O2 Ritz is the venue and tonight is the battle of pinched harmonics. Bleed From Within, After The Burial or Great American Ghost – who will win, you decide! But seriously, it's also a chance for me to once again catch a trio of superb metal bands that take tech, deathcore and metalcore elements and each create something unique in their own way.
Read More2460 days, 3 albums, and 1 UK festival headline appearance. This is how long it’s been since UK metal heroes Architects have taken to the stage in Manchester. Last time they were here, it was two nights at the Victoria Warehouse; tonight they're taking another massive leap and pitching up at Europe’s biggest arena. This Co-op live show not only marks the start of their largest UK arena tour to date but also is officially their largest ever headline show, even surpassing their Bloodstock appearance last summer.
Read MoreTonight, Manchester is metal city, but there is a distinct air of age demarcation going on. If you are under 35 then you are off to Co-op Live to witness Architects' ascension to greatness in Europe’s biggest arena. However, those of the disposition of being over 35 you are heading to the Academy for a stunningly retro celebration of a musical art form that is now well into its fifties. This iteration of Thrash of The Titans brings together all the distinct flavours of the flash in the pan movement that steadfastly refuses to die. We have new blood from South America in the shame of Nervosa, teutonic terror from Destruction, old school thrash/death hybrid from Obituary and a headline stint from a band that should be king, the almighty and still thoroughly underrated Testament.
Read MoreIt is now de rigueur to describe the early 90s UK metal scene as a bit of a desolate wasteland laid bare by the cataclysmic influence of grunge and American alt-rock. Whilst Seattle’s influence was far-reaching, in West Yorkshire, something quite incredible was forming. Whilst Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride (and Anathema over on Merseyside) were aware of each other, their brands of Gothic metal developed independently of each other. More a collection of bands with shared influences than a scene, it still proved that not every new act wanted to sound like they came from over the pond.
Read MoreThis evening is all about expectation. Blood Incantation blew everyone away last year with an album that challenged the very core of our music. “Absolutely Elsewhere” topped every end-of-year chart going (including our own), and the furore started to build about seeing these songs come to life in a live context. The size of venues on this tour is a massive step up for a band that has previously haunted the tiny but legendary Nambucca in London (now horribly gentrified). The expectation is both how the astonishing Tablet suite (that makes up the whole album) is reproduced in the flesh and also how Blood Incantation cope with their sudden, but well-deserved, transfer to the big league.
Read MoreAt some point in the next few years, Parkway Drive will become only the second Antipodean act to headline Download. Their rise has been astonishing, from heavy as f*ck cult act to true arena-bothering spectacle. This is actually their second arena tour of the UK, but this time they have pulled out every stop to prove that their new position of festival headline and stadium blitzer is well deserved. The AO Arena isn’t full (the top tier is completely sealed off), but those of us who are here will be regaling tales of this night for a good while to come.
Read MoreStorm Amy is blowing a hoolie in Manchester for the goth invasion that is tonight’s show, and the New Century Hall loos are full of tattered black-clad children of the night re-applying their black eyeliner and re-spiking their black hair.
Read MoreIt’s been over 40 years since Tyla J Pallas first stepped on a stage and announced the formation of his new band The Dogs D’Amour. Over those years band members have come and gone, albums, poetry and art have been released and the world has continued to turn. As the heart of the band however, Tyla has doggedly (did you see what I did there?) continued to offer his louche, slightly dishevelled, not always sober presence and his distinctive gravelly voice to an adoring public.
Read MoreProphetically, Refused’s 1998 third record “The Shape of Punk to Come”, has become the most important punk album since “Never the Bollocks” careered into our collective lives. However, at the time it was a commercial bomb and was scorned by the band’s ferment fanbase. It was so ill thought of, that the derision sent the band into a tailspin that they never recovered from. They partially limped through a traumatic American tour only to implode during an internal flight to Atlanta, Georgia. It was only after their demise that people started to see the astonishing depth of this unparalleled prog punk masterpiece.
Read MoreA euphoric crowd can make a show. The audience becomes the twelfth man, enhancing the performance and turbocharging the atmosphere. Tonight is one of those instances. It might be a Thursday night in that very Mancunian of seasons, second summer, but those in attendance are ready to party like it's 1999. It is a smorgasbord of goblin masks, pointed ears and party hats. Rather than become a cauldron of repulsive toxic masculinity, the pit this evening is a fabulous, inclusive maelstrom of energetic fun. There are Push-ups, rowing, and whale rides in this wild communal orgy of ridiculousness. The geniality and good-natured preposterousness is intoxicating and resonates far out across the venue, attaching everyone and every act to its gravitational pull.
