Live Review : Collateral + Before The Storm + Cry For Mercy @ The Live Rooms, Chester on May 13th 2022

Tonight’s main support should have been Empyre, but unfortunately they have been hit by the dreaded ‘rona (get well soon guys) so local band Cry For Mercy were drafted in to open the show instead. They are a 3-piece outfit from Wrexham, and they open with just a guitar and vocals, which I quite like. Unfortunately though this is due to a technical issue rather than by design, and once someone works out how to plug the bass in the sound gets a lot better! The style is bluesy, but in a commercial and catchy way, and it’s OK. My first thought on hearing them is that they sound a bit like Thunder.

Live Review : Metal 2 The Masses Merseyside Heat 3 @ Zanzibar, Liverpool on May 13th 2022

Metal 2 the masses, Bloodstock’s gift to small dingy venues the length and breadth of this fair isle (and beyond). In many ways, it represents what we at ROCKFLESH towers are all about, celebrating the rich and diverse talent that exists in our vibrant metal underground. This is Liverpool’s heat 3, Deified has cancelled due to illness but it as still pulled an eager crowd, happy to spend their Friday night watching bands and throwing beer at each other (more about that later).

Gig ReviewAuthor : Stewart Lucas16 May 2022ZanzibarAutopsya, Nesh, Mad Spanner, ZanzibarComment

Live Review : Fit For An Autopsy + Ingested + Enterprise Earth + Great American Ghost + Sentinels @ Rebellion, Manchester on May 8th 2022

It’s an early Sunday evening start for a very heavy night at Rebellion, and New Jersey progressive metalcore crew Sentinels are first up. They prowl the dark stage in sinister fashion with a mysterious electronic backing-track before exploding into an exciting, high energy set. The best way to describe them is a tech-metal Malevolence, but they cover way more bases than that suggests.

Live Review : Hacktivist + Lake Malice + Rosen Bridge @ The Bread Shed, Manchester on May 7th 2022

Rosen Bridge are up first in The Bread Shed tonight having made the short trip from North Wales. They immediately crank out their crunching tech-metal akin to Northlane, InVisions and Architects. They’re not as slick and smooth live as on their recordings, but still offer an interesting and entertaining performance. The harsh vocals bite and slam into the front row, but the cleans seem troubled by the dry house sound tonight.

Live Review : Helloween + HammerFall @ The Academy, Manchester on May 4th 2022

Power Metal, that most maligned and ridiculed of Metal many sub-genres. Tonight, is a heavyweight tussle between two of its premiere league exponents. In the red corner, Helloween who conceived the whole bloody genre back in the eighties and in the blue corner, HammerFall who have kept the flame burning (and held the hammer aloft) since the mid-nineties. If you like your metal bloated, bombastic and free of irony then this is a marriage made in Valhalla, if not I would bugger off and watch the football.

Live Review : Gary Numan + Divine Shade @ O2 Academy, Liverpool on May 3rd 2022

Every now and then I get a ROCKFLESH assignment that turns out to be on a level so beyond exciting that my cold dead shattered heart suddenly bursts into a joyful rhythm of what I imagine sounds like Industrial drums. I reckon my heart beats sound like Nine Inch Nails. And tonight my heart is beating for the Gothfather of Electro himself…. Gary Numan.

A few years ago me and our Gregg were sat having a pre Thy Art Is Murder pint in Grand Central in Manchester. It was our first time working together and we started chatting about who we were into. We both settled on one name.

Live Review : Stöner + Slomosa @ Academy 3, Manchester on May 2nd 2022

Ahhh. Kyuss. The great could have been of modern metal. There was a point where they were set to inherit the earth. However, line up jiggery-pokery and record label indifference led to their dissolution in 1995. Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri would go on to form the far more successful, far more commercial, and simply just not as good Queens of The Stone Age. However, Kyuss left a legacy. A legacy that would grow and grow in prestige and scale to the point where their influence now far outweighs anything they achieved in their short time of actually being active.

Live Review : Architects + Malevolence + Sleep Token @ First Direct Arena, Leeds on May 2nd 2022

It’s time for ROCKFLESH to hit another arena, and this time myself and Ryan (complete with escort to and from the photopit) have the pleasure of scooting across to Leeds for a May Bank Holiday Monday treat! Armed with my 2 pints cup of cider I make my way into the standing area for openers Malevolence. I’ve noticed loads of their tees in the crowd, so it’s no surprise then that there’s a great buzz about the place, and a soon to be vicious pit opens up before the band have even made it on stage.

Live Review : Xentrix + Damnation’s Hammer + Tortured Demon @ Academy 3, Manchester on April 30th 2022

Due to guest list shenanigans, we only get down to the Club Academy (or cellar as it was known in my day) for the second half of Tortured Demon’s set. Annoying, but on the bright side we still get to see three tracks. Putting aside their youth, the most captivating thing about Tortured Demon is that they perfectly capture the raw turbulent energy that thrash was initially all about. They may be rough around the edges, and they may in places feel unrefined, but none of that matters because what they have at their heart is a chaotic connectivity that makes them a delicious live proposition.

Live Review : Dub War + Bad Earth + Fly-52 @ The Live Rooms, Chester on April 28th 2022

“You’re not on the list. There is no list. Oh you might be on the list. Wait here” is never a good start to the night, but a bit of negotiating and flashing of screen shots later, we’re in on this pleasant spring evening.

First up tonight is Melodic Alt Punk Welsh rockers Fly- 52. A reasonably new project riding the waves of the recent pop punk revival, Fly-52 play like a band who have been at it for years, as opposed to forming in 2021. Whilst crediting the likes of Blink 182, New Found Glory, and Sum41 as their influences, it’s an entirely different band I pick out whilst listening.

