Distant start the show and immediately slam the early eager punters with their relentless Dutch deathcore sound. Their approach is delightfully brutal, seamlessly blending the most savage elements of tonight’s headliners with others such as Whitechapel and Thy Art is Murder, with the added gritty hardcore undertones reminiscent of Malevolence.
Read MoreI'm going to give up trying to second-guess the musical whims of Manchester's metal hordes. I thought tonight would be heaving. I thought I would have to fight through battalions of metal warriors to get a decent shot at the front of the stage. You see in my head Distant are not just a buzz band, they got a bloody great air raid siren going off. They gave Lorna Shore a run for their money when they supported them last year and the new album is quite simply the last word in minimalistic brutality. I really thought everybody else had also got the memo that these are the new messiahs.
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.
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