By Jase Walker
After so many rescheduled dates and lineup changes, the ERRA headline show is finally here and I’ve been looking forward to this for years at this point. I was on the verge of clicking my heels together on the way to this show, it’s quite literally the most stacked show I’ve seen when it comes to metalcore and I am a massive fan of ERRA and their main support, Silent Planet. Not only that but we’ve got Invent Animate and Sentinels along for this ride as well and it’s a sold out show! 2023 is really putting the boot into me with these unreal shows and we’re not even past March yet!
With the doors being shifted forward to half six, it means the venue isn’t quite as busy as it should be by the time Sentinels get on stage but nevermind, it’s time for some filth! To start it seems a bit off sound-wise as the drums are way louder than the guitars and bass by a pretty wide margin, hopefully this’ll get adjusted as they go.
Thankfully the sound gets fixed up pretty quickly and it’s time for a trip to gurn city with some gobsmackingly disgusting riffs and bizarre time signature shifts. The crowd reaction so far is a bit lacklustre, with barely any response to the singer trying to provoke some pit action, which I can imagine is a bit frustrating. Sentinels really are fantastic to watch, so much energy poured into their set and music and it’s a bit of a shame not seeing it reciprocated by the audience but legitimately they’ve been great.
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve seen Invent Animate so I’m properly looking forward to seeing these again! The crowd suddenly seems a lot more awake now with fists punching the air and people loudly singing along. Their mix of ambient layering and rhythmic riffing is right up my street but sadly the bass and snare drums are louder than everything else, I can barely hear the guitar at all over the thunderous drums which is really spoiling the set. I’m a bit disappointed with how much I’m having to focus on the guitars to properly hear what’s being played when the drums are going really heavy but thankfully this seems to have been adjusted a bit later on in the set. Looking at the centre of the crowd, they don’t seem too particularly bothered about the sound and having a great time smashing into each other: swings and roundabouts I guess.
I’m quite miffed by this set on the whole: if the drums need to be that loud then the guitars and bass should be brought up to compensate and while it sounds that some adjustments were made it still didn’t sound great unfortunately. It wasn’t until the very last song in the set that it actually sounded good which is a real shame as this actually delivered the energy that Invent Animate are capable of.
Silent Planet has gone straight for the throat, no introduction track or anything, just right into it! Garret on vocals is throwing himself around the stage like a man possessed, the crowd still seems a bit half asleep despite some big fans in the centre. “The New Eternity” seems to start waking people up a bit though but I’m still surprised that Silent Planet are getting a bit of a lukewarm response considering the energy they’re kicking out!
Thankfully in terms of sound, there’s a much better balance in terms of the strength of drums in comparison with everything else; I do wish the bass guitar was a bit stronger but other than that they sound good. Silent Planet carries their politically charged set with class, two songs with massive messages ‘XX (City Grave)’ and ‘Panic Room’ echo similar sentiments against the dark underbelly of society and the ruling elite as Rage Against The Machine have done.
Their latest single ‘:signal:’ goes down a real treat, the pits going wild and I’m gurning big time, that is one proper dirty groove and I am 100% here for it! Finishing with ‘Trilogy’ is a great touch and one of the big standout tracks from their ‘Iridescent’ album; not only that, Garret flings himself into the crowd after hanging off the ceiling! I’m glad to have finally gotten to see these live after missing them at Satan’s Hollow so long ago (with Currents no less, argh). Top stuff, ERRA up next!
Opening right off the bat with ‘Gungrave’ which has arguably one of their hardest intros from the self-titled, ERRA are going right for the throat with this set evidently! The intensity of the music is matched every bit as much by the constantly flashing lights and vivid colours. ‘House Of Glass’ as an immediate follow-up though? Christ. The pit in the centre of the crowd is kicking off in earnest with arms flailing about while jumping around pints being lobbed all over the place. One of their massive standalone songs, ‘Eye Of God’ does its job with provoking the people in the pit to insanity while giving them a slight breather to scream the chorus for a bit.
One of my favourites off their ‘Drift’ album, ‘Breach’, with its dreamy ambient introduction as a calm before the storm because when it kicks in, it goes *hard*. As expected with this tour though, the setlist leans heavily on the latest self-titled album and it’s coming across well to everyone here especially with a singalong like ‘Vanish Canvas’. Anyway now the singalong bits are done, ‘Scorpion Hymn’ hits and now it’s time to batter your best mate, and the crowd gladly obliges. We’ve even got a proper deep cut in the set with ‘Hybrid Earth’ from ‘Augment’, a nice little treat for me considering how long I’ve been listening to these guys!
ERRA have had everyone here eating out of the palm of their hand for the whole set, everyone is completely locked into the band’s performance. And with a finisher of ‘Pull From A Ghost’ followed by arguably the biggest banger on the self-titled, ‘Snowblood’, it brings to an end a stunning set. It’s been fantastic seeing ERRA up the ante so much over the years and finally pulling off a headline set of shows in the ÜK and Europe has been a long time coming. Don’t stay away too long next time!
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