When it comes to music, the French are having a pretty great time at the minute. They came 4th in the Eurovision Song Contest with an absolute stellar performance, Slift have released what many consider to be their album of year and Gojira are one of the biggest metal bands on the planet right now. Rise of the Northstar are the next band from our neighbours across the channel to represent their country when it comes to continuing this well received momentum. Donned in their trademark white Boiler Suits, the Hardcore/Nu Metal adjacent 5 piece have embarked on their Crank It Up Tour, making stops all across the UK and Europe. 

By the time that opening act Forager make their way onto the stage, the Manchester Academy 3 is by no means full, small pockets of people dotted across the venue make the relatively small room feel rather vast. The Manchester band have a clear Hardcore influence when it comes to their sound, however tracks like ‘Crash FM’ and ‘Converse’ show that there is a lot more to this band than may initially meet the eye. These particular tracks have more of a melodic, post-hardcore feel to it in its verses and bridge. Sweeping, at times atmospheric guitar hooks and catchy, clean vocal lines prove that the band have a real level of depth and understanding of what makes a brilliantly structured song, whilst it may not be a track that gets the two steppers going like some of their other outings. Despite the rather sparse crowd, Forager gave it their all tonight and clearly had a great time showing those in attendance what they are all about, hopefully there is more to come from them.  

Our Hollow, Our Home have had quite a peculiar 12 months or so. In February 2023, the band went through a complete overhaul, with all bar one member of the band sticking on to keep the project going. Fast forward to May 2024 and the new look Our Hollow, Our Home seem dead set on proving that they are still the band that they once were. What is immediately apparent upon the band taking to the stage is that they exude professionalism and finesse when it comes to putting together all the components of their live sound. The band is tight as nails, every note hits exactly how it should do, to the point that it almost seems synthetic. The use of backing track adds to the atmosphere of their tracks and are a welcome accompaniment as opposed to a disappointing distraction to mask a band’s incompetence.  

The thing that impressed me most is that they have this amazing ability to take the audience on a journey, through their impressive use of song structure. The “Harsh Verse into Clean Chorus” trope has been done to death, and i can count on one hand the amount of bands who don’t phone in their verses because they have a chorus that hits real hard as is usually the case. Our Hollow, Our Home are one of these bands. You don’t spend the verse waiting for the chorus to kick in, instead you appreciate the natural ability at hand before the clean vocals hit you and it just makes the pay off so much more satisfying. It’s difficult as hell to pull of, but they do it so well. This could very well have been an Our Hollow, Our Home headline gig as it was obvious a large amount of effort was put into the end product. Things may have been turned upside down recently for this band, but tonight proved they haven't lost their touch. 

It is about 21:30 by the time Rise of the Northstar take to the stage, and whilst the venue has filled up a little bit, tonight is by no means a sellout. The first thing you notice about Rise of the Northstar is how visually imposing they are. The band are clad in white Jumpsuits, with Vocalist Vithia wearing what appears to be an MF Doom inspired mask. Their look, much like their sound is straight from the early Noughties Nu Metal boom, and judging by the demographic of the crowd in attendance, those around during this period appear to be their target market.  

To put it simply, Rise of the Northstar about 3 things, Riffs, Rapping and choruses that involve some form of chanting element that the crowd can engage with. These are the 3 pillars of Rap Rock, but it just proves that if somethings not broke, dont fix it. Whilst a little bit cheesy, theres a reason this type of music is so fun. They’re not trying to be the next Rush when it comes to their ability to write a song, they’re just out for a good time and you’ve got to respect that.  

Much like Our Hollow, Our Home before them, a lot of Rise of the Northstar sound seems to be covered in the form of backing tracks, and in this case, they seem to be doing a lot of the heavy lifting. The sound coming from the instruments on stage just didn’t seem to come through cohesively and instead you would have sections of disparate elements coming to the forefront of the mix, before then being overpowered by something else shortly. The main victim of this was the vocals. Very little of what Vithia was saying came through enough to be able to decipher anything, unless you knew what song was playing at the time. The tone and intonation of his rapping was somewhat there, but it was that quiet that it just lost all impact and credibility.  

Thats not to say that Rise of the Northstar are by any means a bad band. Their sound is tight and crisp, and their Japanese pop culture influence really adds some interesting elements and ideas to their sound, to create a band that would genuinely be considered unique in what they do. All of the ideas are there, they are a band that i would probably rather quite enjoy in any other context, but tonight just wasn’t that night. Despite all this, they clearly have a devoted underground following, even though i mentioned the place was half empty, those who were there, were not just there to make up numbers. The whole crowd knew every word, moved every time they were called upon to do so and created an atmosphere fitting of the band’s heavy nature. I feel like if i had more of a connection to Rise of the Northstar and tapped into that community spirit side of things, then i may have had a better time. 

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Rise Of The Northstar + Our Hollow Our Home + Forager