Well, I had a completely different set of expectations heading into Loathe‘s I Let It in and It Took Everything (SharpTone Records). See, one of my co-DJs on my radio show Stress Factor (cheap plug) had played ‘Gored’ and ‘Broken Vision Rhythm’ a few weeks back so I thought I was headed face-first into a sea of gnarly down-tuned Hardcore riffs with some Industrial elements tossed in for good measure. Not quite. Continue reading
The Safety Fire shared an acoustic version of “Wise Hands,” which can be viewed here. The song will be available on all digital platforms including iTunes & Spotify from the 16th December 2014. They are also currently writing their third studio album, due in 2015 via Inside Out Music.
The band commented:
“Growing up with bands like Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam during the era of MTV-unplugged, we have always had a fondness for acoustic interpretations and versions of songs. This was something we just did for fun but were really happy with how it turned out. With the music being stripped back we felt the video was a fitting portrayal.”
The band also recently announced they would be replacing The Faceless as main support on the imminent European dates with Protest The Hero. Find the full list of dates below:
Nov 14: Conne Island – Leipzig, Germany
Nov 15: Pod Lampou – Plzen, Czech Republic
Nov 16: Bi Nuu – Berlin, Germany
Nov 18: John Dee – Oslo, Norway
Nov 19: Sticky Fingers – Gothenburg, Sweden
Nov 20: Voxhall – Århus C, Denmark
Nov 21: Poppodium Atak – Enschede, Netherlands
Nov 22: Essigfabrik – Cologne, Germany
Nov 24: Trix – Antwerpen, Belgium
Nov 25: Mo’ Club – Southampton, UK
Nov 26: Manchester Academy 2 – Manchester, UK
Nov 28: Voodoo Lounge – Dublin, Ireland
Nov 29: The Limelight 2 – Belfast, UK
Nov 30: Slade Rooms – Wolverhampton, UK
Dec 01: Studio 24 – Edinburgh, UK
Dec 02 Koko – London, UK
Dec 04: Le Trabendo – Paris, France
Dec 05 Substage – Karlsruhe, Germany
Dec 06: Live Forum – Milano, Italy
Dec 07: Traffic Club – Roma, Italy
Dec 08: Backstage Halle – Munich, Germany
Dec 09: Arena Wien – Bezirk Landstrasse, Austria
Dec 10: L’Usine – Geneva, Switzerland
Dec 12: Gaswerk Kulturzentrum – Winterthur, Switzerland
Dec 13: Warmaudio – Decines, France
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It was a chilly night in a quieter than usual Saturday in Cambridge Massachusetts. The Middle East nightclub sits on a welcoming strip of culturally diverse shops and restaurants. A perfect location for Protest the Hero’s Volition (Razor & Tie) tour; a multi-national and eclectic metallic offering.
For all of the shows I’ve been fortunate enough to attend in the New England area, this marked the first time I’ve attended a show downstairs at the Middle East. A basement venue that resembles the ultimate metal mancave or what Rocko’s in Manchester New Hampshire could have been if the staff actually cared. An hour between doors and the opening band afforded me ample time to down some economy brews and admire the not particularly well-lit, but intimate locale.
First up were Protest the Hero’s Canadian brethren in Intervals. For an unsigned band they’ve garnered lots of attention in progressive and tech-metal circles, especially with their latest release, A Voice Within. With the room starving for some live volume, the boys in Intervals were happy to oblige. Heavy 7-string palm muting was underway with tunes like ‘Alchemy’ and ‘Ephemeral’ starting the evening’s first mosh-pits. It was modern tech-metal or djent through and through; Tesseract shirts and Ibanez/Steinberger guitar interplay aplenty. Obviously talented players with a lot of stage energy, the only problem being the repetitive nature of djent. Midway through the set the songs began to feel repetitive. However things livened up again at the end of the performance when they jumped into songs like ‘Automaton’ and ‘Moment Marauder’ which featured some catchy melodies and riffs not unlike Periphery’s.
