The last night of the Metal Hammer Razor Tour steamrollered into the Camden Underworld on Friday night, having thrilled sell out and near sell out crowds at every show up and down the country for the past week. How would the final night of the tour go when Rocksins went along to see it? Read on…
Unfortunately, due to some logistical issues, I was not able to catch more than the odd bit of Anterior so it is not particularly fair to comment on half a song here and half a song there. From what I could see the already sizeable crowd inside The Underworld certainly seemed to enjoy themselves.
After catching up with Carl and Alex from Sylosis (that exclusive interview coming soon here on Rock Sins), there was time to catch the majority of While She Sleeps‘s set. While She Sleeps are another up and coming British metal band who have just released their second album as a free giveaway with Metal Hammer. Some catchy riffs had the pit bouncing and it wasn’t long before the stage divers were in full flow. It is somewhat hard to comment on their material as I don’t know the band well at all but they played very well and were very popular with the assembled masses. Big things could beckon for these guys.
Bleed From Within were the third band on the bill and after a slow start in the first couple of minutes had The Underworld going positively mental. “Wake The Fuck Up!” was the cry from singer Scott Kennedy and the crowd duly obliged, the floor section a writhin mass of surges and pits. Bleed From Within stand out slightly from the other bands on the bill has having a more hardcore based sound as opposed to having roots in modern thrash or 21st century “proper” metal but they hold their own extremely well. Their set was also memorable for two of the craziest stage dives I’ve ever seen, one from a somersaulting individual over the barrier at the side where the press photographers normally are and the other for one of the largest people I’ve ever seen attempt a stage dive, I couldn’t totally see what happened but a kid got carried out of the pit pretty much instantly so it may have ended in tears. I don’t know that Bleed From Within would be my cup of tea on CD but their live show has great energy and they get the crowd involved well. Another band who I think could have a bright future.
Within about 30 seconds of Bleed From Within’s set finishing, the Sylosis chants started. When the lights went down just before nine o’clock, the volume in The Underworld went up several levels and there was a huge roar as Alex, Josh, Rob and Carl hit the stage and launched pretty much instantly into Empyreal, the opening single from the shortly forthcoming second album The Edge of The Earth. Much headbanging and horn throwing followed and the intensity went up another notch as they carried on into old favourite Stained Humanity. The craziness continued through Reflections Through Fire, and second new song of the night Sands Of Time (which Sylosis have been playing live for awhile now) also went down extremely well.
It was evident at this point that a) the band seemed to be really enjoying themselves, with even the usually reserved Josh cracking several smiles (a first for when I’ve seen them) and b) how much more confident Josh now seems in handling his co vocal and lead guitar duties in something of the Dave Mustaine mold, the confidence in his vocals was clear to see and hear, long may it continue!
“This has got to be the hottest show I’ve ever played” remarked Josh. He wasn’t kidding. The Underworld is often something of a sweatbox but tonight, with a capacity crowd also being one that was raising as much hell at every opportunity that presented itself the sweat factor was off the scale. The Blackened Skyline was up next and drew probably the biggest singalong of the night along with much air guitaring for the solo before another venture to the new album with Altered States of Consciousness (which has also been played live recently like Sands of Time) which features some literally absurd guitar and drum work.
Unfortunately for us (but maybe fortunately for the band) there were only two songs remaining with a familar set ending one-two punch of Withered and Teras, the latter featuring a huge circle pit around the pillars of the Underworld’s floor – a fitting end for a rather mental show. The lights stayed down, and after some rather loud encouragement to come back for one more, the band obliged, Josh telling us how this had been one of his favourite shows they’d ever played before launching into and finishing us all off with the always pit inciting Conclusion of an Age. A fantastic show, but I have seen better from them (though some people might find that hard to believe). Thoroughly enjoyable and there was not an unhappy face amongst the sweaty hoards piling out into the Camden night.
The full Sylosis Setlist Was:
Empyreal
Stained Humanity
Reflections Through Fire
Sands of Time
The Blackest Skyline
Altered States of Consciousness
Withered
Teras
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Conclusion of an Age
One of the many good things about Sylosis which must be commented on is the drumming work of Rob Callard, the man is a ferocious drum pounding machine and one of the brightest young drums in metal today who is surely destined to join the likes of Raymond Herrera and Joey Jordison in the top tier of metal drummers if he keeps going at the level he is at the moment. The band is technically on a level that few of their peers could hope to come close to and if they can keep this up, as I’ve stated many times before in live reviews covering them for Rocksins, the sky is the limit. There are a lot of reasons why the UK’s biggest Metal publication has asked them to headline their tours twice in recent months. There is simply not another young British metal band with this much ability, talent, songwriting proficiency and the live show to back it up. Sylosis know that this is a big year for them and judging by the way it has started for them, it could be a very good year indeed.
Keep both eyes on them and watch this space.
