Escape Fail / Circadian / These Cities Surrender / Valkaine @ Auntie Annie’s
It’s Tuesday, night, it’s early September, it’s Belfast, and it’s upstairs in the only bar left in what was once the city’s entertainment heartland – the Golden Mile.
It’s also the first night of the ‘Weld’ tour, taking four different young up-and-coming metal bands around a series of small venues to get up and close and personal with their prospective audiences: in this case, unfortunately, a half-empty room made up of mums, dads, girlfriends and the other bands.
First up are Valkaine – opening the bill by virtue of a holler as to who soundchecked last? Their slow burning opener is full of promise – tight riffs, good steady rhythms, they get the basics right: they remind me of a young Sweet Savage, without Ramie’s madness.
Next up are high energy schoolboy hardcore high tops These Cities Surrender – their hair just long enough to maybe just about pass the school bell muster, they nonetheless headbang their way through a reasonable mix of accomplished covers and promising original material. Again, they get the basics right, but they definitely need more stage experience to give them more confidence, especially vocalist Jack, who kept turning his back to the albeit small but appreciative audience.
Circadian, by total contrast, ooze confidence from every pore of their rock ‘n’ roll bodies. Another young band, they ripped through an all too short set of classic heads-down riffage blended with prog rock sensibilities and pomp stadia pretensions: sort of Black Crowes meets Porcupine Tree meets The Answer with a healthy dose of Circadian thrown in. A very tight outfit with a very bright future.
Headliners Escape Fails bring things to a suitably rowdy finish, with short, sharp hardcore shots to the midriff, reminding me of Life Of Agony in their heyday. The only downside is the brevity of their set, perhaps mitigated by the fact that, counting the bar staff, there were only about two dozen people still in the room – and it was just about midnight!
I’ve already rehearsed my arguments about Belfast metal audiences – complaining about not having any good bands and then not supporting some of the rather fine exponents of the craft that we have labouring away on nights like this – so I’m not going to go over them again. But I would like to say one thing: Auntie Annie’s is one of those venues with a reputation for having an awful sound – tonight it was excellent.
It’s Tuesday, night, it’s early September, it’s Belfast, and it’s upstairs in the only bar left in what was once the city’s entertainment heartland – the Golden Mile.
It’s also the first night of the ‘Weld’ tour, taking four different young up-and-coming metal bands around a series of small venues to get up and close and personal with their prospective audiences: in this case, unfortunately, a half-empty room made up of mums, dads, girlfriends and the other bands.
First up are Valkaine – opening the bill by virtue of a holler as to who soundchecked last? Their slow burning opener is full of promise – tight riffs, good steady rhythms, they get the basics right: they remind me of a young Sweet Savage, without Ramie’s madness.
Next up are high energy schoolboy hardcore high tops These Cities Surrender – their hair just long enough to maybe just about pass the school bell muster, they nonetheless headbang their way through a reasonable mix of accomplished covers and promising original material. Again, they get the basics right, but they definitely need more stage experience to give them more confidence, especially vocalist Jack, who kept turning his back to the albeit small but appreciative audience.
Circadian, by total contrast, ooze confidence from every pore of their rock ‘n’ roll bodies. Another young band, they ripped through an all too short set of classic heads-down riffage blended with prog rock sensibilities and pomp stadia pretensions: sort of Black Crowes meets Porcupine Tree meets The Answer with a healthy dose of Circadian thrown in. A very tight outfit with a very bright future.
Headliners Escape Fails bring things to a suitably rowdy finish, with short, sharp hardcore shots to the midriff, reminding me of Life Of Agony in their heyday. The only downside is the brevity of their set, perhaps mitigated by the fact that, counting the bar staff, there were only about two dozen people still in the room – and it was just about midnight!
I’ve already rehearsed my arguments about Belfast metal audiences – complaining about not having any good bands and then not supporting some of the rather fine exponents of the craft that we have labouring away on nights like this – so I’m not going to go over them again. But I would like to say one thing: Auntie Annie’s is one of those venues with a reputation for having an awful sound – tonight it was excellent.
swegony
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