Read MoreThere are albums that are born out of time. Records that are created in one era but steadfastly belong in another time period. Recordings that feel as if they have fallen through a hole in the space-time continuum. Earthtone9’s seminal third offering “Arc Tan Gent” is one such effort. Unveiled in 2000, it was birthed into a world where metal was back but was obsessed with “Nookie”, papercuts and smashing a baseball bat against a steel drum. “Arc Tan Gent” was slight, cerebral and highly intelligent. It married metal, prog and hardcore into an unholy trinity of sound that resonated righteous anger but was thoughtful about its disdain.
Read MoreSome things just seem to go together naturally. Strawberries and cream. Tea and cake. Rum and coke. You get the idea. Well, whoever came up with tonight’s pairing for a rock tour is a genius because The New Roses and The Mercury Riots also work pretty well together. Both play good classic rock music with singalong choruses and a happy, uplifting vibe. Both are lovely guys who don’t leave the building until every single person has had something signed, or a photo, or just a chat. Both seem to be thriving on this tour and pulling decent crowds into iconic venues such as the Tiv.
Read MoreGood things come to those who wait, or more literally, cacophonous, impenetrable noise comes to those who wait. Portal are a veritable enigma. The Australian noise mongers have existed in some form for over 30 years, yet visits to these shores have been few and very far between. The last time they were here (in fact, the only other time they've been here) was for the late lamented Temples festival in 2015. With some acts, this lack of physical contact would breed contempt or even apathy, but with Portal their absence has added to the mythology and expectation.
Read MoreTonight brings us back into Rebellion for a couple of this reviewer’s favourite French experimental metal bands – ten56. and DALI. Sandwiched in between them are Chicago’s VCTMS and Copenhagen’s superb CABAL. Each band brings the heaviness but also their own unique and modern take on metal that should excite as much as it delights.
Read MoreThey do say that once is never enough, so it’s with a great deal of pleasure that we head back to the Motorsport Lounge for a second round of splendid music in a good setting. This time we get the grand tour, including the garage which now houses some of the classic vehicles that used to be on display here. It’s always good to learn something about both the history and the future plans of a decent venue, and it seems that the Motorsport Lounge is going to go from strength to strength in the coming months and years. Watch this space!
Read MoreAs the summer turns to autumn, so we see the festival season give way to the return to touring gigs. It’s a welcome return indoors as the weather turns nasty and we seek our heat and kicks in sweaty, dimly lit venues that we know and love only too well. Tonight brings us back to the O2 Ritz and while it’s not packed to the rafters, it’s filled with genuinely eager fans for the seminal metalcore legends Poison the Well.
Read MoreTonight we are here to celebrate the return of local band Mad Haven in their hometown venue. The nucleus of the band, guitarist/vocalist Tom Rogowski and drummer Alex (his brother) have had a rough time of it this year. Events unfolded which pulled the rug of their planned future out from under them, so it’s good to see them here again recovering their poise and smiles with their original band.
The Motorsport lounge has undergone something of a transformation since our last visit. Although the original upstairs bar and stage remain, tonight they were in darkness as we tested a new, bigger stage with a new, bigger bar and a new, better sound on the ground floor. Pleased to report that all was good!
Read MoreWhat do you get if you mix deathcore metal, happy hardcore and dubstep? No, this isn’t a joke. The answer? The Browning. It shouldn’t work but it does magnificently, and tonight we’re treated to them live in Manchester for the first time in six years. Ably supported by The Defect and the ever superb Polar, we dance into the night.
Read MoreOn a night when much of the population of the UK was glued to their television screens to witness the England Lionesses make history for the second time, those of us of a more ghoulish and rock-inspired persuasion are gathered to behold the trio of devilish delights that Madhouse Promotions have unleashed on the city this hot evening. For tonight is a night of delicious darkness, a seductive walk in the shadows down the left-hand path with three bands to slake your thirst for rock n’ roll devilry and debauchery.
Read MoreWell, hats off to Unleash the Archers. Their one-off London show back in February was completely sold out, but instigated the usual online comments of "Why only London?” or “There is more to the UK than just the capital” or simply “Come North!”. Now most other bands would see these sorts of interactions as collateral damage and occupational hazards. But with Unleash the Archers, it struck a particularly empathetic chord. Hailing from the wastes of British Columbia, they were used to having to travel miles and miles to Vancouver or even over the Border into Seattle to see the bands that mattered to them. So, they listened to the impassioned pleas to come to Nottingham, Glasgow and Manchester, found three spare days in the middle of their European Festival trek, hired a cheap and cheerful van and headed North…
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