Live Review : Polaris + Alpha Wolf + Great American Ghost + Stepson @ Academy 2, Manchester on September 18th 2022

It’s a Sunday evening, and a fairly early start at that. But that doesn’t stop the crowd filling up quickly for first-on support Stepson. The Brisbane, Australia based hardcore band set about their work with enthusiasm and vigor. Elements of Touché Amoré and Our Hollow Our Home can be seen in their sound, and their jagged guitars provide the perfect backdrop to Brock Alan Conry’s raw emotive vocals. There’s a cohesion and groove to their performance and songs, and they’re at their best when using the melodic vocals sparingly. That cohesive presentation of the band live, their music, the lyrics delivered emotively and with purpose really entices the crowd.

Next up are Great American Ghost, a hardcore band from Manchester…but not that Manchester, in fact the Boston, Massachusetts one. They don’t take any prisoners, smashing straight through their furious set. They’re very much the metal end of hardcore, with pinched harmonics and hardcore vocals, piledriving their sound at the impassioned crowd. Enigmatic vocalist Ethan Harrison is as brutal in his performance as he is charismatic – racing round the stage frantically, living every word he aggressively barks to the crowd, before making his way up to the front barrier, and at one point into the crowd surfing and singing. The entire band are excellent and engaging throughout, keeping the listener on their toes with some more nuanced passages and thrashy elements thrown in as well. I’m honestly a massive fan of these guys now.

Main support on this tour are Alpha Wolf, and to be honest there seems to be a large portion of the crowd who are at the very least here for them as well as the headliners, if not primarily for them. For anyone that thinks all metalcore is ruined by the inclusion of clean vocals needs to check these guys out. Not because they’ll change their mind, but because they only deal in catchy, furiously intense, full-on bludgeoning metalcore heaviness. Visually striking, with manga stylings a theme running through the band, they are masters at grabbing you immediately and taking you along on their sonic journey. The track ‘Akudama’ encapsulates everything awesome about this band, with yelled hardcore vocals, guitar and bass viciously ripping and slashing away, all to a backdrop of drums blasting through the set. It’s like Emmure, ten56. and Northlane having a massive mashup jam after being told some very, very infuriating news. For any fans of this kind of genre they’re a must to get into, and the crowd are totally invested in these guys from start to finish.

Headliners Polaris have come a long way since I first saw them a number of years ago now. Tonight, they demonstrate how professional and polished they made their product, with the live show perfectly delivered and the catalogue of songs varied and filled with catchy memorable tracks. They’re excellent from start to finish, mixing techy-metal, hardcore and metalcore effortlessly. Jamie Hails prowls the stage supplying brutal, rasping unclean and shredding vocals, and the distinctive clean vocals from bassist Jake Steinhauser dart in strikingly at the perfect moments. The guitars are intricate yet punchy, jagged and technical, and the rhythm section drive the entire sound thunderously. Polaris gigs always engage the crowd fully, and their encouragement to savour every second of their set is lapped up by everyone in the venue. Polaris are close to a massive breakthrough, and it’ll have been worth the wait.