By Jase Walker
A big trip for me to the other end of the country to a city and venue I’ve not been to yet finds me in Dordrecht for SubmitFest! Due to some travel issues I’m a little bit late getting there but do so just in time to catch one of the main three bands I was wanting to see today!
And they are Manchester’s own InRetrospect, a band I never thought I’d ever get to see again after departing the ÜK! I’ve arrived down to the minute they’re set to start so let’s get stuck in!
The room seems a little bit sparse but that’s just how these things roll, especially considering this year’s event is outside of its usual venue of Baroeg in Rotterdam due to its rebuild! It’s not deterring these lads much, still wanting to get a bunch of noise out of the audience as they kick things off!
This is how you properly approach a show despite the early slot, get on stage and act like you own the place! Raw groovy metalcore with a bunch of lovely synthy stuff in the mix, reminiscent of Northlane. To their credit they get the crowd on board with a bit of call and response singing as well as provoking a moshpit kicking off, not the easiest thing to do when the festival day is still in the process of waking up. I’m so buzzed I managed to get in on time to see these lads tear it up here, it’s a fair bit of distance away from Manchester but they’re putting all the same energy into their shows as I remember, great show lads.
Torn From Oblivion are up next, immediately going into some extreme groove laden noise, pure two-step bait stuff. A large void is in the middle of the room and it seems everyone here knows what the situation is.
Erring a little bit more towards deathcore with the emphasis on slower pounding grooves at times, they don’t stray too far away from melodic riffy bits though. Now and then they remind me a bit of Thornhill in their approach to big choruses but then the singer swings into Lorna Shore territory, it’s a pretty interesting mix of styles. They’ve got some pretty interesting rhythmic stuff going on as well, often switching up the pulse on the drums while the guitars chug away on a contrasting timing.
At one moment it looks like the bass player is having issues with a cable and doesn’t hesitate to quickly dive off stage to get a replacement, calm and decisive and the show moves on with barely skipping a beat.
They fully channel Meshuggah’s style at times with how they blend halftime drumming with guitars that bang out intense rhythms. Genuinely this has properly taken me by surprise, this sort of stuff isn’t easy to do and they’re making it look bloody easy! Shall be adding them to the list of bands to see again as soon as I can!
Reformist have been a band I’ve been meaning to see for a while now and have really enjoyed the music I’ve listened to so far! It’s somewhat unusual to me that the music itself sounds like Polaris but has a guitar tone that is unbelievably similar to Tesseract, it makes for a pretty interesting sound dynamic to say the least!
Their vocalist is a real attention magnet too, jumping around the stage constantly while belting out some filthy as hell sounds. There’s moments that also remind me a lot of AVRALIZE with the way some of their chord progressions move mixed with a big chorus. Fully appreciating the modern metalcore vibe, busy riffs that alternate between quick melodies and chugs. There’s been a few issues here and there with what seems to be the backing track but generally sorted pretty quickly.
The singer of Torn From Oblivion jumps up for a quick vocal feature, both singers bounce off each other well, clearly both good mates. Reformist clearly have a solid fanbase here, no surprise that I often find Dutch people recommending them to me when I’m trying to find more Dutch metal bands to follow. A really solid performance of some damn good riffy stuff and a band that’s great to watch also. Finally getting another proper running circle pit going to finish their set off too and that wraps up another great show for today’s SubmitFest.
After some well needed grub in the form of one of the biggest toasties I’ve ever been served and a bit of a sit down to rest, it’s Cold Culture up next. These are completely new for me but I’m never shy about checking new stuff out so let’s see what this is about eh?
It’s a bit of a different setup as one member has a keyboard and a large drum next to him in addition to a MacBook propped up along with it. Their super synth heavy sound is reminiscent of the likes of Bad Omens, primarily clean vocals that steadily build up into bigger screams but always leaving room for big choruses that bring it back to cleaner vocal styles. Somehow mentioning that they’re from Denmark makes a lot of sense given the musical style that has a similar vibe to the likes of Siamese and Cold Night For Alligators, heavy but still carries a solid pop vibe.
The floating drum next to the keys player actually adds a nice bit of punch to some segments, I’ve rarely seen this being used as a consistent thing for live shows other than some sort of specific production element. The singer manages to get the crowd on his side for singing back to him to help with a chorus moment and he is absolutely beaming, a massive grin on his face.
Genuinely, these have fully blown me away and I’m going to take it up on myself to campaign for these to get booked at RADAR festival because my god, what an incredible fit they would be for there!
They’re slightly delayed but Tropic Gold finally gets things going and I see their drummer flash a few packs of what looked like Pokemon cards at the camera attached to the kit.
They get straight into it and all the memories of the past few times I’ve seen them come rushing back. A band that’s every bit as heavy as they are poppy, a complete ball of energy buzzing with barely restrained fury. This three-piece are fantastic to watch due to how animated every single member is, the singer and guitarist both run around the stage constantly, the drummer beats the ever living shit out of their kit, there’s a lot going on literally all the time.
SubmitFest by this point is fully warmed up so when Tropic Gold demands the room splits for a wall of death they absolutely get it. Brimming with similar energy to modern Bring Me The Horizon and Bad Omens, Tropic Gold are delivering an absolutely blistering performance that’s captivated the audience here and has their total undivided attention. The drummer is also periodically doing Pokemon card pulls during the set and seems particularly pleased about one of them that even grabs the guitarist’s attention! The guitar player later on fully throws himself on the ground and rips out the final riff for one of their songs too.
This lot are ridiculously entertaining and never give anything less than 100 per cent to every show I’ve seen them do. Absolutely fantastic band and live show and I fully urge anyone looking for some new riffy stuff to get stuck into these, they’re aiming for the big time and I don’t doubt they’ll get it.
And finally for the evening it’s time for Defences! Sadly the crowd seems to have thinned out a bit and it’s probably down to the awkward positioning of Dordrecht in comparison to Rotterdam. Anyway fuck it, time for Defences and I’m gonna bloody enjoy it!
Keys pierce the air while the heavy riffs pound my chest, it’s been a while since I’ve seen these last but I’m super happy to be able to see a headline set from them as they’ve only just gotten across to the Netherlands! Candles and flowers adorn the stage, draped over the drum kit, mic and keyboard stands. The symphonic elements of their music really draw me in, and seeing how far along they’ve developed their live performance since the last time seeing them is fantastic.
The clash of mixed vocals between both vocalists, the cleans take the lead generally with Will on keys providing either harmonized cleans or supporting uncleans that remind me a lot of Chester Bennington of Linkin Park. On that note I really do have to remark on how much Will’s unclean vocals have improved over the years from an already extremely solid point. The control over his pitch and force is absolutely on point and is bang on key every time he jumps in for his vocal segments.
I’m a real sucker for any sort of music that mixes heaviness with intense melody and Defences have this in heaps. For every aggressive riff, there’ll be a floaty vocal melody or dreamy key melody along with it, I really cannot get enough of this sort of vibe in modern metal.
Making your first foray truly across borders as a band is definitely a scary experience, even more so as a headliner and although it’s a shame that the crowds thinned out a bit due to the late start, it’s clearly not deterred Defences in the slightest. There’s still so much going into this show, despite this being the last show of their tour which in itself has been fraught with travel and transport frustrations but they’re still here to put everything into their show.
Thank you Defences, it was fantastic to see you do your stuff live again and I hope it won’t be long before you’re back. And thank you also to SubmitFest for being a platform for bands from the ÜK and Europe alike. Hopefully next year we’ll see a return to Baroeg in their new form!
Now where’s that fucking train station?
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