Live Review : Bury Tomorrow + Make Them Suffer + Thornhill + As Everything Unfolds @ Academy, Manchester on November 23rd 2024

If this tour was to be given a subtitle it would be ‘The Ascendancy of Metalcore’. You see it is not just sold out; spare tickets are changing hands for silly money and the Academy is heaving from the get go. Whilst many of us feel inclined to sneer at it and give it a verbal kicking where possible, metalcore is not just alive and well, it is slowly but surely becoming the dominant force in our world. Every band on this ticket are treated like royalty by an up-for-it and positively youthful crowd. Very much feels like both ascendancy and ascension, the moment the next generation take full charge. 

As Everything Unfolds are on opening duty and are even more vulnerable and fragile then usual. Their drummer and front-person’s Charlie’s partner, Jamie Gowers, tragically passed away suddenly and with no outward warning in late August. His passing has devastated the band, and these are their first shows post this traumatic and life-changing event. It is obvious that they are still emotionally wrought and there is at least one moment where Charlie needs to leave the stage to compose herself. But they still manage to show why they are strongly fancied and critically revered. They come out fighting, transmogrifying their collective grief into pure elevating passion. 

They are hurt, shocked, confused and missing an essential component, this is all obvious. But they are also determined to honour Jamie’s legacy and the commitments that they have made. It is therefore a heart-wrenching performance full of pathos and raw-emotion. They end by thanking their fans and the rest of the bands on the tour for supporting them and sticking by them over the last few months. What happens when they fulfil these contractually obliged shows is unclear and probably still undecided. What is clear though is that even when playing through the pain they are a formidable act.

Thornhill are sending hearts a flutter and pulses racing. They haven’t even hit the stage, and we are being serenaded by a chorus of screams and inpatient catcalls. They maybe in the foothills of the billing but it is obvious that they have already cultivated a rampant following. Their brand of metalcore is fiercely commercial but with several fruity twists. They experiment with the atmospherics, creating a dense wall of reverberating noise. It's aggressive but in a conciliatory and contoured manner. Basically, its metal for those who like a little bit more than meat and two veg in terms of its structure and style.

The kids up front absolutely adore them. The bodies begin to fly as an impressive pit springs into life, allowing the sweaty masses to bounce around in blissful adoration. Their presentation may well be slick and well-rehearsed, but they still manage to have an energetic and improvised feel. The band seemed genuinely touched by the adulation they receive and with a new album in the can ready to drop next year they seem to be on a firmly upward trajectory. 

If it was starting go pretty crazy out front for Thornhill, it hits a new level of insanity for Make Them Suffer, and they are not even the headline act this evening. They are certainly the heaviest and unrepentantly brutal act on offer tonight and the intensity ratchets up and never wanes for their forty-minute set. Musically they have shifted quite a lot over the last 16 years and five albums. Their self-titled new album sees them drift towards a more electronic (yet still rampantly raucous) sound that brings EDM influences into their palette. To aid that transition they have brought Alex Reade into the fray on keyboards, sequencers, and occasional additional vocals. 

The two competing components of their sound haven't quite gelled yet and you can feel the evident clunk when they shift from new stuff to order material. There is however a transition in motion and the response that the songs from the last two albums receive show that the audience have not only embraced this new iteration of the band but may well prefer it.

Bury Tomorrow’s have taken the long and laborious path to their current exalted position. Over seven albums they have slowly but diligently built themselves both a reputation and a dedicated fanbase. The fact that the Academy is not just sold out but packed to its very gills proves that this methodical approach, that has seen them never deviate or sell themselves out (they still resolutely refuse to charge for meet and greets) has completely paid off. The look of both pride and satisfaction in Daniel Winter-Bates’ eyes is blindingly obvious. On numerous occasions this evening it stands on the lip of the day and just surveys the chaos that has been unleashed in the name of his band. For the rest of the time, he prowls the full vestige of his performance area staring the crowd down and spitting out his lyrics as if they were laced with poison.

It's not clear whether this tour is a pre-emptive strike for the new album or an exercise in blowing off cobwebs after a chunk of time in the studio. What is apparent though is that a (short) absence has indeed made the heart founder. It is not an audience that is here on spec or for the privilege of beating merry shit out of each other. This crowd adore Bury Tomorrow with a capital A.D.O.R. and E. Every song is sung back to them at top volume. It is as if they have gained a slightly makeshift choir of 2,600 miscreants, intent on out staging and out singing Daniel on every occasion.

Whilst a new record is indeed imminent, they seem content to wring the last drops of goodness out of previous release “The Seventh Sun” presenting us with five of its delectable nuggets as well as the two non-album but connected singles DEATH (Ever Colder) and LIFE (Paradise Denied) . We don’t actually reach any further back than 2016's “Earthbound” and if there are any negatives to be found (the performance itself is just faultless) it is that lack of earlier material from the first three albums. But really that is just nitpicking. They are astonishing in both of their heft, swagger and musicality. They are a band absolutely comfortable in their own skin and in who they are. They have done all their growing up in front of prying eyes and have reached a juncture where they know where they fit in this world and have the sold out signs to match that confidence.

With While She Sleeps and Bury Tomorrow both looking capable of emulating Bring Me The Horizon and Architects leap into the stratosphere of arenas and festival headline shows, Britain suddenly has an eminent and venerable modern metal scene capable of emulating our cousins from overseas. By reaching this pinnacle at their own speed and without sacrificing their integrity, Bury Tomorrow are all the better for it. For the first time in their career, they are now in pole position, and if “Will You Haunt Me, With That Same Patience” is as good as the single foretell, the world is indeed their oyster.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Bury Tomorrow + Make Them Suffer + Thornhill + As Everything Unfolds