Early door times for gigs inevitably result in the first support being missed and that’s what happened to my viewing of Intervals, as I arrived to a venue looking surprisingly sparse in numbers. The Safety Fire was an interesting proposition adorned in white shirts and looking rather posh to me as they hit the knowledgeable audience with a progressive set of math structured rock and metal with songs like ‘Glass Crush’ and ‘Old Souls’ showcasing some versatile guitar playing and vocal adeptness. There was a pleasant charisma to this bands music though at times it felt like each member was playing something totally different to the rest of the band, though it still meshed nicely together.
Seemingly from nowhere people arrived and filled the front of the stage ready for Tesseract, this UK outfits’ reputation has garnered exponentially though this was my first time seeing the band live. Unfamiliarity with a bands material produces anticipation and an air of nervousness, making the adrenalin kick in, hoping for something special and Tesseract didn’t disappoint as their mammoth sound erupted from the venues PA like the sound of a freight train going past your window. The down-tuned aural thuggery whilst not fast was ultra heavy, creating an impenetrable wall of sonic thunder from the bass and drums. Very few song titles were announced during their 45 minute set which saw vocalist Ashe bellow his way through the riff infested djent swamp but also add some deft clean tones occasionally to the set. ‘Of Matter – Proxy’ was a beast as a shoeless Amos on bass strummed, plucked and gouged deep caverns of dense and rich bass work throughout this song and the set as a whole. The straight ahead death metal aspects of the bands set were enough to set the pit off randomly making ‘Of Energy – Singularity’ seem that much more violence even though their whole performance had an atmosphere of sophistication through the playing ability of all the guys on stage.
Arriving on stage five minutes earlier than planned, yes a headliner starting early, Protest The Hero must have had a premonition considering the bass issues Arif had about four songs in, but more on that later. I caught this Canadian band some years back on one of the ‘Never Say Die’ tours that also had Parkway Drive, Unearth, Architects, Despised Icon, Whitechapel and Carnifex on the bill. With everyone taking about four steps forward as they started the Canadians flew on stage and bombarded the listener with their unique brand of riff saturated rock and metal that opened with ‘Underbite’ from last year’s Volition (Razor & Tie) album. Immediately the energy was amplified on stage from this bunch of Canuck crazies as the riffs, hook and melodies honed in on the senses with surgical precision. ‘Hair-Trigger’ followed in similar fashion with Rody working the audience superbly. The guys voice is unbelievable, his tone and range were faultless throughout and added to that his stage charisma and banter make him the perfect front man and many would-be and so called established people fronting rock and metal bands could learn a lot from him. As the band went into ‘Clarity’ and ripped through it bass problems ensued though I think only the band realised, meaning that Rody had an extended period of banter with the crowd which he unduly did, with much laughter including a session called “Hunk Of The Day” where he picked some dude from the crowd he thought was a hunk, brought him on stage and gave him a beer. Bass problems resolved produced a round of applause and straight into ‘The Dissentience’ with some outlandish guitar work covering multiple genres flailing the audience and creating a small but reasonable pit for some energy to be expended. ‘Bury The Hatchet’ from the band’s debut was followed by ‘Mist’ from the last album and the seamless flow from each song to the next was excellent. With each between song break giving Rody more opportunity to demonstrate his stand up routine I was thrilled to get ‘C’est La Vie’, a tune steeped in death metal in places but no less absorbingly catchy with riffs being flung far and wide. Early doors means curfews for venues like this and the bands performance had soon hit its finale point with ‘Tilting Against Windmills’ being a demonstration in guitar wizardry and vocal acrobatics. The other acts were good on this tour, but no match for Protest The Hero, and I suspect massive things await this band very soon.
Words: Martin Harris
Photos: Adrian Wheeler
There’s nothing like a new release from a progressive metal band to get fans beating the shit out of each other on social media. Protest The Hero‘s new full-length Volition (Spinefarm) might not have divided them like Karnivool fans were this year, but all the expected debates can be found over what direction they should have gone in. While the songs are still heavy and technical, they are not as spasmodic and mathy as those of their 2008 release Fortress, nor is their guitar quite as frenetic,with the shredding displaying a little less of that twiddly sound that has taken root in UK post-rock bands. But really you’re going to be a pretty strong lover of the form to see a huge difference in style from anything else they’ve done or with music of the progressive mathcore bands like Sikth and a fair bit of The Safety Fire and Animals As Leaders, although of course the vocals styles differ between these bands.