By Jase Walker
I’ve ended up at Rebellion soaked through as the skies decided to open up right as we were walking up to the venue… I rarely turn up to shows late but today’s confusion around times sees me turning up right in the middle of Earthcaller’s set featuring YouTube metal personality, Misstiq!
Admittedly the singer is a little bit too strong and blunt (?) in the mix which seems to work against some of the pretty good melodic work that’s going on behind him. The guy’s got some real solid growls though! Despite only catching a short part of the set, I still really enjoyed it and am really glad I didn’t miss them. I just wish I was able to see more and have more to say about them!
What stuck out for me too is that Kai from Esprit D’Air is stood in the audience having a good time too! Great band also.
Next up tonight is Bound In Fear, if you want a bit of meaty slam. They’re not really my cuppa but there are a couple in the group I’m with that want to crack some skulls tonight! God their singer sounds like the bloody Demogorgon, mixed with full on caveman riffs. Bound In Fear cares little for finesse and goes all in with the heavy! Their singer demands it’s time to get a pit going and my mate Mike wastes zero time in going mental right in the middle of the crowd – not sure if everyone else has woken up yet like!
I mean there’s not much more I can really say: you’ve got spectacularly heavy riffs, some of the nastiest growls you’ve ever heard and they love bringing back the main riff but slower. Bound in Fear know what they’re good at, no real need to switch the formula up really when you just want your music to provoke people into kicking fuck out of each other in the pit do you? Not really my cuppa but I’d be lying if I didn’t spend the whole show saying “this is bloody daft”.
Next up is a band that despite their home country of Ukraine being in the middle of a war, have still managed to make this tour, Space Of Variations. This is VERY much my cuppa, full-on aggression with the meatiest of riffs! I adore their singer’s aesthetic too, turtle neck, jacket and a long skirt with boots, outstanding look. Catchy techno style synths, banging riffs, groovy beats and superb uncleans, hell yeah! I’d genuinely forgotten how much I enjoyed these the last time I’d seen them, and how much their style reminded me of Northlane.
Some of the electronic side of things leans pretty heavily towards the sort of big beat rave that The Prodigy are known for. The more I watch them the more their singer’s poses and stage attitude weirdly reminds me of Tatiana from Jinjer (who they supported a few years ago at Academy 2 actually!). Space of Variations’ live show is electrifying and feels becoming of a band that deserves a bigger stage. Whoever’s doing their lighting as well clearly knows their set pretty well and is hitting those strobes at all the right times to help deliver the intensity! What a class act, sounded great, looked great, the singer getting a circle pit going at the end while he sang right in the middle of it is really brave! These Ukrainians have smashed Manchester tonight. Slava Ukraini!
Finally, Within Destruction time! Weeaboo slam is now in session! It’s a bit quiet to start with, can’t quite feel the bass as strongly as the previous bands but I suppose that’s a danger of using backing tracks! This doesn’t last for long as they start blasting through a mix of ‘Lotus’ and ‘Yoka’i bangers! The crowd’s already in the mood with ‘Hate Me’ and singing along with the disgustingly heavy riffs and gutturals, I’m already finding it hard to keep notes because I’m so sucked into the show!
Admittedly the crowd is a little bit lacklustre tonight; I would have expected more people going a bit apeshit. I mean, there’s a lot of people clearly enjoying it, don’t get me wrong but for a band like Within Destruction who have songs that are aimed pretty squarely at causing a riot, there’s not a ton of movement. Admittedly, no sooner did I type that they provoked the crowd into a massive circle pit.
For me I find Within Destruction’s newer stuff since ‘Yokai’ a bit more accessible compared to their earlier slam/deathcore days but this doesn’t mean that their knack for writing a brilliantly heavy riff or use of gutturals has gone anywhere. Going off the crowd’s response to ‘Neo-Yakuza’, I don’t think they agree that they’ve got some top class bangers in ‘Lotus’ too. Another favourite of mine with their previous albums title track, ‘Yokai’: what a riff, I can only hope they follow it up with ‘No Way Out’ (they didn’t) because that breakdown is just… Absolutely bloody filthy.
It didn’t take long for them to actually play that though and the entire crowd was a flashing mess of bodies smashing into each other and I wouldn’t have it any other way, it was indeed very sugoi. Finishing with a good old fashioned wall of death to ‘Deathwish’ I don’t think they could have played this show out in a better way. I do feel sorry for the poor sod who bailed out face first right at my feet though.
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