It’s been just over a week since one of the most dynamic multi-sound tour packages of the year Dying Wish, Static Dress, Gouge Away, Orthodox, and Bolt Cutter — began tearing across the country. Each stop has been a collision of hardcore, metalcore, and brutal death energy, and the Brooklyn date at Warsaw proved exactly why this lineup is hitting so hard from coast to coast.

I had the privilege of catching the tour as it descended on Warsaw, and from the moment doors opened, the venue felt charged. Fans packed in early, and even before the first band hit the stage, the room buzzed with the anticipation of a night built on chaos, catharsis, and sweat-soaked camaraderie.

Gouge Away hit the stage earlier than expected but by the time the blue haze and smoke settled, Warsaw was already at capacity and pulsing with movement. The moment the band stepped forward, the floor cracked open. Bodies collided, the pit surged, and the room shifted instantly into hardcore mode.

The set didn’t begin perfectly.

The first two songs were plagued with heavy sound issues, with the opener coming through with zero vocal output and the second still struggling with uneven levels. From the front of the pit, I watched vocalist Christina Michelle shouting at full power, giving everything despite not hearing herself in the monitors.

But none of the technical problems slowed them down because the heartbeat of a Gouge Away show isn’t just the vocals. It’s the entire machine moving as one.

Live, Gouge Away’s guitars have a distinct personality brittle, serrated, and drenched in grit. Their tone cuts sharply through the room, balancing jagged punk energy with the atmospheric shimmer of shoegaze and the tension of noise rock. Every riff feels like it’s sitting right at the edge of collapse, which is exactly what makes it exciting.

During the more melodic sections, the guitars open up into warm, reverb-heavy waves, giving Christina’s vocals room to breathe. When the band snaps back into hardcore mode, the tone tightens into sharp, percussive strikes that punch straight through the crowd.

It’s a dynamic that keeps the set from ever feeling one-dimensional — instead, it morphs and expands like a living thing.

The drummer is the unsung powerhouse of their live presence.
From the first downbeat, the kit became a locomotive, pushing every moment forward with relentless force. The snare cracked like a whip, the kick drum thumped like it was shaking the venue’s foundation, and the fills came with an urgency that made the songs feel even faster than on record.

What stands out live is the drummer’s ability to pivot shifting seamlessly between frantic punk blasts, groovy mid-tempo sections, and more atmospheric passages without losing intensity. The entire set was anchored by that raw, physical energy.

When Gouge Away is firing on all cylinders, the entire band moves like a single organism.
The bass locks in tightly with the drums, grounding the chaos with warm, distorted lows. The guitars weave tension and texture, while Christina performs not to the crowd but with them. Even with early sound problems, the band never broke focus or hesitated they leaned into the moment and made the room feel alive.

That synergy is what transforms their set from a performance into an experience. It’s not about perfection; it’s about connection, catharsis, and intensity.

Gouge Away delivered the night’s most gripping set. It was a performance fueled by tension, grit, and the kind of visceral chemistry that slams into your chest. Their signature fusion of raw aggression and melodic depth, a feedback loop of pure energy; turned Warsaw into a single, kinetic organism. If this is the band’s baseline under duress, the West Coast leg of the tour is going to be unforgettable. Skip your obligations and make it a priority shows like this don’t just happen; they are necessary, total immersion events.