Just as people were arriving, New England grindcore/hardcore punk band Escuela Grind took to the stage and immediately gave the audience a flavour of what the evening was to be. It was loud and fast with clean and tight blast beats as well as a nice guitar tone with lots of bite. They had relentless energy and from the first song, a decent sized pit was forming with singer Katerina jumping and bouncing around the stage like a hyperactive kid who had drank a ton of energy drinks
Read MoreYou do have to feel sorry for Gus G. He is one of the world's most sought-after guitarists (a modern-dayYngwie Malmsteen). For the last twenty-five years, with his main outfit Firewind, he has been a stalwart in keeping power metal's ornate flag flying. Yet here he is (with Firewind) supporting in a subterranean club that is probably smaller in size than his front room. The indignity is probably made even more pertinent by the fact that tonight's headline act, Beast in Black, have been in existence for a mere fraction of the time that Firewind have been hauling themselves across the globe. However, if Mr G does feel any level of petulance about the introverted nature of tonight’s billing, he certainly doesn't show it.
Read MoreTasked with opening proceedings on this night, a celebration of Life Of Agony’s 1993 Album “River Runs Red”, was Tarah Who?. There was quite a bit to like here from the notable grunge, punk & blues elements to the absolute shift put in by Tarah’s bassist and drummer. They epitomised what a backing band should do, giving Tarah a tightly knit canvas to showcase what her music is all about.
Read MoreSomewhere along the way Dying Fetus has become a big deal. Tonight, is near enough a sell-out, with over 500 tickets being shifted for a death metal gig on a Monday night. This is usually the graveyard shift and the reserve of no more than fifty or so aging men who should know better, slamming into each other as a last-gasp attempt to retain their youth. But not this evening, the vast majority of people here are young, really young. I would go as far as to say that a good proportion of them weren’t even conceived when I first clasped eyes on Dying Fetus supporting Nile at the late lamented Jilly's back in 2005.
Read MoreFor all its excursions into stadiums, fields, and aircraft hangar-size mega domes, the small capacity sub-basement club is rock 'n' roll's natural habitat. It’s where it excels, it's where it shows its true colours and it's where it feels most at home. Watching four skinny lads ply their trade on a stage no bigger than a kitchen table feels utterly timeless. These moments don't belong in any linear understanding of the passage of years, and they exist outside of the perceived construct of our time stream.
Read Moret’s been a while since we had the joy of an Impericon tour of any shape on our shores, what with that pandemic and what not, so this bill of modern heaviness is a true treat. First up are Boundaries who hit us with brilliant lashings of energy. Think of Hatebreed, Biohazard or Malevolence but with occasional Korn-esque high discordant guitar rings. There's definitely something more experimental about these guys than most deathcore or hardcore metal acts, and that’s especially true with the guitars going grindcore at times.
Read MoreWe are still in catch up mode. Evergrey were meant to visit these shores just as Covid first reared its ugly head. They then made another doomed attempt last Autumn as the pandemic’s tailwind still thrashed around the world. But finally, over two years late we are on. However, so much water has passed under the bridge they are now here to promote not one but two new records produced during the global slumber. Selective appeal is tonight’s watch word. Academy 3 is not particularly heaving but everybody here seems to both know and revere all of the three of the acts on offer.
Read MoreAnother day, another Finnish band to go and watch, hurrah! Tonight is another step outside my musical comfort zone, I’m not familiar with either band although I have seen and enjoyed a band connected to the headliners via their former guitarist, so I settle into my usual spot at the back and get ready to have a good old listen. This is because Club Academy, although a decent size and with decent sound, is a basement venue with a low stage and a lot of random pillars dotted about the place. The chances of a short person like me actually seeing much of the band is fairly minimal, although I do occasionally catch a glimpse of the tops of their heads!
Read MoreIn these days of media driven celebrity drivel- where everyone wants to be famous for 5 minutes for exposing their breasts, telling some seedy kiss and tell ‘story’ or dancing like a twat and sharing it for some unknown pointless reason on Tik Tok in the vague hope that someone will give them ‘likes’ and comment and praise them into thinking they are talented, real talent often goes amiss and shockingly overlooked. As does the term legend. Again, too often loosely thrown about, bestowed by corrupt media on any such non entity they deem deserved of that title.
Read MoreAnother day, another quite astounding metal package tour. Anyone would think that live music got canned for two whole years and that bands are busy trying to make up for lost time? A stacked bill means an early start time and those early doors means that we supposedly miss Brunhilde, then we later learn so did everybody as they don’t show.
