Rising from the ashes of Creed in 2004, Alter Bridge have the somewhat bizarre distinction of being an arena band who don’t like arenas and have also never had what you might call a hit to their name. They have won numerous awards over the last 22 years both as a band and individually, somewhat unusually kept the same original lineup, sold millions of albums, and are highly acclaimed as a live act ..
Read MoreRebellion is rammed tonight. Not in a passive “oh it’s busy” rammed, more like “can I not even stand at the back of the room by the merch” or “please stop breathing near me” rammed. It’s the busiest I’ve seen it in Rebellion for ages, and there’s a distinct hipster‑who‑doesn’t-go-to-gigs vibe in the room. I guess that’s what you get when you have genre-busting mainstream darlings like The Callous Daoboys headlining and an undercard of the excitingly novel Knives and Love Rarely. Let the games begin!
Read MoreGenuinely, heavy metal on a Saturday night at the O2 Ritz is a treat you should never pass-up on. Tonight we have an array of bands at different stages of musical development. Life Cycles bring the sharpened edge of modern crossover, Distant arrive armed with the kind of deathcore brutality we delight in, Revocation represent the old‑guard technical thrash lineage still fighting away, and Sylosis …
Read MoreRebellion feels cold in temperature but hot with anticipation tonight with three bands all wired with intent, all pushing their own flavour of atmospheric progressive metal. Headlined by the phenomenal MØL, what links them all is precision - three drummers playing like they’re chiselling their names into stone, three vocalists pulling emotion from both ends of the human register, and three ...
Read MoreIf there is an act that truly deserves the opportunity to step into the big league of enormodome arenas, that band is Motionless in White. They have worked tirelessly to build up the rapid and expectant fanbase large enough to fill a good proportion of this 22,000-capacity room. Their following has been accumulated through blood, sweat and rampant omnipresence. This is their eleventh show in ...
Read MoreAs Roy Schediour once proclaimed “We are going to need a bigger boat”. The Ritz is not just heaving; it is positively bulging at the sides. Whilst the box office inexplicably still seems to be trying to flog the last remaining tickets, there is scant room inside to breathe, let alone move. Jinjer have firmly graduated from potential to being a thing. What is really interesting is that the crowd ..
Read MoreTonight promises a full spectrum of musical extremity - slam, tech, thrash‑tinged death, and one of the pioneers of technical brutality in Cryptopsy. Four bands, one small basement room, plenty of rabidly enthusiastic death metal fans, and the potential for structural or even personal damage.
Read MoreWhat we have tonight is less a straightforward bill and more a kaleidoscope of alternative and melodic hardcore, each band bending the genre to their own will. Tonight is less about genre purity and more about evolution. Stick To Your Guns remind us of the roots, of the communal spirit of hardcore. Static Dress show us what happens when you twist those roots into something chaotic and dangerous. And Paleface Swiss prove that deathcore can be accessible, commanding, and even mainstream without losing its bite.
Read MoreThree Days Grace, are the true definition of cult heroes. They may well have shifted 10 million albums and singles worldwide but outside of the close-knit community that they have built, you would be hard pressed to point them out in a police line-up. The fan base is rabid, reverential and fiercely loyal but beyond those confines, they are at best also-rans and at worst a poor person’s Nickelback. Within that close fraternity of evangelical followers tonight is akin to a form of second coming. This is their first show in this city since they reunited with original singer Adam Gontier.
Read MoreFor anyone still bemoaning the lack of a new generation of festival headliners they should get a load of the rapid ascent of Bad Omens. In a little over eight years they have accelerated from Satan's Hollow, via the Ritz to command the cavernous enormity of the Co-op Arena. As Noah will confess latter on, they are 500 tickets of selling out the place. Bad Omens have achieved this feat by winning over a fanbase of fresh blood devotees, enticed by their emotive brand of metal.
