Monday nights in March aren’t renowned for offering up brutally heavy hardcore-laced metal gigs, but thanks to the awesome independent Liverpool promoter No Play, Merseyside’s very own God Complex are the treat tonight. This being their comeback show, it’s a long overdue special occasion at that! They’re accompanied by an exciting support bill, and it’s all brought to us at the intimate yet polished Rough Trade venue.
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Sunday is supposed to be a day of the rest, but there’s surely no rest for the wicked, as, with the echoes of Ricky Warwick and the Fighting Hearts Saturday night show still ringing in our ears, ROCKFLESH are back at the Waterloo less than twenty-four hours later. Likewise, many of the same faces are present in the crowd for a second consecutive night of full-force rock n roll. This time round, though, we’re worshipping at the altar of electric, life-affirming sleaze and punk (or a combination of the two), both old and new, with Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate and New Generation Superstars.
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The wheels have come off The Wildhearts juggernaut so often that it is a wonder they are not sponsored by kwickfit. Ginger Wildheart is a self-proclaimed difficult man to work with, who has an undeniable knack of surrounding himself with difficult to work with people. The latest reunion of the classic line lasted 4 years, 1 pandemic and 2 rather spiffing albums, grinding to a halt in 2022 in flurry of mutual acrimony. Whilst lived experience has taught us to never count The Wildhearts out, this KO felt particularly final. So we were all really rather taken a aback when an all new version of the band arose from the ashes last year. Whilst Ginger is the one constant in this iteration of the band, it is a very different version of the Geordie workhouse. This is a happier, healthier Ginger who has shed both physical and emotional weight to look, god forbid, like he is actually enjoying himself.
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Tonight, we witness ROCKFLESH regulars A’priori for the first time since their album launch show for “Voodoo Love” back in September of last year. And as such it is our first chance to see their revamped set that includes new material from that most recent release. It’s clear that in those intervening months the Blackpool trio have put much time into rehearsing and honing the newer songs so that they sit effortlessly alongside the familiar and road-perfected tracks from their back catalogue. ‘Turn It Up’ leads the charge, a never more appropriate song for a Saturday night of good time rock music, and already hands are in the air, voices raised in unison, as A’priori do what they do best, never missing an opportunity to impress.
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Never has a tour title been so fitting and accurate in its description. Aggressive progressive ‘25 brings together four of the scene leaders in pushing the envelope of death metal. Dååth, Beyond Creation, Cynic and nominal headliners Rivers of Nihil, in their own unique ways each retain that brutish aggression that gives Death Metal its potent uncompromising force, but each band splices it with a spellbindingly intricate slice of progressive opulence. Basically, this is victory parade for the innovators that have evolved Death Metal into the complex and undefinable beast that it is today.
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Vukovi have been working hard in the music industry for fifteen or so years, but if feels like their time has finally come with 2022’s ‘Nula’ and now January’s release ‘My God Has Got a Gun’. Their live shows have always been stunningly dynamic and enthusiastic, and they have an ever better array of slamming tracks to deliver on the bigger stages as headliners now.
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There are shows where the venue plays an integral part in the beauty of the endeavour. It becomes an additional member of the band, adding to the ambience and the majestic nature of the performance. Tonight is one just instance. The Albert Hall is the jewel in Manchester's proliferation of venues. An abandoned Wesleyan Chapel, it had stood dormant for 40 years until it was rescued last decade and restored as a multi-purpose auditorium. It is a fantastic space, surrounded by large ornate stained-glass windows and dominated by an imposing organ. It provides the perfect setting for Opeth’s extraordinarily unique take on metal. There are some compromises to be made, Mikael Åkerfeldt recounts a Spinal Tap moment when they realised that the video screens that had been a focal point of the other shows on this tour were too big to fit and had to be left in the van, but all in all the Albert Hall provides an immaculate canvas for Opeth to unfurl their magic.
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Move over Slipknot because there are a Swiss band in town that know exactly how to entice your fans into turning up in Manchester on a cold night! Meet Paleface Swiss who fans of the afore mentioned mask-wearing crew and Five Finger Death Punch should check out immediately. Well…after you’ve read this review if you’d be kind.
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With even the greatest bands in the World, it is quite easy to forget just how good they are. It has been six years since Kvelertak last visited this country (Download 2019), eight years since they last played this city (supporting Metallica at the arena) and nine years since we got anything resembling a headline tour. Tonight is very much a case of "Hello! Remember us?" as they grab us by the lapels and forcefully remind us why they were the band on everybody's lips last decade. This evening also, inexplicably, gives us our first opportunity to witness “new” vocalist Ivor Nikolaisen up front and personal. We say “new” but he has actually been in the band since 2018, but as the stats above illustrate these are his first UK headline shows with the band. Replacing a “name” vocalist is always a Herculean task, but when it is in the colossally charismatic shape of Erlend Hjelvik, you would suspect it would be rather a hiding to nothing. However Ivar Nikolaisen sidesteps the need for comparisons by being a completely different school of frontman with his own energy, charisma and style.
