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In the 22 years I’ve been alive, I’ve witnessed a lot of metal shows: I’ve seen bands like Kiss, Megadeth, Metallica, Skid Row and Avenged Sevenfold, but none of these artists provided an atmosphere quite like the bands of the Saints and Sinners Tour.

The show at Bogart’s Saturday created one of the most relaxing atmospheres I’ve ever been in, even though the acts were heavy on the metal.

Opening band Tesseract, hailing from the U.K., was a mediocre start to a show that would end up being phenomenal.  They presented a style of metalcore that incorporated simple hardcore riffs underneath a vocalist who would throw in death metal growls in between his second-rate Matthew Bellamy impersonations.

Their set didn’t seem that terrible at first, but the repetitive mundane riffs underneath the whiny lead singer’s voice got older than Penn State’s Joe Paterno. Or as my father, Jeff Hammond, eloquently put it, Tesseract was “sucktacular.”

Next on the bill was the act Animals as Leaders. The instrumental three-piece band could easily be described as the metal-infused lovechild of Frank Zappa and Rush. Animals as Leaders offered up a technically sound but complicated set that was exemplified by Tosin Abasi’s masterful guitar playing. Nonetheless, their stage presence was ultimately lost in all the musically challenging riffs and solos they were executing.

This brings us to the headliner, Between the Buried and Me. BTBAM not only personified pure musicianship with their precise instrumentation, but they also carried a showmanship on stage that kept the audience enticed and enthused during their entire performance.

Tommy Rogers, lead singer and keyboardist of the North Carolina outfit, ran around the stage while going from a deep death metal howl to a magnificently beautiful falsetto without missing a beat. Meanwhile, guitarists Paul Waggoner and Dustie Waring were laying down riffs and twin guitar solos that would make any genuine metal fan’s face melt.

The highlight of the show was when BTBAM played a medley of songs off their early records “The Silent Circus” and “Alaska.” This six-minute time warp included snippets from throwback tracks like “Alaska” and “All Bodies” which excited the crowd and sent the mosh pit into the height of its intensity.

 Though this was the most memorable part of the concert, BTBAM provided an atmosphere the whole night that cannot be mimicked or impersonated by any other artist. With their own brand of experimental, progressive death metal, BTBAM put the crowd in a soothing trance with their epically long songs and beautiful breakdowns that were comparable to the likes of a death metal version of Pink Floyd.

For a majority of the show, there wasn’t even a mosh pit, which gave the concert a more calming atmosphere. Although this is somewhat unheard of in the death metal genre, it is mainly because the crowd was in shock and awe over the transcendent and sometimes schizophrenic styles BTBAM was producing on stage.

Overall, this was a fantastic show. “The Saints and Sinners Tour” provided a night filled with outstanding talent, which was finally capped off by BTBAM proving that it is possible to play technically challenging music live without losing the showmanship and stage presence that the fans paid to see.