Read MoreWhen is a support act not a support act? The answer is when it is a band as legendary the status as Megadeth. Whilst they are nominally the opener for Disturbed‘s 25th anniversary of “The Sickness”, these shows have become at least a double headliner affair if not an inverted proposition where the most popular act goes on first. Part of this newfound desire by the masses to catch Dave Mustaine and his latest musical luminaries is that we are approaching, apparently, the end. Now we are all a bit more wary after being hoodwinked by Slayer’s big “we are definitely going….oh we are back again” routine, but there is still a realisation that a world without Megadeth is a rather dull one indeed. We are promised a final self-titled album, due early next year, an open-ended jaunt around the world and back, and then the lid will firmly be put on Megadeth’s coffin.
Read MoreBury Tomorrow have secured their status as one of the UK’s most energetic, engaging and prolific metalcore bands over the past couple of decades. Tonight they headline the O2 Victoria Warehouse able to bring their show to the biggest stage yet. The whole bill is packed with talent from across the globe, and a variety of takes on metalcore, with sets from Siamese, Lionheart and Nevertel.
Read MoreO2 Ritz is the venue and tonight is the battle of pinched harmonics. Bleed From Within, After The Burial or Great American Ghost – who will win, you decide! But seriously, it's also a chance for me to once again catch a trio of superb metal bands that take tech, deathcore and metalcore elements and each create something unique in their own way.
Read More2460 days, 3 albums, and 1 UK festival headline appearance. This is how long it’s been since UK metal heroes Architects have taken to the stage in Manchester. Last time they were here, it was two nights at the Victoria Warehouse; tonight they're taking another massive leap and pitching up at Europe’s biggest arena. This Co-op live show not only marks the start of their largest UK arena tour to date but also is officially their largest ever headline show, even surpassing their Bloodstock appearance last summer.
Read MoreAt some point in the next few years, Parkway Drive will become only the second Antipodean act to headline Download. Their rise has been astonishing, from heavy as f*ck cult act to true arena-bothering spectacle. This is actually their second arena tour of the UK, but this time they have pulled out every stop to prove that their new position of festival headline and stadium blitzer is well deserved. The AO Arena isn’t full (the top tier is completely sealed off), but those of us who are here will be regaling tales of this night for a good while to come.
Read MoreTonight brings us back into Rebellion for a couple of this reviewer’s favourite French experimental metal bands – ten56. and DALI. Sandwiched in between them are Chicago’s VCTMS and Copenhagen’s superb CABAL. Each band brings the heaviness but also their own unique and modern take on metal that should excite as much as it delights.
Read MoreWhat do you get if you mix deathcore metal, happy hardcore and dubstep? No, this isn’t a joke. The answer? The Browning. It shouldn’t work but it does magnificently, and tonight we’re treated to them live in Manchester for the first time in six years. Ably supported by The Defect and the ever superb Polar, we dance into the night.
Read MoreTonight’s gig showcases some of the different elements of hardcore punk. It’s beatdown heavy one moment, thought-provoking the next. Melodic and soaring then brutal and passionate. One of the best bands at interlacing all these aspects are the headliners Stick To Your Guns.
Read MoreIt does feel somewhat surreal having a titanic thrash gig in Chester on a Tuesday night. There’s no escaping that fact. But the three bands on tonight’s bill have travelled from overseas and Chester isn’t a place to disappoint such commitment! The Live Rooms has a queue before opening and a healthy crowd from the off. I say healthy as in numbers, because it’s a gloriously motley crew of battle jackets, thrash t-shirts and punk hoodies on display for the mighty Vio-lence, Exhorder, and Kuazar.
Read MoreFittingly for Easter Sunday, Jesus has decided to make his long-anticipated return at tonight’s show. Gama Bomb vocalist, Philly Byrne, deadpans with surprise “Oh you're back, you should see what's being said about you and also what they are doing in your name and by the way after the show can we have a quick word about what's happening to kiddies in Ireland”. However, when “Jesus” gets on stage to dry-hump Philly during ‘Give Me Leather’ it becomes clear that he is a costumed imposter as opposed to the actual second coming. What it does show, though, is the sense of fun around this evening's proceedings. There is a general air of irreverence, as Sam from openers Raised by Owls eloquently puts it, metal is just angry panto.
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