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Hidden Mothers are a band that really should be bigger than they are. Describing them as blackened post-hardcore is only to scratch the surface of what they deliver. It’s progressive, bluesy, expansive and emotive as much as anything else. Tonight we get to catch them playing songs of their debut album ‘Erosion/Avulsion’ on a bill with other northern bands in what is yet another coup for local promoters No Play.
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Let's put this marker down now. Green Lung will headline Bloodstock, they will headline Download and they will eventually, and potentially eventfully, headline Glastonbury. Now we at ROCKFLESH aren't in possession of a crystal ball but we are steadfast in our certainty of this for three reasons. 1)They are utterly incredible this evening as will be attested further on in this diatribe. 2) Their speed of evolution as a band is frankly astonishing. Midway through tonight's show, Tom Templar recites a roll call of the venues that they have played in this city during their journey to the Ritz headliner status. Green Lung have done their growing up in the glare of the public eye and the band before us now is a completely different beast the one played Star & Garter in 2019 or even the one we witnessed supporting Clutch at the Academy in 2022.
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Why do we do this? Its Valentine's night and we have left perpetually patient partners back at home to stand in the blistering cold of the upstairs room of a shitty pub (the owner's description, not ours). The reason is that we love this music, eternally, triumphantly and truly. The bands on show this evening love this music, it flows through their veins. The audience that has braved the hostility of a Mancunian winter to get here, love this music. Even the characteristically grumpy owner pumping out classic punk downstairs loves this music. It has enslaved us all and it demands both sacrifice and complete obedience.
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The O2 Ritz is rammed tonight to witness a solo outing from guitar superstar Mark Tremonti. Known as a founding member and songwriter of both Creed and Alter Bridge he also has a parallel solo career that spans some 14 years and six albums. So the question on everyone’s lips tonight isn’t “is he any good?” – that’s kind of a given. It’s more along the lines of “just how good is he?”
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Up until now, those who have been ordained to persevere in preserving Queensrÿche’s legacy have opted to avoid the trappings of retrospection. They have left this to their erstwhile frontman and one-person publicity magnet Geoff Tate, who has mined the nostalgia gravy train for all it is worth. Instead of looking back, the post-Tate incarnation of the band (now fronted by the equally golden larynx Todd La Torre) have chosen to surge forward with a flurry of decent releases, culminating in 2023’s rather spiffing “Digital Noise Alliance”.
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Today’s a day of celebration, to raise a glass and salute the launch of Juliet’s Not Dead new album “This World is Ours”, and to get the party started the headliners have brought along two very different support bands.
First to take to the stage are a young five-piece To Nowhere, who deliver a short sharp shock of a set for a Sunday afternoon, albeit in a good way. Their modern alt-rock sound pulls in a myriad of influences; there’s chainsaw riffing, a huge bass sound, a bit of grunge here, but they pull it all together in a way that works well.
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Vower are almost what you’d call a supergroup of sorts forged from the ashes of acclaimed underground bands Toska, Black Peaks, and Palm Reader. When we saw them perform at RADAR Festival last year quality on display was immediately evident to see, and true to form their live performance then was a masterclass in sonic precision and commanding stage presence. It was exactly the kind of seamless execution you’d anticipate from musicians of their collective calibre.
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You can probably tell just from the band names what kind of music we are in for tonight. Gloryhammer came to be back in 2010 as the side project of Alestorm singer and keyboardist Chris Bowes, and since then, they have released a slew of vaguely related concept albums in which various band members assume characters in the ongoing story. Despite some social media controversy following the departure of their original singer, they have weathered the storms that surrounded them and come through more or less unscathed to provide us with entertainment tonight.
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There can surely be few things more exhilarating, more primal, more life-affirming than a night of pure, unadulterated metal. Regardless of whichever is your personal favourite of the kaleidoscope of genres (or sub-genres) that make up modern metal in all its wondrous guises, it remains an ever-changing form that continues to inspire devotion and obsession even now in the 21st Century.
Both bands on tonight’s bill draw from the same well, having their roots firmly in the metal of the eighties, whilst stamping their own personalities on that template, giving the gathered masses a powerful reminder (if one were needed) of just how vital an art form metal truly is.
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The steady rise for Denmark’s tech-pop-metal maestros Siamese has been followed from the start by a couple of us at Rockflesh, and to see them finally explode to the heights of headlining with a stellar catalogue of tunes to choose from is a proud treat. Support bands Cold Culture and Chaosbay fit well on the bill with Siamese, sharing a similarly polished and modern approach to metal. The night is a testament to the ever-evolving landscape of metal, with Siamese standing firmly at the helm.
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Absence may well make the heart grow fonder but so seemingly does constant interaction. Neither Cattle Decapitation nor Shadows of Intent are strangers to this country and even to this fayre city. It is the formers third visit in as many years, whilst the latter last graced us with their presence twenty-four months ago to almost the day. With neither being a scarcity in the touring market, it is impressive they have managed to pull a capacity crowd into a venue that signals an ambitious jump in size for both of them. This is Death Metal graduating out of the underground and into grown-up venues. New Century Hall may feel a world away from the grubby subterranean delights of say Rebellion, but it offers all four acts the opportunity to do their thing on a gargantuan stage, a challenge they all accept with vim and vigour.
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