Looking to be a mini Sounds of the Underground tour, Boston band All that Remains topped a bill filled with predictable sounds plus one band completely not in the right setting but won the crowd over anyway.

Lead by original Shadows Fall lead singer Phil Labonte , All That Remains showed major improvement in their hour long performance versus a previously seen show by this reviewer. Playing to a packed house at the Magic Stick, the band wailed through the opener “The Weak Willed,” off their new album The Fall of Ideals.

The new album is a shift of sound for the band, as most of the material played from their 2004 album This Darkened Heart was definitely typical unintelligible screaming over blast beats and monotonous riffs. But on the material of the new record, one can tell that the band is reaching out for that classic metal sound, with newer influences thrown in.

The band was more concerned with the fans being the best air guitarist they could be, than the usual mosh pits to see who is the last man standing. With blazing guitarist Oli Herbert in tow, the band wailed through stellar tracks such as “We Stand,” and the standout track of the evening, “Six” (which is ATR’s contribution to the new “Guitar Hero 2 ” game).

LaBonte and the band could see that the sold out crowd didn’t nod off during the set, as the mosh pits did liven up for the closer, the lead off single off “Ideals” and “This Calling.”

Wisconsin’s Misery Signals brought more of a standard metalcore vibe to the evening, but tracks like “The Failsure” was loved by the diehard fans but to the casual audience, it went fairly unnoticed.

Los Angeles’ The Human Abstract fared better, but it seemed like they were trying to steal back the thunder from the band before them, Omaha’s Cellador.

In a brief 25-minute set, Cellador had the fans eating up the entire scene from the first moment. With the band only able to play 5 songs, Cellador made the most of it. Lead singer Michael Gremio sounded like the second coming of Bruce Dickinson, while the dual thrash attack of Chris Peterson and Bill Hudson made us all think of Iron Maiden, and not the over-the-top riffs that Dragonforce is spitting out now.

If it weren’t for All That Remains set, it looked like the first band of the evening should have been the one playing all night.