe exuberated was uncontested, and any hardcore fan in the Virginia area should make an attempt to see them.
The final band of the night was False Sense, a hardcore band out of West Virginia. The band consists of Josh Huff on bass & vocals, Kristen Lester on vocals, Alisdair Feezle and Kevin Spangler on guitar, and Justin Kline on drums. Despite Spangler not being there, the band still proved strong, and finished the night with a phenomenal set. Both Lester and Huff worked together to spectacularly perform each song, sometimes together, sometimes taking a break and letting the other take the reins. Going through their set list, their music was a call of protest, performing both music from their EP clenched fist and some unreleased songs. They even did a cover of Hatebreed’s “A Call for Blood.” False Sense completely understood the genre they pour so much into, this could be seen in my favorite song from the night, “Appalachian Aggression.” Just a really exciting band to watch, with a very bright future.
Aeonia Set List
Face Eater
In the Dead of Night
Empty Eyes
Monochrome
Blank Pages
Skin
Wastoid Set List
RDM
Far From Cars
My Brother Was Eaten by Wolves on the Connecticut Turnpike
Buster
Human Air
Ulcer
Yappin’
Chief Keefe
Eviction Day
Stye
Entrench
Suppressor
Machete.exe Set List
Warsaw
Food
Subaru
Find Around & Fuck Out
Pre-Wipe
Bear Fucker
Guck Bang
Idiot Asshole
False Sense Set List
Intro
Fake Friends
No Home
We’re Here to Kill You
A Call for Blood
Leagues
Hearse
Appalachian Aggression
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Mob Justice
Outro
To submit an article an article or review, or to just say hello hit us at [email protected]
Also- check out the search feature in the upper right hand corner and search for your favorite artist, event, venue or genre. You’ll be surprised at what you find!
Check out the Live Music News and Review.com Facebook page for updates and announcements.
