Live Review : Borders + Where Oceans Burn + InRetrospect + Waterlines @ Satan's Hollow, Manchester on November 20th 2022

We’re back at Satan’s Hollow on a Sunday night for a stacked line-up of tech-metal bands. In my opinion it’s a real who’s who of up-and-coming or seriously under-rated bands, and it’s all in honour of Borders’s album release tour for “Bloom Season”. The interview with them is one of the most fun and interesting interviews I’ve done for ROCKFLESH (see it HERE), and they don’t disappoint with their set later on either, but first there’s the plethora of great support bands to talk about.

First up are Waterlines, who remind us that they are most definitely not Sertraline. But of course they were, but with the switch from Lizzie to Ben Mars on vocals, and a new track released, they’ve made the decision on the change of name. Some of those Sertraline tracks still naturally fill-out the set, and it’s great to see Ben making those vocal lines his own. They’re obviously as impressive a tech-metal outfit as ever, with exceptionally intricate yet melodic guitar work and dynamic tight syncopated drums, and in Ben they have a vibrant frontman with plenty of vocal variety and talent. The new song is as well constructed and as catchy as their previous work, and the whole set gels holistically. The guttural, clean and barked vocals are thrown out with passion and skill, harsh yet not too bellowing or indecipherable, and reminiscent of Kaan Tasan from Heart of a Coward. In fact, there’s a real HoaC feel to Waterlines now, or even at points Monuments. Closer ‘Isolation’ is delivered superbly, and I expect the band once again to kick-on over the next year.

In Retrospect take to the stage and set their stall out without having to asked twice. The Leeds-based five-piece fuse elements of Crystal Lake and Architects to create techy-metalcore that is very listenable and accessible. There’s plenty of backing track, but also loads of live intricate guitars and powerful, soulful vocals. Atmospheric riffs and luscious clean vocals give way to some much more brutal low screams and jagged musical punches. In that manner they are similar to InVisions in structure and style. The sound balance is a little off for them, and the nuanced guitars are lost in the mix at times, but that doesn’t detract from the overall performance. Frontman Nathan Biddles in particular is unmissable, with his Howard Jones and Chris Barretto style vocals, and I’m sure we’ll see plenty more of these guys very soon.

Main support are the brilliant Where Oceans Burn. They continue to impress me every time I see them, and I can’t believe they haven’t taken off more than they have. Maybe they need a killer single or album to just allow them to explode into the public conscious. As ever it’s the guitars that drive the main focus of the songs for me, and continue to give them that Northlane feel. I think they’re embracing each of their roles and influences in more balance now too though – that makes me think suggesting them to fans of Polaris and in particular Within Destruction. The harsh vocals from Alex Wilkinson are brilliant, with intense vocal fry segments aplenty, and as always you can’t keep your eyes off guitarist Ben Charleston as he ducks and weaves, blue hair bobbing, and guitar wielded with expertise. Tonight the whole band seem to be more professional and slick than I’ve ever seen them with Calum Osbaldiston holding everything in place with his dynamic drumming. The stage performance from every member of the band is assured and confident, and notably the backing clean vocals from Ross Coey are so much stronger and sit just right in the sound now. New track ‘Dysmorphia’ is stunning, and I really do hope this band get their deserved big break sooner rather than later. 

And so to our album releasers and headliners – Borders. As I’ve said many times, they never ever disappoint, and tonight they are simply on fire. Their techy-groovy-rap-metal is exciting, catchy, refreshing and quite simply awesome. They’re as tight and note perfect live as they are on record, but in-person you get even more engagement, enthusiasm and passion from them as well. Each band member is a performer as well as superb musician, and furthermore you can feel from their energy that they love delivering these personal songs to a welcoming audience. The energy flowing from guitarist/vocalist Gavin Burton is infectious, the groove and swagger from bassist Tom Britton a delight, intricate driving beats from Daniel Hodson pounding your chest, with frontman Jordan “JJ” Olifent bounding about with dynamically delivered rap and heavy vocals bringing a grin to everyone’s face. The joy both onstage from the band and offstage form the crowd is palpable, and all of the new material goes down a storm with the whole room. The venue is bouncing and moshing for Borders (a bit too much for the venue at times in fact!) and the result is a passionate, vibrant and very personal feeling performance. They’re even better than when we saw them recently supporting Dropout Kings, and I can’t overstate how slick and thrilling the switches between techy-rap and riff-heavy metal are, complete with thundering bass and jagged guitar, seeing rap-chatting juxtaposed with visceral deathcore growls…but it works seamlessly and like it was always meant to be. Fans of Hacktivist have to check out Borders as they honestly do dial it up another notch. As they said to me in our chat, they’re simply a group of friends doing a band, but they deserve to breakthrough massively, and hopefully “Bloom Season” will give them that moment. The fact it is music that a group of friends want to make, perform and share just makes it that bit special, and closer ‘Fade to Black’ is the perfect end to a fantastic night. Now, where’s that picture of JJ seeing a rainbow for the first time…

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos! Borders, Where Oceans Burn, InRetrospect, Waterlines