Tonight the inaugural UK deathcore tour organised by promoter Dead Species rolls into Manchester after starting off in Newcastle last week. As a Brucey bonus Draconian Reign have been added to the roster after having to miss the first date due to illness within the band. First to take to the stage are Bournemouth’s To Obey A Tyrant. This blackened deathcore band first came onto our radar after seeing them on the new blood stage at Bloodstock Festival in 2023. They had triumphed in their local metal to the masses competition and made a sizeable impression on those gathered in the tent a month back.

They bring their savage approach to deathcore to Rebellion tonight with their sound channelling deathcore titans such as Carnifex and Lorna Shore. They achieve this by adding symphonic elements to their corrosive instrumental cacophony. The vocals even borderline on slam squeals at times as the massively talented Brandon Singleton prowls the stage like an animal hunting its prey. Unfortunately for them the crowd size is easily outnumbered by band members and crew as they start, and a few arrive in the time during their 5 song set to fill the room a little. Despite this a mosh pit breaks out and the band give 110% to the fans who came out nice and early and are treated to an insanely tight set. Fans of bands such as Lorna shore, Signs Of The Swarm and Ingested definitely need to get this band on their radar.

Existentialist take to the stage next, thankfully the crowd has grown further as the unadvertised early start time had caught a number of people out. The Colchester based 5 piece emerge dressed head to toe in black with their own respective Squiggle printed on their back. There’s also an orchestral/symphonic backing track which continues through the entire set. These could very easily be mistaken for the deathcore titans Lorna Shore, there’s clear influence from the orchestral elements to the animalistic noises the vocalist makes but this is by no means a bad thing. During ‘Embers of Uncivilly’ they order a mosh pit which they duly gets, not a big one but a mosh pit nonetheless.

Beyond Extinction are next up. This four piece hit the boards and go from 0-100 in an instant guaranteeing easily the biggest pit of the night so far. Musically it’s tough to pigeonhole their sound, but a way it could be described is a “This is exile” era Whitechapel merged with the hardcore elements of bands such as Emmure and Paleface Swiss. The vocalist tells the crowd he wants people to lose IQ points from head banging so hard. Not difficult with a band this heavy considering the sonic reverberations from the bass is busy knocking cups over on stage. They are finally joined on stage by the vocalist of Existentialist for the final song ‘Gravedigger’. 

Draconian Reign perform next, bringing their super dark and heavy take on deathcore to the stage. Now by no means is deathcore a soft genre, but this is a different level of heaviness but it still feels trained unlike death metals untrained cousin Slam. Vocally, it’s mostly guttural with some high goblinesque vocals thrown in there for good measure. Before they take to the stage there’s an eery silence round the venue and it’s not hard to see why a majority of the crowd are wearing their merch as the set instantly goes to light speed and stays there. There’s no mosh pit for these but weirdly it feels too refined emotionally for that sort of primal activity. This is music where you can close your eyes and get lost in the refrains. There’s a few people headbanging and joining in vocally but a majority of the crowd are stood there in awe of this masterclass taking place in front of them. Even more depth is added thanks to backing vocals by one of the guitarists. During the last song a circle pit does finally break out right at the end.

Last but most certainly not least are Osiah. Here at ROCKFLESH we have witnessed this powerhouse of a deathcore band on previous occasions such as supporting Viscera over in the Star And Garter to more recently playing an incredible set at this year’s Bloodstock festival so we are excited to see what they offer up tonight after smashing previous shows. They are as savage as ever and completely own the stage. For the first time tonight we have two stepping in the pit and even though it’s a small crowd both the band and the crowd are lapping to the atmosphere. If tonight showed anything is that the uk deathcore scene is most certainly alive and well and anyone else catching a date on this tour, you are in for a real treat.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Osiah + Draconian Reign + Beyond Extinction + Existentialist + To Obey A Tyrant