Kicking off tonight’s Birmingham leg of
the Europe & UK Volition Tour at the O2 Academy
2 are Intervals - a heavy, melodic, progressive
metal band from Toronto, Canada headed up by lead
guitarist Aaron Marshall who is a wizard on the
fret board – if you like your technical
metal then look no further! Accompanying him are
guitarist Lucas Guyader, Arup Sastry on drums
and Mike Semesky on vocals. Tonight the guys arrive
on stage and begin the build up before exploding
into ‘Alchemy’ followed by ‘Mata
Hari’, ‘Ephemeral’ and ‘The
Escape’ before finishing with ‘Tapestry’.
The band were well received by the crowd and provided
a great lead-in to The Safety Fire. Intervals
are definitely one to watch and, with the musical
talent onboard, I would imagine great things are
in store for them in the future.
The Safety Fire are second on the bill and waste
no time before launching into ‘Red Hatchet’
to a responsive crowd. Formed in London in 2006,
The Safety Fire are an energetic band with a similar
technical element to Intervals albeit with higher
vocals in Sean McWeeney which offset the melodic
guitar riffs from Joaquin Ardiles and Derya Nagle.
One minute, the music is totally heavy and in-yer-face,
the next it’s ballad-worthy
so a lot of variation. The Safety Fire appeared
at Sonisphere in 2011 alongside Metallica, Slipknot
and Mastodon so have proved they can definitely
hold their own on the metal circuit. Devin Townsend
is a veteran of the Inside Out record label to
which The Safety Fire are signed and they show
a similar experimental side within their music.
The set tonight includes tracks from their 2013
album ‘Mouth of Swords’ – ‘Yellowism,
‘Old Souls’ and ‘Mouth of Swords’
except for the track ‘Huge Hammers’
which hails from their 2012 album ‘Grind
the Ocean’.
Up and coming metal outfit TesseracT need no introduction
tonight with rave reviews already behind them
from Kerrang!, Metal Hammer and Terrorizer magazines.
Signed to Century Media records (home of grindcore
giants Napalm Death) and formed in 2007, TesseracT
are a British progressive metal band hailing from
Milton Keynes. They have recently appointed a
new lead singer in the form of Ashe O’Hara
whose voice is angelic one minute and as angry
as you like the next. He is the perfect addition
to the band’s brutal yet haunting sound.
Albums to date include ‘One’ and ‘Altered
State’ and tracks
feature from both tonight – particularly
memorable is ‘Of Matter – Proxy’.
It is clear from the crowd’s reaction that
they absolutely adore TesseracT and their performance
is quite simply… stunning!
The headliners tonight, Protest the Hero, arrive
on stage to rapturous applause following the performance
by TesseracT and the atmosphere is electric! Post-hardcore,
metal and technical all feature within the music
of this band and the guys have been on the scene
since they released their debut EP ‘Search
for the Truth’ in 2002. Originally from
Whitby, Ontario, Protest the Hero have toured
with the likes of Killswitch Engage, In Flames,
Korn, Limp Bizkit
and Sum 41… the list is endless! Their first
full length album ‘Kezia’ was released
in 2005. Since then they have racked up another
three albums – the latest of which was released
independently last year in October entitled ‘Volition’.
Lead vocalist Rody Walker commands the stage tonight
backed by a band literally pulsing with energy
and enthusiasm. ‘Underbite’ begins
the set tonight with tracks like ‘Clarity’
and ‘Tilting Against Windmills’ following
before the finale of ‘Blindfolds Aside’
finishing up an amazing performance from the band
– truly stupendous music that it will definitely
take a while to come down from…
Intervals 4/5
The Safety Fire 3/5
TesseracT 5/5
Protest The Hero 5/5
Review By Claire Whelpton
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