Counterparts came into San Diego’s favorite grungy spot, Soma, September 30 for a rowdy stop on their North American headline tour. This was a fantastic follow up to their spring Heaven Let Them Die tour, and the guys returned to deliver more of their 2024 EP plus some great unexpected throwbacks. Accompanying them throughout the tour were hard hitting 156/Silence and Thrown, making for an evening of mayhem, crowd surfers and many, many mosh pits. San Diego’s metalcore community showed up early and went hard.
156/Silence was truly anything but silent. The stage was adorned with terrible towels on the amps plus frontman Jack Murray sporting a classic Pirates baseball cap to beam their hometown Pittsburgh pride. Starting the set heavy with “Target Acquired,” bandmates Jimmy Howell (guitar, vocals) Ryan Wilkinson (guitar, vocals) and Kyle O’Connell (drums) maintained their energetic stature throughout their crushing set. Self proclaimed “creators of soundtracks for the pushed aside or marginalized” truly delivered just that, making every unseen person in the room immediately feel present and seen. After the first mosh pits began to form, we were finally alive and rejuvenated as the final notes of “Character Development” rang out.
Since their debut album Excessive Guilt, thrown has made their mark in the metalcore industry. Vocalist Marcus Lundqvist commands the stage with such aggression and grace, while backed with grand guitar sorted into such catchy rhythms that had the audience roaring. Alongside Lundqvist were Johan Liljeblad and Andreas Malm on guitar, and Buster Odeholm on drums. The quartet cruised through the setlist, feeding off the crowd’s infectious energy. Finally, thrown quite literally threw down for their hits “on the verge” and “guilt” to finish off their fantastically brutal set.
As the headliner took the stage, Soma completely erupted and Counterparts took action with their hit “A Martyr Left Alive”. The middle of the room immediately became one giant pit, full of moshing, hardcore dancing, and at one point even rowing. Frontman Brendan Murphy absolutely nailed his performance while giving insane command to the people of San Diego who screamed every word right back at him. Fans came right to their calling as Counterparts played their anthem “Monument”, and were pleasantly delighted to see deep cuts such as “Thieves” and “Witness” dating back to the 2015 era. As the band did the standard encore routine, the band closed their set with “Whispers of your Death” right after Murphy admits to the crowd “This song is about my old cat.” A song about a cat? The audience went absolutely crazy, a fantastic way to end this metalcore dream.
The North American run of this tour will continue on the east coast the rest of the month. However, Counterparts shows no signs of slowing with big plans to head to the UK in January. This time around, they’ll bring Sunami, One Step Closer and God Complex for a roster of insane metal music. If you are in the UK or looking for a reason to visit, this is your sign to buy a ticket and figure out how to get there! Don’t miss your annual dose of metalcore therapy.
GALLERY: Counterparts with thrown and 156/Silence at SOMA in San Diego, California (September 30, 2025)
