Shutter: Live review – Bros & Hos Fest
Scott Tailford
It’s a freezing-cold February evening in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. An empty space surrounded by many tall buildings has one set of doors leading down into Trillians Bar; a brilliant intimate venue perfect for what would be the nights’ entertainment. As thousands of workers turn in for evening, it is time for others to just begin, and thus a couple hundred people ranging from young to middle-aged gather for a few hours of complete detachment from the outside world. A night of the heaviest, most brutal hardcore metal the North-East has to offer is whats on the cards for tonight, and with 6 bands in total playing, there’s more than enough to get everyone involved! Let’s break ‘em down!
40oz – ‘One rule for them, another for us’ are the first words shouted through the P.A system tonight, meaning vocalist Mark Ward takes no time to announce himself, along with the band thundering in behind him. A really short set, but a very ferocious one. Bassist Matty Reid particularly stood out, abusing his instrument in the best way possible and accentuating every cymbal crash by throwing himself around the stage accordingly. A great opener to a very passionate night
This I Believe – These young upstarts started with an onslaught of power chords that set a perfect tone for singer Leyum Pattison to lay his very gutteral vocals over the top. A great pace was kept throughout, topped off on the final track by a sweet tapping solo from guitarist Elias Jamous, aswell as a very tight drum fill from Patrick Dean. These guys worked well together, and its no surprise to see how fast they’ve been embraced and supported by the hardcore community.
Hey! Alaska – ENERGY!! If there’s one word that somes these guys up, its energy! Just the explosion of pure kinetic mayhem that explodes from vocalist Luke just makes you totally want to get involved. The crowd were pretty into it for the most part during the previous bands, but with these guys, you could feel the entire mood of the place start to shift. With some trading of harsh vs. clean vocals between Luke and guitarist Jamie, as well as some melodic backing from Ashley on the keyboard, Alaska created a pretty cool sound that stood out from the other bands of tonight. A great performance, and a stellar example of what a band can deliver live instead of on record.
Climate of Fear – After a pretty sweet intro the band descended into a bit of a mess. Sound quality was all over the place, leading to uneven levels and some initially pretty sloppy playing from bassist ‘Ed’. However they did eventually find their groove and as the crowd were already hyped from the last bands, this lead to the first proper pit of the night, along with singer Rae giving the mic to some crowd members to sing a part of one of their songs. Awesome participation and a great synergy between audience and performer.
The Departed – Now we’re into the big leagues! Relentless tourers The Departed have fast made a name for themselves after putting out consecutive material and doing multiple UK tours as well as a brief stint in Europe. It’s very telling, as The Departed COMMANDED the stage, and the entire venue effortlessly. Extremely fast and extremely brutal riffs abound, hammering home the purest hardcore sound to the baying audience. Participation is almost symbiotic by this point, as vocalist Robert dives in amongst the crowd and lets them scream the words to a handful of songs throughout the set. Insane energy throughout, you can see why these guys have come so far so fast.
Demoraliser - And finally onto Demoraliser. Vocalist James Dexter immediately engages with the audience who are at this point completely involved in every scream, every breakdown, and every broken nose. Demoraliser had the best sound of the entire night, with a great dirty guitar tone and some thrashing drums, which was a perfect setup to debut some new material. Set against choked chords and extremely heavy distortion, Dexter allowed the crowd to get involved by handing them the mic amongst all the carnage. The overall feeling of tenacity was drenched throughout the entire place as everyone got in on the action. These guys have delivered insanely passionate shows night after night, and continued not to disappoint here in Trillians. I’ll end this review by echoing the words of James Dexter after pulling himself out of the crowd and back on stage; ‘Thank you Newcastle that was intense’.
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