By Josh Bicknell
There is something special about your first gig of autumn, that creeping cold outside, the low hum of amps promising a night of chaos. Bleed From Within’s ‘Zenith’ tour hit Manchester’s O2 Ritz right as spooky season kicked in, and it felt like the perfect storm: dark, heavy and alive.
Great American Ghost opened the night, though I only caught the tail end of their set (we seem to making a habit of missing these guys – Ed). Still, it was clear they had already done their job. The room was restless, fists raised and the air thick with sweat. The Boston hardcore crew channelled pure fury, frontman Ethan Harrison stalking the stage like it owed him money, screaming straight into the front rows.
I had actually visited a few of the venues they cut their teeth in while I was in Boston over the summer, and seeing that same feral energy transplanted to Manchester was wild and completely genuine. Even catching a glimpse, it was obvious they had shaken the room loose, priming it for a long night of headbanging.
After The Burial took that energy and twisted it into something sharper. Their brand of technical metalcore was pure precision, with intricate grooves, machine-tight drumming and not a wasted motion in sight.
Opening with ‘In Flux’, they wasted no time proving why they are masters of both chaos and control. Anthony Notarmaso’s gutturals hit like a hammer while the guitarists traded dizzying leads that blurred the line between melody and mathematics. Every breakdown landed perfectly, heads snapping in unison across the pit. By the end of their set, the floor was already trembling, and the crowd was primed for what came next.
When Bleed From Within finally took the stage, it was instantly clear this was more than just another gig: it felt like a victory lap on their 19 years as a band, a celebration of everything they have built and refined since their early days in Glasgow. The stage looked like ‘Zenith’ brought to life, serrated shapes and glowing lightwork casting the Ritz in an otherworldly glow somewhere between an industrial wasteland and an occult ritual.
They opened with ‘Violent Nature’, instantly commanding the room. The mix leaned oddly at first, with Scott Kennedy’s screams sitting low in the sound, unusual for the Ritz, but the cleans handled by guitarist Steven Jones cut sharply through the haze. It gave the song a fresh twist, an unexpected balance between melody and menace.
From there, ‘Zenith’ and ‘Sovereign’ came in swinging, slick, confident, and viciously tight. By I Am Damnation, the crowd was fully in sync with the band’s intensity. Then came ‘Stand Down’, and the place erupted. “Out for blood, out for war!” rang out louder than the band itself, the pits churning with older fans in Slayer and Killswitch shirts reliving their glory days. Drummer Ali Richardson was a one-man army, his double kick work anchoring every breakdown with ridiculous precision.
‘A Hope In Hell’ brought a brief lull, phones lighting the room as its slow build gave way to a massive, purple-soaked crescendo. ‘Crown Of Misery’ and ‘Levitate’ kept the energy high, the latter boasting one of the night’s standout solos: bend-heavy, chug-loaded, and full of flair. Kennedy took a breather to thank openers Great American Ghost and After The Burial before launching into ‘Night Crossing’, a red-lit anthem that had fists pumping and a phaser-drenched solo slicing through the mix.
Richardson then tore through a drum solo that showed exactly why he is one of the most underrated drummers in modern metal, leading into ‘Dying Sun’, one of the night’s grandest moments. Backed by live operatic vocals from Hannah Bolton, a long-time collaborator who has been working with the band for years, the song took on a cinematic scale. Bolton returned for ‘Hands Of Sin’, her soaring voice weaving through the band’s metallic onslaught, pushing the track to something transcendent. Kennedy grinned as it ended, declaring, “We are not going to waste your time walking off for a fake encore.” The crowd roared their approval.
“Best crowd of the tour by a fucking country mile,” he bellowed before the closing stretch: ‘Edge Of Infinity’, ‘The End Of All We Know’ and the colossal finale, ‘In Place Of Your Halo’. It was a masterclass in pacing and payoff, every note landing with intent.
As the lights came up, the room buzzed with the kind of post-gig energy that hangs heavy in your chest. Nineteen years in, Bleed From Within are operating at their absolute peak, veterans still hungry, still pushing and still capable of turning a Saturday night in Manchester into something unforgettable.
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