Bringing its masks, face paint and its innovative style of metal music back to the Buffalo area, Cleveland's Mushroomhead stormed a packed Club Infinity in Williamsville on Sunday.

However, the seven-piece metal band was by no means the only band on the bill. Over ten different hard rock acts opened up for Mushroomhead and all the bands shared one thing in common: each one hails from Western New York.

"Keep helping these (bands) out," said Mushroomhead vocalist Waylon to the audience. "The only way they can make it is by guys like you coming out and listening to them."

Each band had their own distinct flavor as the first few bands featured different styles most starkly on vocals. The band kicking off the show on the front stage featured a singing drummer followed by metal band Axis on the main stage. One Last Night came on next with a pair of vocalists before another group that had a female on the mike.

"I think it's pretty cool (having two stages)," said Corey who drums for the band Frailty. "You get one band going and then it's non-stop rocking."

At the midpoint of the openers, Surreality unleashed its thrash-speed metal sound from a similar vein as Megadeth. Surreality preceded Kaged and its lead singer who bopped around the main stage like a Tasmanian devil. Hardcore act A Time To Stand next hit the stage.

After that, Frailty took the main stage and evoked the crowd into mosh pits and eventually a rendition of "The Wall of Death" scene from the movie Braveheart. The band is no stranger to opening for major acts, as it played on the same bill as STEMM a few months ago in Niagara Falls.

"At first we thought it was ridiculous having so many bands playing but it's been fun with all these bands and being in front of all these people," Corey said.

Frailty's success has come to them at an early age, as the band members are in their late teens. The group also features a pair of twin brothers on drums and guitar.

Following Frailty was metal band Forging Fears who played a tribute to the comic book character the Joker with their song "The Jokes On You." The Fracture then played next on the main stage before paving the way for the keyboard brandishing Kryszt.

Goth-metal act As Summer Dies played the last opening spot before Mushroomhead. The two bands share a tight history as they have played numerous shows together.

"(Mushroomhead are) awesome guys," said As Summer Dies drummer Rick. "You party with them and play with them 30 days in a row and they become like family, being nearly every waking second with them."

The five-piece had just wrapped up its own headlining tour that went along the East Coast.

"People were driving six to seven hours to see us play," said As Summer Dies guitarist Jay. "It was way better than we had been expecting."

Roughly five and a half hours after the first band opened the show, Mushroomhead took the stage in front of its antsy fans. The band opened up with "Bwomp" and "Before I Die" off of their 2001 CD XX, before going into "Sun Doesn't Rise."

About half way through the set, the group broke out a pair of water drums for the percussion pieces on several of their songs, dousing the front row of fans in the humid club. Certain samples played by the band also evoked some members of the crowd into some dance moved that aren't normally seen at a metal show.

Mushroomhead closed out the night with Waylon and the fellow vocalist Jeffrey Nothing, who was dressed like a possessed extraterrestrial butcher, getting the Queen City crowd to pump their fists in the shape of an "X."

"This is a great time for band in Western New York," Jay said. "This is the greatest amount of talented bands in years in Buffalo."