Killswitch Engage performs at The Warfield in San Francisco on April 18, 2019. Photos: Joaquin Cabello.

SAN FRANCISCO — Killswitch Engage and Parkway Drive brought their co-headlining “Collapse The World” tour to The Warfield Thursday night.

Killswitch Engage performs at The Warfield in San Francisco on April 18, 2019.

Modern metal rockers Killswitch Engage showed why they are usually credited as one of the most influential acts of the genre of the last 20 years, performing songs from their whole catalog with diverse combinations of metal sub-genres. The Massachusetts quintet opened with “This Fire,” “Rose of Sharyn” and “The End of Heartache,” delving far beyond metalcore. Crunchy riffs by guitarists Adam Dutkiewicz and Joel Stroetzel, and bassist Mike D’Antonio gave these songs an even greater hard-hitting effect in person. Set against this was Justin Foley’s heavy drumming and vocalist Jesse Leach’s sticky choruses and versatile singing.

The band closed with “Strength of the Mind” and a cover of Dio’s “Holy Diver.” Their set was a testament to heavy music, proving that it can go against the trend and still be timeless.

Parkway Drive performs at The Warfield in San Francisco on April 18, 2019.

Australia’s Parkway Drive brought metalcore and heavy music into the mix with songs like “Wishing Wells” and “Prey,” laying out some powerful breakdowns. Vocalist Winston McCall’s screams went great against riffs by guitarists Luke Kilpatrick and Jeff Ling, and bassist Jia O’Connor. Ben Gordon’s drum fills, meanwhile, drove Parkway Drive’s sound with maximum horsepower. The dynamics of the quintet’s catalog were evident in their set, going from a pure metalcore structure to a more European modern metal style.

Parkway Drive’s setlist didn’t leave out some of the most important songs of their career, like “Carrion” from 2007’s Horizons and “Karma” from 2010’s Deep Blue. 

Minnesota’s After the Burial showed why they are key contributors to the development of metal sub-genres like djent and progressive metalcore. As the group experimented with different sounds, soundscapes and playing techniques on songs like “Lost In The Static” (from 2016 Dig Deep and “Behold the Crown” from their new release 2019 Evergreen) it presented dual guitar dynamics that were backed by groovy riffs and dynamic chord progressions. It was everything from heavy and melodic to fast, intense and free-flowing. They ended the set with “A Wolf Amongst Ravens,” from 2013’s Wolves Within, to which fans screamed along.

Vein performs at The Warfield in San Francisco on April 18, 2019.

Vein (playing the Bay Area for roughly the 573rd time this year; we know, we’ve been to them all) opened the night with “Old Data In A Dead Machine,” erupting into an energetic performance of groove-based technical hardcore. With highly complex riffs, the Boston band gave just the right taste of where the show would go later. Frontman Anthony DiDio’s energy was impressive and in synch with the hardcore metal and mathcore sounds the band embodies. The band also included all the songs from its 2018 album, Errorzone, such as “Rebirth Protocol,” “Broken Glass Complexion,” “Doomtech” and “Virus://Vibrance.”

Follow photographer Joaquin Cabello at Instagram.com/joaquinxcabello.