Live Review : Higher Power + Static Dress + Fate + Last Wishes @ Star And Garter, Manchester on November 12th 2021

First on are hardcore thrash merchants Last Wishes. We’re only about five bars into the first song and the roundhouse-kick-brigade are in full force. This guys sound a lot like Madball or Terror, and when they hit their stride remind me of very early Stick To Your Guns. They’re intensity and passion is contagious and the energy in the room remains high throughout their set. They do lose my attention at points with repetition within songs, and the guitar tone is a tad tiring with the nu-metal mid scoop. However, in between the brutal thrash elements there are those groove aspects that set good from mediocre apart in this genre, and it’s really enjoyable to have those delivered in a young band like this so confidently.

Fate are next on…and then almost immediately off again. They only play a few songs, and it’s only later on that I click that (I think I’m right in saying) a couple of the band members are also in Higher Power. It makes sense to have this heavier more steam-rolling band in a complementary role to the alt-metal stylings of Higher Power, but the thrash intricacy is lost with their lumbering approach. Without the necessary definition in the sound of any element it becomes hard going. The guitar is a very strange buzzy tone and is immediately lost in the mix. The frontman seems to be bellowing rather than singing/shouting, and with the bass also a mushy churn and rubble it all seems a bit of a mush.

Static Dress, like Higher Power and Fate, hail from Leeds. I immediately take to this band as they engineer and conflate a lot of aspects from a couple of bands I love, namely Every Time I Die and Glassjaw. The structures and songwriting are so aligned to ETID with schizophrenic guitar riffs and surprising changes in direction, but the vocals from Olli Appleyard are one hundred percent Daryl Palumbo. There’s a real alt-jazz-metal vibe to a lot of it, that Refused feel, with some excellent musicianship. Whilst Static Dress are clearly a post-hardcore band, there are also delightfully unique elements I can only liken to The Locust…or dare I say former Leeds cult grindcore band Nurse! Prep the Patient (yes, I was bass player with them lol). I’d say the key thing to note is that, unlike the previous two bands, it's the spaces between the violent musical attacks that make difference, allowing the light and dark and room to breathe. The crowd absolutely love every second, and I really was excited to discover this band tonight.

Higher Power fill the tiny stage and I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. They’ve not been able to tour their second album “27 Miles Underwater” since its release due to the pandemic, so I’m eager to take in all the songs live for the first time. Higher Power are on paper a hardcore punk band…but they’re so much more than that. They deliver a delicious mix of alt rock and hardcore, which in turn makes them almost nu-grunge. There’s even elements of Filter and Deftones in their sound, but undoubtedly the likeness is consistently to Jane’s  Addiction. As many note, this is in no small part to Jimmy "J-Town"  Wizard’s vocals, which are the closest I’ve ever heard to Perry Farrell’s style and delivery by anyone. His vocals are totally on-point tonight as well.

Once the vocals come up in the mix the sound tonight is spot-on and the guitars cutting through just right. It means some of those unique nuanced grunge-chorus effects are more apparent then when I’ve seen them before and that’s fantastic, the genre-crossing sound of stabbing guitars and funky licks build to swelling and soaring choruses. The catchy tunes burrow into your head leaving earworms you’ll not quickly shift – I should know as along with loads of the crowd I’m singing along to at the top of my voice. I can’t wait to catch these guys live again soon and see what new material after this touring cycle brings.