The Rise Records tour, featuring Secrets, Memphis May Fire and Of Mice & Men, makes its way to Glasgow.
The first band to take the stage are Secrets [5], and to be brutally honest, they aren’t very good. Repetitive riffs, boring songs, and two poor vocalists, this band aren’t impressive at all. However the majority of the crowd seems to enjoy them.
Up next are Memphis May Fire [8]. Once again, the crowd goes crazy as the band take the stage. MMF’s sound is very similar to Secrets’, in fact, all three bands tonight have a similar sound. But MMF have better riffs, better songs and a vastly better singer.
The band seem to have perfected their sound on new album Challenger, and tracks from this album really stand out tonight.
Anticipation builds as the lights dim before Of Mice & Men [10] arrive on stage. OM&M are a band who many believe are the ‘next big thing’ in heavy music, so these UK shows are almost a trial by fire for the band, can they live up to the hype?
Well, yes. Yes they can. With a set made up predominantly of track from second album The Flood (which has recently been reissued with 4 new tracks), the band confirm why so many are predicting big things for them.
Austin Carlisle is both a fantastic vocalist and a fantastic frontman, commanding the crowd with ease. When he calls for a circle pit, he gets one, when he demands the crowd jump, the crowd delivers, when he asks the crowd to get down on one knee, there are six hundred people knelt down. Carlisle was born to do this.
The rest of the band deliver as well, with new bassist and clean vocalist, Aaron Pauley, being especially impressive.
Based on this performance, it’s hard not to believe that in the years to come, Of Mice & Men will become as big as a band can get playing that style of music.