By Jase Walker
It’s been just under a year and Ankor have returned on a headline run after supporting Beyond The Black, a show I had the opportunity to witness in Haarlem and was blown away by Ankor’s performance. Not just that though, we have Conquer Divide, fresh off their run with New Years Day, and finally Seven Blood.
After a nice chat with Jesse from Ankor, I’ve settled myself in while waiting for the doors to open and for tonight’s show to get going. There are going to be some tight stage changes from what I can tell from the show’s itinerary but I’m sure it’ll be fine with some deft handiwork.
First up tonight is Seven Blood who I caught last year supporting Future Palace in Amsterdam. I do recall liking their music but it was let down a bit by shoddy sound mixing so I’m hoping that changes this time round because they’re pretty good otherwise! They kick things off and it’s immediately obvious how vastly superior the sound mixing is for this performance with the guitars and bass roaring alongside strong drums, this is what it should be like! Okay, the drums might be a little bit too strong overall but it’s not drowning everything else out at least.
This performance is a huge improvement on before and the response from the crowd is a jump up as well, with several people around enthusiastically singing along to them. The sort of alt metal vibe they run with reminds me of the likes of Flyleaf, Skillet, or maybe even Shinedown.
Although they may not be as heavy as the other two bands on the bill, they’re still damn fun and riffy and every bit worthy of a spot on this bill. I’m genuinely happy that Seven Blood are coming across so well in this show because I never want to say I didn’t enjoy a band, especially one that’s still making their presence felt beyond their home borders. This time round though, Seven Blood absolutely kicked arse and in the process put emphasis on how much of an effect a decent sound mix can have on a live performance. Great set.
The changeover went without a hitch and we move onto the start of Conquer Divide‘s set and I think the sound might have been a touch too loud as I can hear them dial it back a bit after a crazy loud start! Anyway it’s time for a slice of some tasty metalcore riffs and awesome vocal melodies! Considering how long they’ve been on tour for since the start of this year I’m surprised they don’t look completely knackered!
They’ve already had a stomp around Europe and the ÜK with New Years Day and following that up immediately with a long tour with Ankor is no easy task. The venue is looking decidedly full by this point and although it seems not many may know the words, they’re certainly getting stuck into Conquer Divide and enjoying what they’re hearing! It certainly seems that the quality of sound for tonight’s show is a good indication of De Helling as a venue as Conquer Divide, despite being pretty damn good at Tivoli Vredenburg anyway, sound fucking fantastic tonight. Properly meaty sound, both vocals shine through brilliantly while the rest of the band smashes out their part.
It’s great seeing how they’ve won the crowd over by the time it gets to the end of the set as well with a massive pit breaking out for ‘Paralyzed’, just so because it’s a proper banger that deserves a response like that. ‘A New Heaven’ similarly gets a great response from the crowd fully going nuts for Conquer Divide, so you can say this set has been a resounding success for them. For me personally I’m hoping that this response gets a headline tour from them on their next return, we’ll see!
And finally tonight, Ankor on their first Dutch headline show.
Although not quite opting for ‘Attack On Titan’ as an opener this time, they’ve gone with their ‘Shoganai’ opener, ‘The World Is a Cruel Place… And It Is Also Very Beautiful’ along with massive smoke plumes firing into the air before launching into ‘Venom’ from the Embers EP. By this point Ankor have a lot of material to choose from but other than the odd deep cut, this sets more than likely to be mainly Shoganai and Embers.
Just as before, Ankor are not a band that is content to stay still much on their live performance, they’re here to have fun as much as they’re here to perform a banging set filled with singalongs and big riffs. Ankor barely has to direct the audience for joining in with clapping and the like, it’s effortless how quickly everyone here picks up on a queue to do something. This is another show where I have to point out how great the light show is as well, it’s a fairly small selection by some regards but it is used incredibly effectively. A mixture of LED floodlights and strobes, halogen lamps that admittedly are a bit blinding when I catch myself looking in their direction.
In keeping with the rest of the bands tonight, Ankor also sound fantastic and really beefy that sends the low end rumbling through your legs and chest while the riffs batter your face. Their singer Jesse is already fully on form tonight and both facets of her vocals, cleans and screams tie everything together in the middle, this is what you want out of a headline show. Nothing seems to get people going more than a screaming competition too, well, that and provoking a massive circle pit for ‘The Legend of Charles the Giant’ too, that’ll usually do it! Ankor are quite open about the fact that they’re a bit of a mishmash of different styles all fused into a metalcore band but as people shout back, people wouldn’t be here were it not for how damn good the end result is.
I love a good drum solo too, and Ankor are definitely leaning into the fact that this is their show now and they can do something like that if they want to! Jesse now armed with a baseball bat chases one of the guitarists off briefly for the start of ‘The Monster I am’, I do love a good prop to add to stage theatrics though! ‘Darkbeat’, arguably one of the biggest bangers off the ‘Shoganai’ album really shows off Ankor’s ability to weave in trance elements into a massively riffy song, and then following up with ‘Hill Valley’ it seems were closing in on the big hitters toward the end.
Ankor are not messing around when it comes to smoke machine abuse, it’s one step away from triggering the alarms and the bands almost entirely silhouettes for a few moments. All in all though, Ankor have absolutely slayed it and have put on a fantastic show that’s been a real top tier experience.
This package now embarks onto other stops throughout Europe and the ÜK, twenty-seven more dates in fact. Good luck, godspeed and smash the rest of the shows; you’ve got this.