Read MoreBritish AOR rock Gods FM are back in town in support of their new album; the recently released “Thirteen”, and with Grand Slam supporting, there promises to be somewhat of a classic and AOR rock party to look forward to, and with a wonderful blend of old and new material from both bands, it was certainly a case of value for money for a Saturday evening in Manchester.
Read MoreThere is a fevered atmosphere of anticipation in the Club Academy tonight. At some point over the last year (not sure actually exactly when) Lorna Shore have become a big thing, a very very big thing indeed. This is their first UK show since their transcendence from deathcore also-rans to the genre’s leading light and you can taste the sizzle of expectation in the air. This show has been bumped up venue sizes three times and still the sold-out sign is on the door. It is quite hard to decipher what has actually clicked with the tattooed masses squeezed in here tonight and my best guess is that it is Lorna’s Shore’s heady mix of intensity and humanity. They swagger and they rage, but they do so with an utterly relatable vulnerability. However, we have two other upcoming acts to contend with first before we reach the delectable main course.
Read MoreFirst up are Heriot who take to the stage with a backing track of digital hardcore style bass and crashing noise. The lights go red and they’re ready to go. A moment’s silence and then their vocalist screams “Manchester take a step forward!”. Blimey that woke me up. We soon learn that her piercing scream is actually also her singing voice, and is layered over violent blast-beats and a churning barrage of noise.
Read MoreThere is the mainstream and there is our world. Sometimes, like star struck lovers, they cross, but in the main we stay in our pre-designated lanes. Moonspell and Paradise Lost are unknown and uncared for in the world that sits above the Club Academy (I get quizzical blank looks from trendy students at the Union bar when I reply to their curious questioning of who’s on tonight). Both acts have heritage and a respective thirty and thirty four year pedigree, yet they have scarcely made a dent on the public psyche. They are akin to hidden treasures, worshiped by the throng of metallers and goths gathered in this subterrain haunt but ignored by everyone else.
Read MoreIt may feel like the world is returning to hell in its ever-reliable handcart, but if we are going to go down the crowd tonight at club academy are going to go down partying. I am not quite sure why there is such a jovial atmosphere tonight, maybe it’s the time of year or maybe it’s the promise of being in close proximity to living breathing superstar, but there is an air of a runaway hen do from the off. Openers Stitched Up Heart benefit greatly from this.
Read MoreGigs at Club Academy are always interesting, as the venue itself is pretty unusual. It’s the shape of the venue – it’s a club. Sounds obvious, but it does sometimes pose a conundrum to bands who don’t know how to bring the crowd together from various perching points on the stairs/ramps all the way down to the moshpit. No such problems for opening act Maid of Ace who are four sisters from Hastings that make full-on punk-rock. And they’re damn good at it.
Read MoreThree things we learnt from this gig. Number one is that GWAR do really take it up the arse, secondly that Voivod are still gleefully subverting Metal thirty seven years after they started and finally beetroot does not come out, of anything. For Metal fans of a certain age (i.e. a teen in the eighties and distinctly middle aged in this decade) this is both an intriguing and rather puzzling bill. You see Voivod were the champions of intelligent avant-garde deconstructed Metal. Their fourth album “Dimension Hatross” is the last word in complex progressive thrash and stood head and shoulder above anything else going on. GWAR on the other hand always seemed to be the last word stupid. Dressed in gross homemade costumes, they sang simple seemingly idiotic songs and poured suspect liquids all over their audience. But here they are in 2019 sharing a stage in Manchester.
Read MoreMy day job involves saddling up to the system and telling it that it needs to change. Prior to this evening’s show, the system went toe to toe with me, looked me straight in the eyes and made it very clear that it had no intention of changing. This had both a positive and negative effect on the day. On the downside, my sizeable ego and faith in my abilities took a considerable beating, but on the upside I was in the perfect frame of mind for an evening of relentless extreme Death Metal. Omophagia take to the stage at the ridiculously early time of quarter to seven, not sure who was there to witness their particularly vicious brand of Death Metal, I certainly wasn't.
Read MoreThe gig tonight has been moved from Academy 2 to Club Academy, which actually allows for a more intense and intimate event usually, tonight is no different. The support bands are both greeted by a decent size crowd as well, which is good to see especially on a Monday night. It’s interesting to see such a diverse demographic represented in the crowd as well, and that speaks to the unique offering of bands tonight.
Read MoreI have to confess to being a tad over-excited this evening as this is power metal royalty Kamelot’s first ever visit to Manchester. For a band of their stature and longevity that fact is at best an oversight and at worst rather embarrassing, though to be honest not wholly unexpected. You see power metal acts struggle to comprehend that the UK stretches beyond the north circular and visits north of the border (which in their minds lies around Watford) are a rare occurrence.
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