London England’s The Safety Fire sieged the stage next with their frenetic, noisy art-metal. Since I had missed out on their last North American trek, it was very satisfying to finally catch them tearing into live numbers from last year’s sublime Mouth of Swords (Inside Out). To the best of my knowledge The Safety Fire is considered progressive metal, but to be honest I wouldn’t know what to label them as. As evidenced by live flow of offerings like ‘Red Hatchet’ and ‘Huge Hammers’ their sound is metal one second and sometime that you’d find in Spin magazine the next. And I liked that. A lot, actually. Now that I had gotten a taste of their live sound, I’m ready for a proper headlining turn from these British upstarts.
At this point the Middle East was a sweatbox and I needed some more Pabst Blue Ribbon relief in order to properly enjoy the awesome that is Battlecross live. After refueling at the bar I took a spot front and center to take in Battlecross’ brand of “Blue Collar Thrash Metal” as close and loudly as possible. The bearded Michigan metal warriors did not disappoint. Guitarists Tony Asta and Hiran Deraniyagala traded off blazing riffs and searing leads effortlessly. What I thought would be a very pro-progressive metal audience ate up Battlecross’ savage thrash stylings. Sure the argument can be made that they only have one speed (a very brisk one, thanks to former Black Dahlia Murder drummer Shannon Lucas holding down on drums), but is that really an issue when you’ve got most of the crowd buying what you’re selling? If you weren’t headbanging you were in one of the various circle pits that would break at the drop of a hat or raiding their merchandise booth. Audience reaction to pit-churners like ‘Kaleb’ and ‘Flesh and Bone’ was so raucous that frontman Kyle Gunther declared Cambridge to be the best crowd of the entire tour.
Protest the Hero faced the stiff challenge of following up Battlecross’ assault, but the Torontonians were up to the task. Armed with some truly respectable facial hair, Protest served their Dream Theater by the way of Botch sonic cocktail to a crowd that hung on to every word. The young Canadians burned through 12 songs in the span of an hour and ten minutes, ranging from Kezia era anthems like ‘Blindfolds’ to more recent stompers like ‘Underbite.’ Midway into their effort the many fans had forgotten about the “No Crowd-Surfing” policy and were attempting to join the band onstage. Having the best live-sound on the bill paid dividends as it showcased the band’s technical mastery and vocalist Rody Walker’s pipes. And speaking of Walker, his witty lyrics are only matched by his onstage banter. Walker maintained an easy charm with the crowd even though most in attendance were Bruins fans while he’s partial to his Toronto Maple Leafs. I mean if we can’t agree on how much The Montreal Canadians and Max Pacioretty suck, then what can we agree on really? Conversations on hockey and the integrity of modern Star Trek movies is how you make inroads to great international relations. They capped off their set with crowd favorites ‘Bloodmeat’ and for my money is their best song, ‘C’est La Vie.’
It was good night in Cambridge. Overall we got quality sets from great bands at a good price. If I had my way, Protest the Hero would have played for a little longer than an hour and ten minutes. And maybe I should’ve gotten a couple of more economy suds from the bar before calling it a night. But all things considered, a highly enjoyable time.
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Words: Hansel Lopez
Photos: Chris Small of CWS Photography
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
How does one classify Four Loko? It’s certainly not beer; it tastes far too good for that. It’s not vodka; it’s got the telltale fizz and lack of gasoline aftertaste. It’s certainly not whiskey because it doesn’t taste like hellfire. I’ll just say that it’s the blood of Dionysus and leave it at that. Boy, is it good. Especially if you haven’t eaten, then it just goes straight to your damn face. So in the entirely wrong mindset I went to see Between The Buried And Me. In a familiar moment of brilliance I realized that every band on this tour has the word ‘the’ in their name. Wow. The definite article is king. Some grammarian make a punny joke about that. I digress. This show was also the kickoff night for the 10th Annual Rock and Shock Festival The Palladium puts on.
There was no question about my attendance with this one right here. I had the funds, I had the time, and I still have a huge space in my heart for these North Carolinian wizards whose music is like off-Broadway musicals meets Opeth meets Pink Floyd meets Cave In meets João Gilberto meets Dream Theater if they were good meets Botch meets Freddy Mercury. It’s a clusterbomb of influences that all somehow manages to make writing twenty minute songs excusable in my mind.
