Feb 8

Feb 8 Photos, Show Review: We Came As Romans Thrill Sold-Out Sacramento Crowd on 'Darkbloom' Tour

We Came As Romans
w/ ERRA, Brand of Sacrifice
Ace of Spades
Sacramento, CA
February 5th, 2023

Photos by Jared Stossel
Review by Jared Stossel

I’ve seen We Came As Romans maybe over a dozen times since their inception back in 2009. The years have gone by, tragedy has occurred, and out of that pain blossomed their most recent effort, last year’s Darkbloom. It was their first album without clean vocalist Kyle Pavone, whose life was tragically cut short in 2018 at the age of 28. I reflected on this back when I covered the band’s 2021 tour celebrating the belated tenth anniversary of their debut album, To Plant A Seed. It's still sad to think about. But out of that pain, We Came As Romans have created something utterly beautiful in Darkbloom, and their current tour and performance only further emphasize the intensity that the band bring to their newest effort, along with a selection of influential tracks from their Cold Like War and Tracing Back Roots albums. The band stopped at Sacramento’s Ace of Spades and captivated the audience – and me – with a compelling show, their fourteenth sold-out date in a row. One song into their performance, and it’s easy to see why fans are still flocking in droves to see them.

Support was provided by Brand of Sacrifice and ERRA, the former kicking off the show with a set of punishingly brutal technical deathcore. Kyle Anderson is clearly on the path to becoming one of this genre’s premiere vocalists; his stage presence and guttural vocal stylings are to be admired. Their musicianship has grown exponentially since their performance last year at this very same venue – opening for After The Burial and Thy Art Is Murder. Thus far, they only have two albums under their belt, but they’ve managed to make a bigger mark with each tour they take on. ERRAfollowed with a beautifully constructed set built upon the tenets of progressive metalcore – sub-woofer rattling breakdowns, a non-stop barrage of riffs, and dueling clean and unclean vocal stylings that tread the line between metal and post-rock.

We Came As Romans took the stage a little before 9 PM and launched into the power-packed Darkbloom track “Daggers”. Within moments, vocalist Dave Stephens found himself off the stage and in the crowd, the fans holding him up as they screamed the words along with him. After three Darkbloom tracks, the band led into the Cold Like War section of the show with “Lost In The Moment”, “Wasted Age”, and the album’s title track. Without losing any steam, the band dove into Tracing Back Roots material, a record that features some of this band’s most powerful lyricism and breakdowns. The explosive title track led directly into “Hope” – my personal favorite – and the epic “Fade Away”. After a fan vote, Cold Like War’s “Learning To Survive” was performed.

What followed was the show’s most moving segment, as they played the emotionally charged “One More Day”, a Darkbloom track that acts as a farewell to Pavone. Even from the very back of the room, you can feel the emotional intensity of every member of the band. After this moment of catharsis, the band channel that discomfort into a whirlwind of ferocity, launching into “Doublespeak”, “Plagued”, and the tough-as-hell “Darkbloom”. The band leaves the stage only to return playing…the same song? Only it’s not them; it’s Brand of Sacrifice, who put their own brutal spin on the aforementioned title track. The band concludes the show with one of Darkbloom’s best tracks, “Black Hole”. We Came As Romans are stronger than ever as a live act, united by a common goal to turn their darkness into light, and their Sacramento show further proves it as such.

We Came As Romans Set List
Daggers
Golden
The Anchor
Lost in the Moment
Wasted Age
Cold Like War
Tracing Back Roots
Hope
Fade Away
Learning To Survive
One More Day
Doublespeak
Plagued
Darkbloom

Encore:
Darkbloom (Deathcore version with Brand of Sacrifice)
Black Hole