Nonpoint + Upon A Burning Body
Vanguard
August 26, 2025
A few years back, Nu Metal one-hit-wonders-turned-MAGA-trolls Trapt went moderately viral for their terribly attended Tulsa show at the Shrine. The picture is hilarious, showing only two spectators sitting down and not exactly taking the music on headstrong.
This wasn’t the case for fellow Nu Metal single-hitters Nonpoint at The Vanguard last Tuesday, here on tour with Texas deathcore group Upon A Burning Body. Nonpoint jerseys and shirts littered the smokehole out in front of Vanguard, along with Carnifex, Korn, and Suicide Silence merch. The place was nearly full when UABB took the stage beneath two massive steer skull effigies.
Being mostly allergic to anything “core,” I had speed-briefed myself on UABB's catalogue right before the show, and the opening track caught me off guard. Expecting deathcore’s blast-beats and beatdowns, I was instead greeted with mid tempos and harmonized clean singing over an un-riffed and heavily chorded chorus. Think Nickleback with pig squeals.
The next song had them eschew the post-grunge “Butt-Core” sonics and make good on the breakdown assault their singer promised. I was curious whether modern-day Nu Metal fans would even know how to behave during hardcore breakdowns (the half-time chuggy riffs that turn people stupid and make them punch and kick), and the fans push-moshing around the one guy doing karate in the pit confirmed my suspicions. I know I sound less than enthusiastic, but it’s only because this music simply isn’t for me. The crowd, however, loved it, and the diversity in age and ethnicities in the room felt like a salve in our currently burning zeitgeist.
All manner of pigmentation was present in and around the pit, too. The ages ranged from “old dude who probably runs the Gravitron at the Fair,” all the way down to a girl no older than seven, kicking her Chuck Taylors together on her father’s shoulders.
Though they’re not my style of metal, UABB brought the house down, and got a few more hardcore dancers in their dojo before the set's end.
Nonpoint, on the other hand, I knew.