Above image via Instagram: @thenoskipshow
Giovanni Mori | Posted June 30th, 2025
You can go to as many high production stadium shows that come through your city as your heart desires. As much as anyone would want to see mainstream and household names live, there’s nothing that ignites the heart of your local music scene like an under the radar show.
On Friday June 20th, Beaver Falls’ Local 724 Studio, hosted by The No-Skip Show, presented four progressive and experimental rock bands comprised of exceptional young musicians who aren’t afraid to push the genre’s boundaries and share their craft with the Pittsburgh music scene. The lineup consisted of two Pittsburgh bands, Constellation X and Haven State, along with two touring bands, Lost Trees from Orlando, Florida, and Chidori from Atlanta, Georgia. All bands played their own unique 30 minute set, and kept the audience on their toes with every twist and turn the unconventional jazz inspired genre has to offer, let’s dive into each one!
constellation x
Photo by Giovanni Mori
Our first act of the evening, Constellation X, is a progressive metal band that takes their playing to new heights with odd time signatures, spacey guitar work, beautiful three part vocal harmonies, and ferocious screams, borrowing influence from other progressive metal titans like Dream Theater and Periphery. The band played many of their high energy and hard hitting songs off their debut album, Quasar, including the stompy “Sudden Disquiet,” the technical stoner rock-esque “Voyagers,” and even treated the crowd covering “The Blind House” from another one of the groups main influences and personal favorite bands, Porcupine Tree. I go into much more detail about the band in my interview with each member, along with a track-by-track review of the album, check out part one and two on my page or visit the links below:
YouTube: Constellation X – Topic
lost trees
Photo by Giovanni Mori
Coming all the way from their hometown of Orlando, Florida, Lost Trees’ music has a unique blend of EDM techno and metalcore, with each song full of melodic and synthwavey backing tracks under dropped tuned guitars and heavy percussion, all very common staples among more mainstream sounding bands of that style like Attack Attack and Sleep Token. In a brief chat with the bands vocalist, the Orlando group likens their style to the soundtrack of the video game Rocket League, which is full of synthwave and EDM music for unfamiliar listeners. With these combinations of different genres, Lost Trees have a way of making each song all the more soul crushingly beautiful and dark at the same time, this especially can be found in one of their most recently released singles, “Friendly Fire.”
YouTube: Lost Trees
chidori
Photo by Giovanni Mori
Chidori, touring with Lost Trees from Atlanta, Georgia, treats their fans and listeners to a more emo rock sound with whinier vocals, fry screams, faster tempos and progressions, and more video game inspired backing tracks as a nice cherry on top. While the music is slightly more sporadic and unhinged at times, the band successfully emulates the unpredictable nature in their live shows by thrashing their instruments in the air while the vocalist rag-dolls himself around the stage, and sometimes in the crowd! Chidori is for the fans of the classic volatile math rock sound with an angsty twist found in notable bands like Protest the Hero, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Dance Gavin Dance. Listen and watch the music video for “Armani Swiss Army Knife” off their early 2025 album, Microcosm Of A Midlife Crisis below.
YouTube: Chidori music
haven state
Photo by Giovanni Mori
Last but certainly not least, Pittsburgh’s Haven State was there to close the evening with intricate melodies, more odd time signatures, and exceptional guitar work. The Pittsburgh band is the most technical in the lineup as each eyebrow raising vocal melody hypnotizes you, and is an excellent pair with each crisp guitar lick that pops with each note. Despite some unconventional song structure commonly found in the music, the quiet and clean sections slow dance their way in your ears, taking your breath away right before throwing you down on the ground with heavy breakdowns and almost incomprehensible high pitched shrills, all of which can be heard in songs like “Running” and “Origami” off of their 2021 album, Adapt. Haven State show no signs of stopping there with the release of their newest single from 2024, “Hallway Maze,” check out the song and music video below.
YouTube: Haven State
There’s so much talent and exciting music existing right under our noses, it’s nearly impossible to keep up. Check out these four awesome bands, and visit your city’s smaller concert venues for more local and touring artists keeping the underground music scene alive, you may just find your new favorite band right around the corner!
Sources
“Chidori – Armani Swiss Army knife (Official Music Video)” YouTube, uploaded by Chidori music, 19 Nov. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA3JeTIAEgo&list=RDPA3JeTIAEgo&start_radio=1
“Friendly Fire” YouTube, uploaded by Lost Trees, 29 May 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watchv=2W1JRBSLV5M&list=RD2W1JRBSLV5M&start_radio=1
“Haven State – Hallway Maze (Official Video)” YouTube, uploaded by Haven State, 12 Dec. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udf4gBmEPcE&list=RDudf4gBmEPcE&start_radio=1
“Sudden Disquiet” YouTube, uploaded by Constellation X – Topic, 2 Jan. 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=568i5VQHi4o
The No-Skip Show [@thenoskipshow]. Show Promo. Instagram, 21 May 2025, https://www.instagram.com/p/DJ7GqSYORuY/
