LANDMVRKS Feat. Silly Goose & Resolve

Phantom Light Media
Oct 3, 2025
5 min read

The French quintet known as LANDMVRKS represents what I would consider one of the greatest surprise success stories of the modern metal movement. They’ve been around since 2014, but have seen an absolute explosion in popularity in the last couple of years thanks to some incredible releases and a relentless touring schedule amid their home markets in Europe. Their US schedule, however, continues to be unpredictable due to the current touring industry - so the announcement of their headlining tour for their latest album was met with high excitement. With a stacked lineup in tow, the band rolled into Portland’s Hawthorne Theater at the end of September to deliver an absolutely killer show that I felt privileged to witness having just discovered Landmvrks at the end of 2024. Things were slightly soured when it was announced that direct support act Novelists (FR) wouldn’t be performing due to visa clearance issues at the Canadian border, but the show rolled ahead with three acts that promised plenty of good times and better riffs.

The evening opened with Resolve, a relatively young act from Lyons that blended classic metalcore riffs with some seriously intriguing electronic-ambient elements and sprinkled in a dash of truly excellent grooves. Bathed in blue and purple tones that evoked the stage stylings of Dayseeker and Kingdom of Giants, frontman Anthony Diliberto led his bandmates through seven songs from their 2023 record Human that set heads bobbing across the room. The less-than-ideal weather saw the opening crowd be smaller than usual, but the band’s resolve (sorry) was unshakeable. This was their first time playing in Portland and they were clearly just happy to be here playing music together. The absolute set standout was near the end of “Smile”, when Diliberto decided to get up close and personal with people. Standing on the barrier’s shelves as his guitarist and bassist (Antonin Carre and Robin Mariat, respectively) spun in place behind him, he exhorted the crowd to think of better times and to pull through the bad through the single’s upbeat lyricism. It certainly worked - people really seemed to come alive with a singer belting “When I see you smiling” directly in their faces. Just in time too, as Resolve closed their set with the tumultuous “Older Days” amid alternating trap and chug beats from drummer Nathan Mariat. This is a super unique song that features double guest vocals from Zelli of Paleface Swiss and Aaron from ten56, but Anthony crushed all of it with aplomb. They left the stage visibly happy, and I made sure to stop by their merch booth later to let them know just how much I’d enjoyed their set.

Second on the lineup tonight was an absolutely infamous group of musicians in the form of Atlanta natives Silly Goose. These guys are known for their pop-up shows and guerrilla/DIY attitude towards music, so much so that people seem to have seen them more in parking lots than in actual venues. Luckily, their involvement on this tour was fully and legally sanctioned, so we were treated to a beautifully unserious set packed with bouncy nu-metal riffs that could’ve come straight out of the early 1990s. Vocalist Jackson Foster kickstarted things by jumping at least ten feet from the stageside green room balcony and screaming “NOW DANCE” as their set got underway, and I knew immediately this was going to be a wild thirty minutes. I was not one single bit wrong on that front - the first round of crowd surfers appeared before the second song of my pit time was even halfway over, and the band members spent so much time in the air during choruses that I was genuinely having trouble keeping my focus settings straight. The Goose rocked a seven song set of material from their upcoming EP Keys to the City, plus a few from previous effort Bad Behavior. Things got really fun as they transitioned into new song “Neighbors,” filled with so much Bizkit-level swagger that I felt like I’d experienced time dilation and gone back a couple decades. They were funny, their music was really good, and bassist Yalli Alvarez was spin-kicking so fast I couldn’t even get his picture sometimes - all things I consider to be marks of an excellent support slot. As entertaining as their DIY shows are, Silly Goose really manage to capture and control their crowd’s attention in the confines of the stage like very few bands I’ve seen. Their antics lived up to their “do good, have fun” working ethos and that really translated into the energy of their set and the crowd’s response. I’m definitely going to have to seek them out next time they’re in town - apparently, their previous Portland show had been right outside the Hawthorne just a few years ago!

LANDMVRKS have spent the past few months playing mainstage slots at some of the biggest metal festivals in the world. We’re talking Wacken, Hellfest, Louder than Life - those kinds of festivals. Their crowd participation there has been absolutely insane with how recently they’ve smashed their way into modern popularity. A small venue like the Hawthorne felt like easy pickings for Flo Salfanti and crew, who sprinted onstage to the trance-beat opening notes of blistering opening single “Creature.” This song was the first release for the Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been promotional cycle and has quickly become a staple of the band’s live show thanks to its absolutely colossal choruses, which were stuck in my head for a full two weeks prior to the concert. The set pulled equally from Darkest Place and 2021’s Lost in the Waves, plus a couple deeper cuts from 2018’s Fantasy (“Scars”, “Blistering”) that filled the room with the high-speed and groove-laden riffs that have become synonymous with the band’s sound. Guitarists Nicolas Exposito and Paul Cordebard teamed up with bassist Rudy Purkart for several games of “When I say jump” to whip the crowd into a frenzy that saw the entire central area transformed into a mosh pit, one so big it even threatened the merch tables. I’m pretty sure I felt the floor actually shaking during the bouncy and energetic “Sulfur”, my personal favorite off this latest record and one of my most streamed songs of the year so far. Flo used the closing breakdown to “Rainfall” to show off one of the most disgusting tunnel-throat screams I’ve ever heard, lasting nearly 12 full seconds as he stood amidst cascading strobes and his audience beat the ever-loving tar out of each other before him. The way he transitioned seamlessly from those screams to rapid-fire rap delivery was genuinely awe-inspiring, and it’s no wonder he’s cemented himself as one of the most unique metal singers in the genre currently. The 15-song set flew by and before I knew it, it was time for the night-ending wall of death in “Self Made Black Hole,” one of the largest I’ve seen at Hawthorne in a while. A headlining Landmvrks show is something that really has to be seen and heard to be believed, and while it’s amazing the size of the crowds they command during festival season, I feel truly privileged to have gotten such a comparatively intimate performance where you could really watch and feel every bit of the technique with which they’ve crafted their music. Plus, they had customized socks at the merch table. Instant best purchase of September. The show was amazing, and I really hope they come back to some smaller venues before they start selling out arenas over here.