By Jase Walker
Supporting the supports is my diehard rule for gig going. One I absolutely refuse to break and when it comes to tonight’s main act, it’s a rule that I’m very happy that I stuck to when it came to Future Palace coming through Amsterdam a while back because tonight’s headline act, Our Promise, absolutely blew my tits off and I’ve been hungry for more ever since.
They’ve clearly gained the confidence to finally start pushing much further outside of the German speaking lands and tonight they’re in Eindhoven for not just a headline slot at Dynamo, but one that garnered enough attention that they got the room upgraded to the Main Hall. I wasn’t kidding when I mused that these have got the right chemistry and more energy than a stick of dynamite in a flour mill.
Along for the ride is Throatcut and for tonight in Eindhoven, the opener is These Hands who both lean much more towards the hardcore side of things so we’re in for a pretty high energy show tonight in Eindhoven.
I do have to admit, I am very much not a hardcore aligned person but I don’t deny that this is the sort of thing to get the blood pumping, even if These Hands get off to a bit of a mixed start with some intermittent sound issues and the drummers pedal exploding but it can happen to anyone and they’re not messing around getting it fixed.
Despite my personal lack of enthusiasm I can’t fault their live performance though, massively energetic and channeling the same sort of energy you’d get from bands like Speed and the like. No subtlety, no gentle melodic work, just fucking angry riffs, angry drums and angry vocals; all killer, no filler. I kinda get it that the audience may not be quite moving in the way they’re expecting but I don’t doubt that given some grotty dive bar and a room full of proper hardcore devotees that they’d be causing a riot with this sort of music. They’re a tight act and work as a solid opener for tonight’s action and although people might not be enthusiastic in their movement, they’re getting a pretty good response after each song. Quite shocked it was only a 20 minute set though, madness.
Throatcut get themselves started with very little tenderness or introduction, I was chatting one moment and interrupted by the sound of fat riffs. These guys do certainly love a good snare shotgun too, nothing like a gunshot going off on the odd snare hit in the middle of a meaty, slow moment.
While more hardcore-adjacent, I’m definitely much more into this because of the difference in their riff approach that scratches the itch for tasty grooves. It seems the crowd has finally started waking up a bit as the void has opened up in the middle and is now filled with people enthusiastically two-stepping or running around, either way the energy is properly picking up at this stage and Throatcut are the conductors of this particular symphony.
I’m properly engrossed in their grooviness though, there’s a subtle element of funk underpinning it all that really grabs my attention. Anyway all I’m really trying to say is, this has really caught me by surprise in how much I’m into it. They’re super tight, unbelievably energetic and aren’t here just to warm people up for the main act but also to wreck shit and make sure people remember the name.
Backstreet Boys blasts over the PA to signal the beginning of Our Promise, as they storm on to rapturous applause and screams because you know what we’re all here for! It’s not just the band that’s immediately stuck into the show, the crowd isn’t messing about either waving their arms about or shouting the words right back at the band who are clearly buzzing off the feeling too.
I’ve said it before but these really have the “thing” that carries a band upwards and considering how loudly the crowd are screaming along to each song and enthusiastically bouncing around the whole time is a pretty sure way of measuring that.
It’s not just the crowd that I keep my focus on though, the band themselves are very bloody obviously having a great time up on stage, each one of them is beaming with smiles up on stage and nods to each other as they pass by when walking around while playing. It translates so well to the overall experience because not only is the music fantastic and riffy as hell but the vibe of everything is exactly what it needs to be for a great evening.
On key sing-along parts you can see both vocalists are in complete disbelief at the amount of people shouting the words back at them, the grin plastered across their faces says a lot about how they can’t believe this is happening but love it all the same.
It’s bands like Our Promise that are the reason I’ve become so infatuated with the German metalcore scene recently, it’s quietly producing some incredible acts recently and these guys are a brilliant example of it. At times I wonder if they wish they were in the crowd watching their own band play because it sure comes across that they’re fans of their own music.
The audience wasn’t going to let them walk off without an encore either, the moment they finished their “last song”, everyone was screaming for one more. The band casually slinks back on stage because they know it’s time to give everyone what they want and go for the peak and holy shit do they deliver the goods.
I’m genuinely overjoyed that the experience I had with them the first time round wasn’t misplaced. Our Promise as a headliner has been more than I could have anticipated and then some. This outfit of young lads have gotten as close to lightning in a bottle as you can get. A superb live performance with some slick riffs and catchy words, Our Promise aren’t a band that anyone should sleep on. Catch them while they’re doing intimate shows because I can fucking guarantee you, this won’t be for long. Incredible.