On Valentine’s Day 2014, London metal group The Defiled had their homecoming; Their first headline show as part of a full headline tour in London in quite some time. Rock Sins’ own sibling double act Fran and Sam went along to The O2 Academy Islington in North London to enjoy the action (Words – Sam Dignon, Photos – Fran Dignon).
Opening tonight was LA rockers The Killing Lights (3) who really fail to make an impact tonight with their gothic glam rock. Some fans along the front really seem to enjoy their set but their set is made up of completely forgettable songs and completely unoriginal stage banter. It just makes their set incredibly tiresome to watch. There’s nothing about The Killing Lights we haven’t seen done better by other bands.
Next up came Butcher Babies (6.5) who were far more enjoyable. There has been a fair amount of hype surrounding Butcher Babies leading up to this tour and a lot of people here were certainly looking forward to them. Vocalists Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey are both very impressive and capture the attention of most people in the room. Whilst their set did drag on a bit towards the end Butcher Babies were still enjoyable and could become a really impressive live band in the future.
Finally it was time for The Defiled (8.5) to take to the stage and opener Sleeper immediately see’s a pit open and fans singing along, things only get better when they play As I Drown after which gets the entire room jumping along. Tonight The Defiled are on top form and this is no doubt helped by the fact this is very much a hometown show for them. Keyboardist/maniac The AVD keeps the crowd constantly entertained with his onstage antics whilst not distracting from Stitch D who really proves himself to be a fantastic front man with his performance. The band even add a bit more theatricality to this performance with a plague doctor appearing onstage for Black Death. Unspoken wraps up the main part of their set with again plenty of action in the pit before Stitch D and The AVD return to play the acoustic Five Minutes which proves to be an incredibly emotional highlight of the night. Finally fan favourite Call To Arms brings the the show to a close with every fan singing along, it’s just unfortunate that they didn’t play for longer. Still despite the short set length The Defiled put on a great show and prove why they have been gaining more and more fans over the past few years.
Don’t forget to check out our exclusive photo gallery from the night’s action courtesy of Fran and her trusty camera. You can see her efforts below:
More live reviews from rock and metal shows across the country will be available here at Rocksins.com so please keep checking back with us regularly.
