Live Review : Skies Turn Black + Andromedous + Sundown Marathon + Bad Heritage @ The Outpost, Liverpool on April 10th 2025

It’s not often that you get to go to a gig with a heads or tails nature. On this particular tour, co-headliners Skies Turn Black and Andromedous are just that though. They are flipping who is last up at various venues on the tour, and tonight that distinction goes to Skies Turn Black, but Andromedous are hot on their heels. The thing is, what you have here are two bands at total opposite ends of the Metal spectrum. On the one hand, a melodic power metal band with strong hints of AOR, on the other an aggressive electrocore outfit with masks and a rhythm section in a box. 

We start though with a couple of local bands. Bad Heritage are a female-fronted, female-guitared, sharp, punky, spiky crew. The singer has hair like Hailey Williams from Paramore, and the music is in a similar vein too. It’s indie rock, from a band who are mad at their dads and want to shout about it. The performance is good, the sound is good and in amongst their own songs is a cover of The Pretty Reckless’s ‘Make Me Wanna Die’, which to be fair is no better or worse than their own stuff. They are likeable and fun, and warmed the crowd up nicely. 

Next up were Sundown Marathon, who came on in a fairly unassuming manner and proceeded to pretty much blow our socks off. Do you remember the heady days of 2001, when Jimmy Eat World released “Bleed American” and every other band suddenly had a floppy fringe, adidas trainers and a penchant for bouncy pop-rock? Well I suspect that some of this band were no more than toddlers back then but they have captured the sound of that era perfectly. They have amazing energy, the songs literally fizz with enthusiasm, and the whole room is suddenly jumping up and down a little more than they expected to. There’s scouse humour, and a rather cracking version of Anastasia’s ‘Left Outside Alone’, performed at a tempo that you can bounce to! For fans of bands such as You Me At Six, Don Broco or the aforementioned Jimmy Eat World do try and check this band out, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

So where would you say the technocore capital of the world is then? Scandinavia maybe, they love a good synth sound in Norway and Sweden. The Germans too excel at making odd noises and exploring the dark side of music. The UK’s south east where you may encounter a stray Enter Shikari on your travels is a bit of a hotbed. Somehow the shabby genteel seaside town of Weston-super-mare isn’t somewhere that immediately springs to mind though! However, this is where Andromedous came into being, and presumably where they practice their particular brand of angry witchcraft when not on tour. There are four band members, all in black, and the 3 with instruments are also sporting black masks. The singer meanwhile continues the black theme with a beanie and shades, and a bad attitude.

At the back is a sound box that is the mainstay of the sound, with two seven-string guitars keeping it riff-laden in front. They have played at “The Takeover” at Download (which gives smaller bands the chance to be exposed to a massive audience) and gone down well, but here in this intimate setting the sound is somehow much more intense. It’s captivating, even hypnotic, and draws you in even though it may not be your normal “thing”. The vocals are a blunt instrument, harsh and uncompromising – this band don’t have energy to waste to be mad at their dads, they have probably just buried them under a patio somewhere and moved on. The guy at the back continues to push buttons and twiddle knobs and dance – he’s like a more technical version of Bez from the Happy Mondays! The sound that is produced is extraordinary, varying from clashing atonal white noise to gentle classical melody in a crazy, scintillating, mesmerising mash-up. For the last song the masks come off and the band join the nodding, bopping crowd on the floor, leaving everyone breathless and astonished. It was definitely an experience. 

Last up tonight are Skies Turn Black, a band with its origins in Huddersfield which is also not really renowned as a hotspot for metal activity. This band however seem determined to put it on the rock n’ roll map, and produce a set of breathtaking complexity and power. You know they are going to be a bit different when you see the lineup, drummer, tall, dancing bass player whose instrument is both headless and fretless, two seven-stringed guitarists and a keytar. Oh and three microphones, for the first time tonight we are in for some very overdue backing vocals.

What a glorious cacophony they should be able to make, and indeed they do. They start with some decent twin-guitar trad metal, reminiscent of Iron Maiden or even Helloween, crunchy double riffs with some time changes and clean vocals. It’s old-school, and solos are not only expected but mandatory, even though a lot of them are actually duets. The keyboards add an extra element to the sound, padding it out and making it fuller and richer. They can play fast, sounding a little like Dragonforce, or they can slow it down and be more like listening to 80s Magnum – there’s a splendid display of versatility on show right from the start. Every now and again we get a harsh vocal from lead singer & guitarist Jamie, nicely counterpointed by a Halford-esque scream from keytarist Xander; it gives them a grand and rather impressive range of vocal sounds.

The music varies too, from funky piano (like Supertramp on speed!) through to sharp alt.rock double riffing that puts you in mind of Avenged Sevenfold. As if you’re not confused enough, they then produce a song that is like Linkin Park if they played AOR. They have just released a new single ‘Angel’ and that too features fab vocals, proper guitar solo at last and even a clapalong bridge and a woah-oh chorus – be still my beating heart!

Bassist Danny is, it seems, their secret weapon. He keeps the complicated rolls coming, in time, in tune, on the stage or in the crowd, and let me tell you that this boy can dance at the same time! They produce their signature song ‘Skies Are Falling Down’ and it’s anthemic power metal at its best, driving your feet to move and your head to shake before you even know what’s happening. They finish with a rousing speed-metal version of Norwegian electro-pop masters A-ha’s ‘Take On Me’ and the crowd whirl and giggle because it’s joyously uplifting. 

So there you go. Four bands, four genres, four totally different sounds in one night. There’s already a camaraderie developing between Andromedous and Skies Turn Black, evidenced by them happily grooving to each others’ music even though they are so different, and it kind of brings home that no matter how intense the sound of metal there’s something in it for everyone.  

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Skies Turn Black + Andromedous + Sundown Marathon + Bad Heritage