 Tonight I headed to the Academy in Bristol for
what has to be billed as one of the heaviest gigs
this little venue has hosted in a long time with
Lower Than Atlantis, Devil Sold His Soul, Norma
Jean and The Architects completing the line up,
the show was originally scheduled to take place
at the Academy 2 but due to quick ticket sales
the show got upgraded to the main Academy venue
and also happened to be the last show of the whole
tour.
As soon as I got to the venue I felt a little
tired and out of place, the tiredness was more
jet lag from returning from Cuba only a few days
previously and the out of place feeling was because
the venue was full of scene kids covered in tight
V neck t-shirts, chest piece tattoos and swept
to the side emo fringes.
By the time we got into the venue Lower Than
Atlantis had finished which I was gutted about
as they were the band I was looking forward to
the most but due to the early stage time and massive
queue outside the venue which was full of people
buying tickets on the door it took a good 40 minutes
to get inside so as soon as we got in we made
our way to the front for Devil Sold His Sole.
 Devil Sold His Soul are a band that I have heard
a lot about in the past and also enjoyed listening
to their albums but at the same time I have never
seen them live until tonight dispute them being
my most local band with guitarist Jonny Renshaw
living in the same small Cotswold town as me.
Within seconds of Devil Sold His Soul taking
to the stage I knew we were in for a treat as
they had such great stage presence and came across
so tight like a band who have been slogging their
guts off for years which technically is what Devil
Sold His Soul have been doing since they formed.
The set that Devil Sold His Soul played was pretty
short consisting of about 7 songs which featured
‘Tides’, ‘The Weight Of Faith’,
‘An Ocean Of Lights’, ‘Callous
Heart’ and the closing track ‘Hope’,
the set was a good mix of new and old material
and it was so good to hear the mix of ambient
soundscapes, brutal noise and scary screams throughout
the set.
Next up were Douglasvilles finest Norma Jean,
a band who have been making a noise for a good
ten years and they had the crowd of Bristol in
the palm of their hands from the start right until
the end of their set with the mosh pit erupting
into a frenzy of mad violence and hectic crowd
surfers.
Norma Jean closed their set with some guest vocals
from Devil Sold His Soul’s frontman Ed Gibbs
who ran around the stage giving his all for the
best part of 3minutes which went down an absolute
storm.
 There was a good 30minute wait before the headline
act The Architects took to the stage but that
time soon went by and before you knew it the lights
had dimmed and The Architects took to the stage
and blasted straight into new song ‘Day
In Day Out’ which seemed to be an absolute
winner as once again the crowd surfing started
seconds into the set and did not give up.
The stage set up that The Architects had was
pretty good with three little platform steps sticking
out which had bright lights flashing out of to
light up the band members when stood on them and
front man Sam Carter made the most out of these
platforms charging the stage to get from each
and every platform.
The set list consisted of 13 songs and it was
a big mix of old and new material and songs such
as ‘In Elegence’, ‘Dethroned’,
‘Buried At Sea’, ‘To The Death’,
‘Left With A Last Minute’ all went
down really well with the crowd, I started off
loving The Architects but towards the end of the
set the pure brutal noise was too much for me
to handle which led to me leaving before the encore
of ‘Follow The Water’.
Overall tonight I feel that I witnessed a couple
of the best rising bands in Britain at the moment
and also a long running legendary American based
hardcore band who all seem to currently be at
the top of their game, however I would advise
you never to go to a gig of this style whilst
jet lagged as it did stop me from fully enjoying
The Architects who I am sure I would of loved
on any other given day.
Devil Sold His Soul 4/5
Norma Jean 4/5
Architects 3/5
Review By Trigger
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