By Jase Walker
I’ve turned up to the venue a bit worse for wear as I’ve opted to walk down as I usually do in spite of the pretty constant rain. A decision which seems to have been the right one considering Manchester was completely gridlocked with traffic so a taxi or bus wouldn’t exactly have been a great idea anyway!
Carpenter Brut are one of my “never miss” bands, both in always seeing them when they’re live in the ÜK but also consistently writing some of the best *heavy* synthwave around. Fusing metal, synthwave and ’80s B-movie horror into their live show, it’s quite the experience to say the least; they’re touring in support of their ‘Leather Terror’ album this time round and bringing Sierra along for the ride.
Sierra takes the stage just after door’. I’ve not actually heard of them before prior to the show so it’ll be interesting hearing what they’re like! Pretty killer light show behind them, a selection of tube lighting strobing along to the music. Right from the outset this is exactly what I came to this show for, it’s thunderous, bassy, every beat rumbles the floor! This could be something right out of the cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack, it’s incredibly atmospheric and a great example of heavy dark synth. I’m totally sold on every part of this live show, the darkness of the show with minimal lighting, the bass that’s so strong that it shakes my jeans, the drums that reverberate so strong it’s making my beer shake, fantastic!
The light show that’s accompanying this show is brilliantly curated and executed too, the use of smoke to have the various lights show solid shapes that compliments the tube lighting behind Sierra is great too. Honestly, I’ve spent most of this show with a horrific gurn on my face just remarking constantly on how goddamn filthy this all is! Every component part of this show is attention to detail, the lights, the sound, the actions of Sierra on stage to really drive home the whole thing. This has genuinely caught me by surprise by how massively into it I am and how that interest has risen consistently the further along the set I get. Absolutely blown away by this: what a set, and it’s only up from here with Carpenter Brut!
I’m now in the middle of a pretty solid crowd as Carpenter Brut takes the stage and it looks like we’re in for a pretty long set this time! Good god, they sound absolutely huge even just at the intro!
This time however, they’ve not opted to open with ‘Leather Teeth’, as I thought they would! It’s all ‘Leather Terror’ from here, and the floor is quite literally bouncing under my feet! Even a mosh pit has opened up which is something I’ve never seen at a Carpenter Brut show before, this is something else and we’re barely past the intro! They’ve not wasted any time getting ‘Roller Mobster’ into the set and the crowd’s gone absolutely mental! An unexpectedly chilled one, ‘Paradise Warfare’, after the initial fury of the set, is not totally unwelcome for a brief breather.
Partway through I’ve actually noticed they don’t have a screen behind them playing videos along with the music this time round so I suppose this might have been a ‘Leather Teeth’ era thing. Not that it’s a total loss because this light show they’ve got with them this time is pretty intense, it’s never stopped with various strobing, flashing pillars of light and intense crimson red backing colour. ‘Inferno Galore’ just serves to keep the crowd’s energy going although I do miss the wacky backing video for it! Following it up with ‘Disco Zombie Italia’ is a genius move though, one of their best off their ‘Trilogy’ EP collection.
It’s hard to overstate the intensity of Carpenter Brut’s live show, the energy of the songs is relentless, each one goes as hard as the last; It’s basically rave for metalheads.
Another massive song off their ‘Trilogy’ EP, ‘Psycho Killer’, and you can hear the crowd screaming the melody for the song the entire way through, although that could just be me (It’s not). Towards the end, ‘Turbo Killer’ gets a completely unprompted wall of death, this is easily already the most metal synthwave show I’ve ever seen!
I’m genuinely in awe at the utter chaos unfolding in front of me at this show. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Carpenter Brut show this rowdy and I’ve been to a few now. As we draw to the close, they play their well known cover of ‘Maniac’ and the crowd welcomes it to a chant of “Hey! Hey! Hey!”. Shame there was no ‘Beware The Beast’ or ‘Leather Teeth’ but it’s not like I’ve not seen them live a bunch already.
Spectacular show from the French dark synth group once again. Hopefully, they’ll be around next year for more!
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