Openers Tenside turn in an assured display. With songs that soar and pummel in all the right places, a slowly filling up venue responds well to their thuggish metalcore, the German quartet exiting the stage with a room suitably pumped for whats to follow.
With cuts from their freshly delivered seventh LP ‘The Outer Ones’ bolstering their set dramatically, even a somewhat muted crowd reaction can do little to dampen what is a fiery hour of tech death histrionics from Revocation, the bands hybrid brutality balancing the willfully extreme likes of ‘Blood Atonement’ with moments of succinct, groove-led aggression (that closing money-shot riff in ‘ That Which Consumes All Things’ goes off like Vesuvius). Frontman Dave Davidson is certainly a marvel to watch, his six string dexterity consistently matched by a maniacal vocal performance and wide eyed stage presence, especially apparent with highlight track ‘Dismantle The Dictator’s finger cramping riff work and spin on a dime tempo shifts. Metal as all unholy fuck.
Killswitch Engage are simply breathtaking. As they catapult into new cut ‘Unleashed’, the swirling shenanigans of Adam D are offset by the imperious sincerity of vocalist Jesse Leach, each throat-rending roar and impassioned lyric delivered with maximum, bug eyed conviction. As the set goes on, the band scale peak after peak as the sheer magnitude of the Killswitch arsenal is laid out before us. From the searing majesty of ‘A Bid Farewell’ through to ‘This Is Absolution’s anthem stomp and a skull crushing rendition of ‘Self Revolution’, it is difficult to not be somewhat taken aback by just how many legitimately classic tracks are at the bands disposal, with even box fresh numbers ‘The Signal Fire’ and ‘I Am Broken Too’ already sounding like live staples.
Bowing out with ‘Strength Of The Mind’ and their immortal rendition of Dio classic ‘Holy Diver’, Killswitch exit having left us without any shadow of doubt that they are still one of the most dependable live acts in the game. With Jesse throttling every last ounce of sentiment from the songs and a unrivalled set-list littered with bona fide metal standards, peers will once again to be forced to yield to the unmatched caliber of these metalcore godfathers. Still very much alive and breathing.
Tony Bliss 