Stitched Up Heart

Live at The Roxy Theatre

West Hollywood, CA

September 8th, 2016

Review and photos by Travis Baumann

Stitched Up Heart are a Hard Rock band that falls across genre boundaries, as they dip into Gothic Metal and more aggressive Heavy Metal, with growled vocals on some songs as well.

Focused around founding vocalist, Alecia "Mixi" Demner, their sound will appeal to fans of bands like Lacuna Coil, Amaranthe, In This Moment, Halestorm, Huntress, and even Evanescence.  I love all those bands (although I don't really listen to the last one to be honest). Joining Mixi on stage are, Merrit Goodwin on lead guitar, Randy Mathias on bass guitar, James Decker on drums, and Nick Bredrosian on rhythm guitar.

I am fairly new to the band, having just heard of them with the release of their latest album, "Never Alone", which came out earlier this summer. I pretty much became an instant fan however, as they have that certain quality that juxtaposes the beautiful and melodic with the harsh and abrasive in just the right concoction.

They started the set off with "Finally Free", which also opens their album, and is a great anthemic song showcasing Mixi's beautiful voice. Her songs are uplifting in that they portray hope of breaking through the things that hold you down in life, whether they be relationships, environmental and societal hazards, personal setbacks, or your own mind.

The guys in the band lend backing vocals, ranging from clean to growled utterances, sometimes blending with Mixi's span through those polar shifts, and sometimes moving opposite to emphasize either side of her voice.

They played "Turn You On" next, which totally reminded me of The Genitorturers in a good way when I first heard it. She is a strong woman who takes no crap with lyrics like, "I'll make you wish that you never talked back to me.  I can't wait to watch your ego bleed, but all the pain you feel will set you free."

"Event Horizon" is one of their singles from the latest album and has an Industrial Rock layer of electronics underlying its Metal backbone that brings to mind Amaranthe in the best possible way (maybe its the mention of a Nexus in the lyrics, either way I love it).

They did the title track from their new album, with "Never Alone". I really appreciate the Industrial/Gothic type sounds they utilize in addition to some more conventional hooks and song structures.  The combination creates songs that are immediately accessible yet pushes it further into the dark places I like my music to go.

"Catch Me When I Fall" is definitely one of their more accessible songs and I imagine would go over well with people who listen to all different genres of music. Mixi is very dynamic on stage, sometimes staring down her audience, other times she has her eyes shut tight as she belts out heartfelt verse and chorus.

Everyone left the stage except the drummer who beat out an aggressive drum solo before everyone returned for their home town anthem, "City of Angels" which got the local Angelian crowd excited.

They finished the set with the other single from the new album, "Monster". This song features some of Mixi's harshest moments as she screams and shouts, but then goes beautifully melodic in the blink of an eye. "Nothing can hold me down", is the theme, there is a monster deep inside of her and she will rip you to pieces if you try to break her.

It was a good show. Mixi is animated and gestural, pulling you into the performance. The band seemed to be enjoying their home-town performance as much as the audience, it was a definite good vibe.

Click the banner above

to return the navigation page of the

Virtual Night Angel

website