Now, to do any real justice to the bands on the main and second stages of the Palladium, trying to review simultaneous does little for the bands. I actually missed quite few, so for the sake of even more brevity, I'll give you the highlights:

CREMATORIUM: Excellent crossover hybrid borne of death/HC with tight breakdowns. Kudos to them for managing to cut through the muddy house sound, one of the best things a band that early on the roster could expect.

FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW: These guys were pretty straight-ahead, no frills hardcore, but what made them a standout was their almost Arab on Radar-like hyperactivity (The Red Chord influence is all too obvious, when your singer wears the shirt). The band battled against the daylight with an intense set, and the audience responded in kind, never too early in the day to crowd-surf.

A PERFECT MURDER: Perhaps the most Slapshot influenced of the fest, with a little SNFU thrown in for injury's sake. This is a band to watch if you like a bashing of the old school, and if you're lucky they'll throw in a little Scandinavian metal interlude into their closing number.

BYZANTINE: Majestic and Scandinavian-influenced, heavy mix of Neurosis and maybe Kyuss. They weren't such a surge of energy for me after watching A Perfect Murder, but if I'd wanted all grind core all day I knew I'd miss some crucial elements of what was making this festival work (or not work).

THE JUDAS CRADLE: One of the grind-ier offerings on the second stage, what set them apart from most other hardcore bands I saw was that they made their songs distinctive from one another. Now there's a dynamic to apply, no matter what style of aggressive music you want to write (or slay to).

FOUND DEAD HANGING: Quite a confusing experience at first, more in their appearance than anything. This quintet looked like a bunch of random Muppets thrown together from a war zone--adolescent lanky blond longhaired (and may I say HOT) bass player, stereo salesman looking drummer, dreadlocked Rastafarian singer, a guitarist whose helmet of red curly hair bobbed hilariously to the strange brand of hypersonic death metal. The band also features Repulsion-y distorted bass, which I wish I heard more of these days. They set off well be the opening cover of "No Love Lost" by Carcass. This is a band I would pay to see if they came back on their own steam.

ENFORSAKEN: Good mix of Maiden and hardcore with a socially conscious bent. I didn't get to see very much of them but I liked what I heard.

WITH HONOR: Tried and true formulaic hardcore, not my bag so it's difficult for me to gauge them except by their obviously huge following. The view from the Mezzanine showed more diving, moshing, and surfing than before. So they must be doing something right.

BURNT BY THE SUN: An okay facsimile of crossover. I have the disadvantage of being a pretty big Neurosis fan, and I couldn't stop trying to compare and contrast BBTS and Neurosis. An unfair thought process, but natural nonetheless. Although Burnt are more concerned with straightforward crossover than the tribal waxing and weavings of their former label mates, they weren't much of a standout for me.

NORA: Much less dilly-dally than Burnt by the Sun, and much more dissonance. Nora's interesting guitar work reminds me a lot of Mastodon or good old Cape Cod math-maniacs Dagobah.

CATTLE DECAPITATION: I only saw a few minutes of these guys but who amongst you hasn't already heard/seen a good serving of these Southern California gore-grind flailers? Cat-Decap growled, boiled, and churned true to form (although I was yearning for some more onstage theatrics). For an awkward minute or two I thought I was at the Baltimore Death Fest.

MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD: Very new to me, definitive metal core. MPB are good at what they do, but at this point in the day I wanted the next incarnation of Nile or Brodequin to miraculously appear and make themselves known.

SOILENT GREEN: The first time I've seen these guys. Heavy New Orleans southern sludge/grind hybrid, their performance went up a notch I think with the increase in the house volume downstairs at The Palladium. This is a band with a lot of experience behind and future ahead, and I must say that vocalist Ben has quite a commanding presence.

THE RED CHORD: Good as ever, higher exposure due to their signing to Metal Blade and touring all over this hellish planet. I love this band's mix of spastic and heavy, and when they come over the radio they are distinctive as a DNA sample. TRC have, in my opinion, caught up with Shadows Fall and Ascendancy in the realm of the finest Massachusetts has to offer.

MACHINE HEAD: Okay, I know this band has been on the map since forever, and their brand name alone is respected widely. The controversy over Arch Enemy's "co-headlining" tour cancellation notwithstanding, MH annoyed the piss out of me. Nu-metal aberrations like Slipknot, Kittie, and Otep are listenable because THEY SCREAM. Machine Head are nu-metal without ferocity (although they precede the sub-genre by many years), but the audience responded like they were watching the Second Coming of Christ. Decent chugging, not as terrible as Oasis or Bobby Brown but the sad fact is they made me just want to fast forward an hour of my life to Arch Enemy's set. So, whatever. My loss. Reign in Blood > Burn My Eyes. That settles that. Oh and furthermore . . . Anthems of Rebellion > Through the Ashes of Empires . . .

ARCH ENEMY: This was the best I've ever seen them play. I wonder if they knew what they were getting into by signing on to the Machine Head tour. Ugh. Angela could have broken a nail on this night; she certainly showed a little more backbone in her performance than the Mighty Rob Flynn. She went guttural during some parts of the songs, which ruled for >me. I don't how much MIDI crap AE has to replicate all the synth stuff off of "Anthems of Rebellion", but they triggered everything exactly and the show just made me want to see them play a longer set. How many of you stayed for all of ICED EARTH?

KATAKLYSM: These guys make Canada one scary-ass place for metal (although I believe they've moved to Chicago). Ferocious, memorable, catchy, and heavy as a premature burial, I am hereby deflowered by this set. Too bad I cannot go to the Baltimore Death Fest, where these guys are co-headlining. One thing: a lead guitarist could do wonders for their dynamics, but since the songs are so incredible that is only a minor suggestion. March on and run Devildriver off the road.

DIECAST: Another widely-respected staple of the crossover scene. I felt like Doris Day trying to review a Deeds of Flesh show, though. No connection, no foreknowledge (except in brand name). The only time my ears perked up was when they noodled around with a cover of Slayer's "Raining Blood." Isn't it counterproductive of me to admit that I like the Tori Amos version better? I thought so.

ZAO: One of the more interesting crossover bands of the fest. Very technical and heavy. I wanted to hear more along the metal side of things, and Zao delivered.

BLEEDING THROUGH: Another math-metal sort of band, only with a strong dose of Sabbath and even Napalm Death thrown in. Screamy and engaging.

CHILDREN OF BODOM: They almost didn't make it due to a gremlin in their bus. However, Evergrey gave up theirs and the show went ahead. This is the second time I've seen COB, and they seemed more ferocious several months ago when they were opening for Dimmu. Nevertheless, this band is always worth the wait because their brand of thrash metal is pretty unique and fun to watch.