Twenty-five years is a long run for any band; for one built on the overlap of grindcore ferocity, jazz fusion complexity, and avant-garde unpredictability, it borders on improbable. The Number Twelve Looks Like You, the New Jersey mathcore group formed in 2001, arrives at Rec Room on October 29 less than two weeks after the release of Howls From The Holographic Heart, their first full-length studio album in seven years, and the timing is not incidental.
About the Show
The Buffalo date falls on the penultimate night of the band’s x Twenty-Five tour, a 25th-anniversary run that also brings a newly remastered vinyl edition of their 2007 album Mongrel via Equal Vision Records. Worth noting for upstate readers: Equal Vision is an independent label based in Albany, which means the band’s catalog has had a local address since well before the streaming era. Howls From The Holographic Heart, produced by Jeremy Cormitas (whose credits include Senses Fail and Chiodos), Trae Titus, and guitarist Alexis Pareja, spans 12 tracks the band describes as ranging from chaotic screamo to salsa death metal and progressive pop. Thematically, the album draws on pandemic reflection and anti-violence messaging; lead single “Joy Is A Weapon,” featuring Foxy Shazam, puts it directly: “Sometimes the most powerful act of rebellion isn’t fighting back—it’s finding joy any way possible and refusing to be broken.” Frontman Jesse Korman was equally candid about the record’s ambition: “We don’t want to live up to what everyone just expects of us, and at this point in our career, we have nothing to lose.” He has called it “a timestamp of the duration of seven years.” Differences, a metalcore act on the East Coast leg of the tour, opens.
Venue & Logistics
Rec Room, at 79 W Chippewa St. in Buffalo, is a 300-capacity bar and music venue. The scale suits a band that has spent 25 years on math-metal’s margins: intimate enough to feel intentional, not so small it reads as retreat. After Dark presents. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.; show begins at 7:00 p.m. Age restriction: 16 and older with valid ID; those under 16 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian; no one under 12 is admitted.
Tickets
No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. Tickets are available through TicketWeb; delivery is digital, sent two days before the event. All sales are final; no refunds unless the event is cancelled or postponed. Buy tickets