But for the openers, because a good review is chronological, should the universe allow me to experience it in such a fashion, and it normally does. The Safety Fire from London (like you didn’t assume they were already, because I sure did and I was right) were an okay primer for what was to come. They play a relatively inoffensive kind of prog metal meets metalcore and some poppy-esque sensibilities. This we call ‘djent’, usually, but some people would rather me not. If I see a duck, I’ll have to call it a hang-glider, which I suppose is technically correct if you feel like a duck while hang-gliding. Don’t be obnoxious to wildlife.
After that little musical handy wrapped up, The Contortionist, now officially rollin’ [blunts] with Mike Lessard of fellow progressive and high-minded –in both ways– Last Chance To Reason, stuck entirely to their mind-blowing new album, Intrinsic (eOne), which just about raised the bar on everything they’ve done on Exoplanet, which was marvelous in its own right. It’s like if elevator music were heavy, but in the best way one could possibly mean it. Simultaneously light, airy, and melodic, yet crushing at a moment’s whim, without the gaps and awkwardness that could come from a lesser band trying to transition from asteroids colliding to doing heroin on an armchair. Hearing ‘Cortical’ live was just too good of a treat, and I hope that while they bring back the oldies on future tours, they keep dazzling my ears with their introspective steaze.
The Faceless have dropped into odd territories with their latest album, Deconsecrate (Summerian), and have essentially become the fat fedora atheists (FFA’s) that one oft encounters vomiting pseudo-intellectual babble onto a forum somewhere, and making themselves hard to agree with even if you share their general viewpoint. I’m all for hailing science, but I wouldn’t write a song or make a shirt about it. But despite this, I’ll always still hold a soft spot for The Faceless on the basis that their first two releases were just sooooo good. And ‘The Eidolon Reality’ was a pretty killer track before it was fucked with until the chorus was so unrecognizably cut up by the dull blades of an overzealous audio technician that it is now the audio equivalent of Joan Rivers’ face. And in that statement I believe I am somehow implying that there was ever any good to be found in JR’s mug to begin with. Other than that, I just found myself patiently appreciating the actually heavy parts of the new songs and reveling in nostalgia during ‘Coldly Calculated Design’ and ‘Xenochrist’, but still sad to see a band I once obsessed over become just an auxiliary band that will play second hurdy-gurdy to something I’m actually stoked on.
And how could one not be stoked on Between The Buried And Me, who are probably one of the three metal bands out of North Carolina that aren’t sludge or doom? Busting out the entirety of Parallax 2: Future Sequence (Metal Blade)? Why yes, I’ll come down and peep that right quick. There’s no such thing as a ceiling when it comes to BtBaM’s sound. It will always continue getting weirder, and the concepts progressively more spacey. They are spacemen. At least I say they are. It’s a marvel that they do this without prolonged exposure to LSD and/or shrooms or just really potent weed. Regardless of nonexistent narcotics, they’ve still got grandiose compositions swirling around in their collective head, with enough artistry as warrants growing a scraggly beard and maintaining a mellow aura despite the music being a mad mix of progressive death metal, hardcore, and cosmic soft rock textures that would send any lesser man cackling into a garret. Scoff with thinly veiled derision if thou may, but taking this whole (awesome) new album to the face in a live setting has just reminded me how much I love these guys. From the metalized surf of ‘Bloom’, to the power-bombing breakdowns of ‘Telos’, the epic headbang territory of closer ‘Silent Flight Parliament’, etc. etc. I’m going to not nerd out, here. It was a good show (great show, even), and we’ll leave it at that.
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Sean Pierre-Antoine
A minute into the opening, title track of Mouth Of Swords (InsideOut), the new album from The Safety Fire, and you’re hit by full and complex layers of progressive metal and rock that reaches back to the ’70s and forward to the future as it takes inspiration from a broad range of themes and styles. Whether it’s chugging riffs or twidly high-pitched dissonant shredding, smooth flowing grooves or erratic rhythms and arpeggios, higher-range vocals or angry shouting, the songs are a conglomeration of many and varied parts.Continue reading