By Jason Walker
Tours like this genuinely make me overjoyed that I’m so into the tech metal scene in the UK. There is an absolute wealth of amazing talent just waiting to be heard and it gives me great joy to show people just what’s lurking if you deign to go digging around a bit. The main reason I’m so genuinely excited for this absolutely beastly co-headliner tour featuring two bands that absolutely blew the pants off UK Tech-Fest last year? Both bands were absolutely outstanding and ride that fine line of incredible brutality and infectious melody.
Godeater and VEXED are doing a quick-ish tour around the Über Kingdom and some of the dates they’re playing also have outstanding support from local acts. Manchester for example has The Human Veil and Portrayal of Ruinn, London has Derange and YVAH, Liverpool with Chiasmata and Suffer just to name a few. No doubt this is going to be a pretty fantastic night!
With some slight delays to the start, Portrayal of Ruinn get straight into it with some chunky, chuggy grooves and deathcore screams and growls. Satan’s Hollow is a notorious venue to get a decent sound going due to the band’s being based in a central circular platform so it’s easy to end up coming off a bit flat but these guys do well regardless, the guitars could maybe have a bit more oomph. Unfortunately, due to the delays they’ve had to cut the set short which is a bit of a shame, despite this putting in a really solid performance to get things warmed up. As is the case with these early start gigs, they end up playing to relatively few people but it doesn’t seem to phase them much as they power through their set like a pack of troopers.
If there’s one thing The Human Veil do unbelievably well, it’s on stage movement, to the point where it’s actually surprising they manage to avoid smacking each other with a stray guitar or leg. Their sound balance sounds fantastic tonight, they’re quite an intensely melodic band so being able to hear that above the rhythmic chugs that pepper their songs us great. Satan’s Hollow isn’t quite their ideal venue as it’s a bit hard to start a pit here which is a shame because their music is exactly the provocative stuff you need to go a bit berserk, they’re still giving it some balls on the central stage though. Overall The Human Veil are easily one of the most consistent metalcore bands that Manchester has to offer right now – keep an eye out for their upcoming EP.
My god VEXED are heavy, their bass player’s tone is just absolute filth! After some difficulty hearing the vocals, they kick in suddenly which really caught me off guard. Good god she’s got a crazy voice on her, those gutturals, similar to the likes of For I Am King, cut through the band’s chunky sound so clearly! The onstage movement is great, the light show complements the rhythmic playing well, an all round solid show. Back and forth between sweet clean vocals and tremendous growls that sometimes even stray into rapid fire territory that fans of bands like Archspire are familiar with, VEXED display a rhythmic prowess that is just relentless. It’d be fantastic to see this sort of thing on a stage like Manchester’s Rebellion, as it’s perfect for sweaty pits mixed with frantic strobes. Grabbed myself one of their bright pink T-shirt designs too, great design on it.
It’s time for Godeater. Again the knock on effect delayed them slightly but hopefully we’ll still see a full set! Leaning heavily on their new album, ‘All flesh is grass’ – this is absolutely going to be a heavy one. These guys have served as one of my gateway band’s for Tech Death, these Glaswegians don’t mess around, they’re here to melt your bloody faces off!Mixing complex sweep picking with blast beats, the intensity of Godeater rarely takes a break at any point, and a quick shout out to Will on Bass, you’ve got some damn dexterous fingers. I’ve seen these guys a few times now and they’ve always brought it, they’ve got a stage presence which accents the raw, visceral noise they’re kicking out.
There’s a couple of hiccups here and there but they’re swiftly dealt with and the show carries on without much of a hitch. Similar to the rest of the band’s on tonight, Satan’s Hollow isn’t really a venue that’s well laid out to go wild in so the crowd although very clearly loving this seem like they’d rather be going wild in a moshpit – hopefully their return will place them in Rebellion or hopefully one of the Academy venues, don’t stay away too long lads.
- The tour continues at The Crofters Rights in Bristol tonight (Saturday 25 January), moving on to The Black Heart in Camden tomorrow (Sunday 26) and finishing at the Jacaranda Club in Liverpool on Monday (27).
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