By Jase Walker
As it steadily grows colder, my gig schedule grows ever busier as we head into the autumn gigs wave and the start of a pretty intense week for me as far as gigs go. And tonight I’m getting my teeth stuck into a solid show of prog metal with Evergrey bringing along Fractal Universe and Virtual Symmetry for a slew of shows across the ÜK.
First up is Virtual Symmetry, almost immediately after the doors open to a crowd of a few heads right at the front barriers with the rest hanging back closer to the bar. Given there’s three acts on tonight, the smaller stage of Academy 3 looks absolutely rammed with equipment but the five piece find their feet without much issue. Starting out with pianos leading into intense riffing with the keys being replaced by organs and strings, this is definitely my sort of prog. The only real criticism I have of the sound is that the drums are pretty strong compared to the rest of the band which overshadows the bass and guitar a bit. I’m loving what the singer’s doing though, it reminds me strongly of Dream Theater and similar prog. Not only that but we’ve got keyboard solos as well, bouncing back and forth off the guitar, don’t think you could get more up my street if you tried!
We’re definitely off to a strong start here, there’s clear symphonic overtones here that remind me strongly of the likes of Nightwish, Epica, Within Temptation and the like. There’s some really solid groovy rhythm stuff going on in here too reminiscent of Haken, Virtual Symmetry are really filling out all those tick boxes for me here and despite the somewhat thin crowd, they aren’t letting it get in the way of having fun while they’re performing. Another example of why you should always check support acts out, when you get ones as strong as these, it makes the early trip so worth it.
Following a clearly well coordinated stage switch over, it’s now time for Fractal Universe and right off the bat, I’m right into gurn city with that groove. Holy SHIT. Man this is intense so soon into the set, crazy fast chord chugs, growling uncleans, tasteful solos, changing gears so fast it could give you whiplash, goddamn. They’ve got parts that remind me of Obscura, other parts that remind me of Monuments, jumping back and forth between tasty grooves mixed with rapid fills and outright face melting blast beats. This is a band where the guitar work really stands out to me because of how incredibly busy it is yet also how varied it is, it’s every bit as intensely melodic as it is groovy!
This is a real shift in gears compared to Virtual Symmetry’s symphonic prog style. We’ve got a band that incorporates elements of djent alongside tech-death and wraps it all up with their own take on more traditional prog metal. The fact that they can jump between atmospheric, softly sung passages and then shove you right into gurn city with filthy gutturals is great. This is all alongside them sounding fantastic too and they’re coming across really well despite the audience clearly not being too familiar with them. I also love the fact they’ve brought their own upright smoke machines, it’s a nice little touch for the feeling of a bigger show. One of the more unexpected elements was their singer suddenly whipping a saxophone out for a quick blast, you’d think I’d be used to this by now but I’m really not! These guys have really impressed me and I’ve checked their back catalogue on Spotify and there’s a pretty big chunk of stuff to get my teeth into!
Following another swift changeover, it’s time for the headline act of tonight, Evergrey! After a brief walk on they kick off and it’s loud as fuck, like earthshakingly loud in comparison to the support acts but I’m not complaining with my trusty earbuds in! Their guitar tone is crushing as well, those relentless chugs are loud and clear and shaking my legs almost as much as the bass is! Evergrey may be prog but my god they are riffy, definitely not focused on the side of atmosphere and singsong styled prog, they’re here to blow your face off with massive riffs! There’s an older bloke standing behind me and he’s clearly having a great time too, he’s headbanging so hard his hairs actually acting like a fan which isn’t totally unwelcome.
There’s a much more solid crowd down close to the front now, it’s a bit more obvious how the vast majority of them are here specifically for Evergrey going off their reactions in comparison to the support acts. Evergrey are absolutely storming through their set though, for this particular performance it seems they’re more focused on playing a real wide spread of their back catalogue which spans over 25 years, quite the solid run! I’m a complete sucker for metal with synths though, there’s just something about electronic strings, odd samples or just a complimentary piano melody that adds so much to a solid riff. Evergrey has put on a great show here tonight, they’ve sounded great, they’ve come across to the audience fantastically well and they’ve definitely got a solid core of fans here too.
Admittedly on the whole of the show, Fractal Universe stood out to me the most out of all the bands today. Not to say that the others have put on sub-par performances because they really haven’t, but Fractal Universe have really got that mix of warm melody and brutal heaviness down to a fine art which is what stood out to me so much. Great night, got some new metal for my morning workout tomorrow!
- The tour finishes Birmingham tonight (Saturday 24 September).
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