Live Review : Feeder + Dea Matrona @ The Academy, Manchester on April 29th 2022

First things first… it’s busy! And not just that, I am unprepared for how “normal” the majority of the crowd look. Momentarily forgetting how spoilt I have been recently with all the metal gigs and more eclectic musicianship. My weirdo beacon is shining brightly as I head to the front to check out the support band. Last time I was in Academy 1 it was to see Skindred, so this all feels very different.

Live Review : Scarlet Rebels + The Karma Effect + Before The Storm @ The Tivoli, Buckley on April 29th 2022

Tonight kicks off with Before The Storm, a local-ish band from Wrexham who play radio-friendly rock that crosses a number of genres. I didn’t catch any song titles but the band were competent and the music was OK. Personally I wasn’t keen on the vocals, the singer has a flat, nasally style that is like nails on blackboard to me. Don’t get me wrong, he can sing, he has both power and range, just not to my personal taste.

Live Review : Discharge + Assert + The Big I Am @ Rebellion, Manchester on April 27th 2022

It’s a sleepy Wednesday night, but Oldham punk band The Big I Am are determined to kick the night off with a bang. Despite the small early crowd they excitedly bound through their old -school punk rock. To me they're reminiscent of Janus Stark, with some gruff singing and mix of surf-rock style vocal lines and twangy overdriven guitars.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Matt Fraser28 April 2022RebellionDischarge, Assert, The Big I Am, Rebellion, Manchester, 2022, Live Review, Matt FraserComment

Live Review : Gaerea + Wode + Gospelheim @ Star And Garter, Manchester on April 26th 2022

So, hats off to Tapestry promotions as this is one of those bills you look at and go “corr! that’s a bit of alright”. Star and Garter is rather busy from the off, though the audience seem to be playing a truncated game of “What time is it Mr Wolf”, standing as far back from the stage as they can without it starting to look or feel uncomfortable. A revamped and expanded version of Gospelheim are first up and it is (putting all the John Badger stuff to one side) a very different band to the one that I witnessed at Factory in September.

Live Review : The Treatment + Piston + South Of Salem @ The Tivoli, Buckley on April 22nd 2022

What a bill to be touring together. One established band with a great reputation, one new-ish band who are also building a solid fanbase for themselves on the club circuit and one (in my opinion anyway) of the most exciting new bands on the scene right now. I had to be there. You should have been there too! No seriously, although we are now “living with” covid the unfortunate aftermath of that is that an awesome bill like this at the Tiv was woefully under-attended. The crowd was enthusiastic, and a reasonable size, but for such a great bill in such a great venue it could have been better. I mean come on, the Tiv even has new post-lockdown carpets so you don’t stick to the floor any more – what more could you want?

Live Review : Stone Broken + Mason Hill + The Fallen State @ Academy 2, Manchester on April 22nd 2022

I tend to compile my reviews in my head as I watch the band in question. With Stone Broken I had already decided that I was going to major on the fact they have successfully managed to combine slick, well-rehearsed arena rock with a real feeling of genuality. There is down to earthiness about them, like they have managed to remove the pomp and pretension form a musical art form that is swathed in it. And then the incident happened that curtailed the show and Rich Moss proved his spurs as an utterly decent bloke and showed that he has inexplicably managed to avoid all the egotistical trappings that comes from leading a band.

Live Review : Monuments + Kill The Lights @ Academy 3, Manchester on April 22nd 2022

There’s a massive mix of rock, metal and punk punters in the Manchester Uni bar tonight, as we see a band from each genre filling Academies 2, 3 and Club. It actually makes for a vibrant and exciting energy in the building and a chance to catch-up with other Rockflesh staff for a pre-gig pint. It’s soon time for Ryan and I to make our way up to Academy 3 though, and despite having a photo-pass tonight I take up position just to the side of what will become the moshpit.

Live Review : Ginger Wildheart & Jon Poole + Carol Hodge @ The Waterloo, Blackpool on April 21st 2022

It’s always good to get back to the Waterloo for a gig, and tonight is no exception. I’m even more delighted to discover that they do KISS rum behind the bar – and I’m not driving! Result! So with a large one in hand I settle in for a perhaps somewhat more gentle than usual assault on my aural senses.

Live Review : Led By Lanterns + Tribeless + Hunter & The Wolves @ Satan's Hollow, Manchester on April 21st 2022

There’s a fair few gigs on in Manchester at the same time as this offering, so it’s great to see a decent crowd turning up early and eagerly for this varied bill. First up are local support Hunter & The Wolves who offer us their take on rocky alternative indie. They remind me very much of Hot Hot Heat, and quite clearly have plenty of influence from The Strokes. There’s definitely a heavy American alt-indie vibe to the songs, with the vocals in particular demonstrating that trademark swagger and drawl.

Live Review : The White Buffalo + L.A. Edwards @ 02 Ritz Manchester, April 18th 2022

Well it would not be one of my gig reviews without some sort of disruption… so tonight it looks set to be a completely wasted journey as we arrive and our names are not on the list. After a few frantic messages back and forth nothing is getting resolved. I hover in the entrance to The Ritz debating whether to buy a ticket as surprisingly (or not as it’s Easter Monday) it’s not sold out and I really, really want to see The White Buffalo… but then what’s this? I overhear a man at the box office handing over a print at home ticket, saying his mate could not make it and to give it to someone who needs it… I check myself, find myself wanting and seize my chance.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Samantha22 April 2022O2 RitzThe White Buffalo, L.A. Edwards, O2 Ritz, Manchester, 2022, Samantha HarwoodComment