Live Review : Hypocrisy + Septicflesh + The Agonist + Horizon Ignited @ Academy 2, Manchester on October 7th 2022

AKA – A Pain Girl goes to a Hypocrisy gig

How was your summer? Mine? Oh nothing special, caught covid and missed Metaldays in its entirety. My 13 year old came to Bloodstock and made me leave the tent before Machine Head started. Neither of them were particularly good experiences, although I did meet a lovely gorgeous doctor though. After a few months of dating I was pretty taken with him, but sadly he drove me home one day and had the Libertines and Fratellis on his Spotify. Yuck. It was never going to work.

I am absolutely ecstatic for a bit of normality coming back into my life after a summer of festival fails, and as ROCKFLESH very own self-professed Nu-Metal Princess I am more than a little excited to jump headfirst into what is usually our Stewart’s speciality. 

Horizon Ignited have come to us from Finland with so  much enthusiasm and joy on their visit to our miserable little island.  Opening to such an empty hall at unreasonably early 6.15pm feels a little unfair on the guys, but they take it in their stride, working in plenty of fist bumping and devil horns.

 They are predominately a melodic death act, with vocalist Okko switching effortlessly between soaring cleans and ferocious hard vocals. The band being a sextet allows an incredibly rich and powerful sound to ring out across the venue, and the audience who are here respond well to the bands performance. I even see a one man circle pit. You go for it mate, I love the enthusiasm before 7pm. 

Offering something a bit different is Montreal's The Agonist. A synchronised head windmill from all 3 guitarists in the opening moments makes me smirk momentarily... I love cheesy moves like that, it brings me joy like I cannot describe... 

The lyric perfect diehard fans rush to the front as they take the stage, and it quickly becomes apparent the jewel in the crown is front woman Vicky. Her voice just soars above the music, and whilst her growls are super impressive, the tone and quality in her clean is spine-tingling. 

I’ve always wanted to see Septicflesh in a room, having only ever watched them outdoors at festivals, so I move myself nice and close to the front. It’s no secret my taste in metal doesn’t usually venture over to anything too black/death/symphonic, but I have been openly in love with Septicflesh for many years. All I can describe it as is when I listen to them, it feels like I have been punched in the gut but in a good way. It’s always resonated with me, and I remember standing in the evening glow of Metaldays in Tolmin years ago and thinking “Oh wow I really love that band”. 

Seeing them here in Manchester does not disappoint at all, it’s everything I hoped it would be and more. In fact it’s so good, I take no notes and have to really think hard about what I witnessed as I type this up. 

The setlist moved impressively throughout the various  eras of the bands history, with newer song ‘Neuromancer’ really delivering that punch in the gut I love so much. ‘The Vampire From Nazareth’ causes the mosh pit to open up, and by the time the band play ‘Anubis’  the audience is whipped up into a complete frenzy. 

One thing that I took away from tonight that I didn’t get from festivals in the past was an energy and warmth in Septicflesh, mainly radiating from frontman Spiro. The whole performance was absolutely spectacular; I am beyond grateful for Septicflesh giving me nearly an hour where I didn’t once think about real life.

Headliners tonight are Hypocrisy, fronted by the astonishingly talented Peter Tagtgren. It’s probably no surprise that I love Pain, and I always believed Tagtgren was the more talented half of Lindemann as well (sorry Til, you know I love you too), so I am excited to also see Hypocrisy in a room, as last time was also outside on a big stage at Bloodstock. 

Coming out after AC/DC’s ‘Rock and Roll Train’, the band kick things off with titular track ‘Worship ‘ in a solid start that the audience goes absolutely crazy for.  Tagtgren muses about every day feeling like a Friday and scolds the security for dropping crowd surfers coming over the front barrier. 

I loved ‘Eraser ‘ and ‘End of DisHclosure’ , and adored having the opportunity to stand at the edge of pit and let the crushing riffs wash over me. Death metal might not be my bag, but honestly, it’s fun to do different things from time to time. I really enjoyed Hypocrisy’s set, it stormed through about 15 songs and the crowd were obviously very much in love with them, but I think I’m always going to be a Pain girl at heart. 

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!