Gig Review

The Metal Hammer Razor Tour
Devil Sold His Soul, Heights, Heart Of A Coward
Bristol, The Fleece

7th November 2012


Devil Sold His Soul          Heights             Heart Of A Coward
                         

The Metal Hammer Razor Tour now on its second year and consisting of a pretty good line up headed by post-hardcore UK band Devil Sold His Soul, who combine complex melody with While She Sleeps sections thrown in for good measure. And there aren't many better venues in Bristol than The Fleece to house this kind of event, being a proper alternative venue that has a proper stage to give everyone a view.

Heart Of A Coward were recommended to me by DSHS in an interview a few months ago, and sadly due to some issues with the guest list I missed a good part of their set. But when I got in Jamie Graham's growl would have stood up against many of the bands at Hevy festival and their pure metal riffs being fired out you like a wall of sound. It seemed like a pretty flawless act with some great energetic metal shredding that makes you want to head bang and jump around.

Heights came flying onto the stage with guns blazing with "Eye For An Eye" . With an absolute wall of sound coming from the guitars of Dean Richardson and Tom Green. Former bassist Alex Monty settled well into the role of vocalist for the band, with a beast of a roar and an unbelievable amount of energy. In spite of being only three years old Heights are kind of at the roots of hardcore, with music that focuses mainly on the rhythm as opposed to the melody. With a high energy gritty set and a youthful "this is the music we want to make, if you don't like it don't listen" attitude as oppose to some of the more commercially minded bands around today. The set also consisted of "These Streets", "Dead Ends", "Stray Rats", "Oceans" and "The Lost And Alone". At one point Alex left the stage and was singing in the crowd with a few people joining in. It took a while for me to even realise as I was to focused on everyone bouncing around on stage playing at the front and having a good time. Sadly they didn't get much out of the unfamiliar crowd but they do have a lot to offer as a band and hopefully the second album will open them up to the world.

I first caught Devil Sold His Soul at Hevy festival earlier in the year and they absolutely blew me away, and is it came time for them to take the stage the lights went down as a recorded track sharing their style of dramatic, intelligent and layered music played them on. The crowd instantly started chanting "Renshaw" for whom this was a local gig. DSHS opened up with "No Remorse, No Regrets" soon followed by "A New Legacy" both from the bands latest album "Empire Of Light". Jozet Norocky's bass sound was excellent and much like many of their songs DSHS built up throughout the set. Ed Gibbs pressed the crowd to close up the gaps and move close to the stage and by the middle of the set when things were in full swing most of the crowed moved in close. Once again though Gibbs blew me away with his singing, few hardcore singers can sing the clean parts as well as him and he can destroy your ears with his deafening scream as well. By the time the band had got on two "Crusader" and "End of Days" there was a great energy on stage. DSHS combine the melodic complex side of their music with shear powerful beat downs, and they always sound great. It's no wonder the crowd was calling for an encore and "Hope" got everyone singing along. Even after this the crowd were cheering for more, myself included. They've been around for a while and it's given them a great performance, Ed is one of my favourite hardcore singers and the only thing I could fault him on was not throwing the mic around like Adam Lazzara from Taking Back Sunday, that being said he's got a great energy on stage and after a few songs was jumping around and singing stood on speakers. They've got a good light show that fits well with their set and you can see that they all really enjoy it, which is great. There such a talented band and are rapidly becoming a personal favourite, I truly hope they get everything they deserve. Go see them if you get the chance, even if you think this genre is all about thrashing fast past music and screaming, because there are few bands who can combine emotional soft almost epic move music with a raw force like DSHS and even fewer who can pull it off live.

Heart Of A Coward 3/5
Heights 3/5
devil Sold His Soul 4/5

Review By Marc Rich

 Devil Sold His Soul


Ed Gibbs
Rick Chapple
Jonny Renshaw
Paul Kitney
Jozef Norocky
Leks Wood

 Heights


Alex Monty
Dean Richardson
Tom Green
Tom Hutton

 Heart Of A Coward


Jamie Graham
Carl Ayers
Steve Haycock
Vishal "V" Khetia
Christopher "Noddy" Mansbridge

 Band Related Links
Devil Sold His Soul Facebook
Heights Facebook
Heart Of A Coward Facebook
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?