I noticed they're scheduled to hit Houston (Scout Bar) this February. I was thinking about checking them out.

Are they any good live?

This probably depends more on the quality of the venue than the performance of the artists themselves. I've seen awesome bands at shitty venues that sucked, and I've seen crappy bands at good venues that rocked.

If I liked the venue, I would go, and form an opinion after.

If you like the band.. and have a chance to go, why not! And totally agree with the poster above me...

just to add a comment to his.. just cause the venue is small doesn't mean its bad, and just cause the venue gets lots of shows doesn't mean its good.

Alot of the smaller venues have much better sound, as they don't have to distribute the sound as wide.

While i'm not going to the show (not worth the drive to va), the support is actually really good, as Blackguard is one of the Pegan metal trend that has started to become popular in the metal underground, and Threat Signal is one of the better of the so called Metalcore bands.

Yeah, exactly.. Many of my favorite venues hold less than 1000 people. Some just a few 100.

I thought Threat Signal was awful when I saw them with Sybreed.

Lucky bastard, I'd definitely go if they came to Orlando or even Tampa. I think if you are a fan of them you should go. I'd consider it as a plus that you can see them in a small club and not a huge amphitheater like they might play in Europe.

With a band like that who knows if you'll ever see them in the states again. I'm surprised it was financially feasible for them to tour in this economy.

their label (nuclear blast) prob helped pay alot of the fees to tour the US. The only foreign bands that seem to have trouble playing the US are the ones that end up having Visa issues for what ever inane reason.

On the plus side, visa issues can work out in my favor. For instance, Hypocrisy not making it into the US, and will subsequently not be opening for the inferior Ensiferum.

that tour already happened, and from what i read, the band was able to make the US fine, just the singer had issues

The singer is part of the band, they didn't play on the tour. End result is still the same, regardless of my knowledge of when the tour finished. Once Hypocrisy fell off, I didn't care about Ensiferum.