The pounding of blast beats, screeching of guitars and gruff growling vocals often associated with the "metalcore" genre of music came to life when the Boston, Massachusetts-based Unearth played at Club Infinity in Williamsville Friday night.

Metalcore, the blending of heavy metal with hardcore, is often labeled as a variety of music that lacks stellar musicianship. However, Unearth and Toronto's Protest the Hero, who was one of four opening bands on the bill, proved this to be a myth.

Unearth's sound consisted of the metalcore essentials: heavy guitar riffs and scruffy, barking-like singing. However, the presence of actual guitar solos and vocalist Trevor Phipps having his own unique voice separate the five-piece from the many copy cat bands that plagued the genre.

"Unearth is metal at its finest," said Matt from Lancaster in regard to the band's status in the current hard rock music scene.

Unearth's distinctness was most prominent on the songs off of the band's new album The March, such as tracks like "My Will Be Done" and "We Are Not Anonymous." But some of the best received songs of the night came off of Unearth's older albums like "Giles," "Sanctity of Brothers" and "The Great Dividers."

"I love the energy (Unearth) brought and it's good to see all the fans get into heavy music and I love them giving a shout out to the Bulls and Sabres to the crowd," said Jeff from West Seneca.

Protest the Hero also exhibited many of the same traits as Unearth albeit with a tad more melodic approach. Their guitarists scorched the fret board throughout, eventually concluding with "Sequoia Throne."

"(Protest the Hero's) guitar players are crazy," Jeff said. "They played some riffs that seem impossible."

The Acacia Strain, Whitechapel and Gwen Stacy also opened up the show. Whitechapel and Gwen Stacy neither brought anything to refreshing to the table, as the former played a sludgy set of tunes with a heavy death metal influence while the later sounded like an As I Lay Dying rip-off.

Meanwhile, the Acacia Strain vocalist Vincent Bennett may have had the quote of the night. In between swearing at the world and Victory Records, he had a mini-rant criticizing the often ridiculous clothes that some people where at concerts that drew a round of applause.

"I've been to a lot of hardcore shows and they are not fashion shows," Bennett said. "Get rid of your tight jeans and get a hair cut."