It’s not often that we see a band that completely rewrites the rule book when it comes to heavy music, and creates something truly unique and inimitable. The Algorithm are one of those bands. With their frankly insane blend of electronic music and extremely technical metal, their new album Brute Force has once again set the standard for creativity. In April they hit The Borderline as part of their UK tour.
Opening up the night was metalcore upstarts Shields [8]. Performing as a 4 piece with two guitarists, I found their lack of bass disturbing; however, aided by a backing track they still delivered an all round heavy and energetic performance. The crowd, while small at the time, was appreciative of the band’s efforts with one or two die-hard fans screaming along to every word. Touring off the back of their solid 2015 EP Guilt, performanes of “Jordan” and the title track went down a treat as Shields warmed up the night nicely. Not to be missed at this summer’s Tech Fest.
The two acts were broken up by a DJ set from Jon Mahon [7]. His high energy Djing really got the crowd going, unleashing remixes and mashups of songs by Foo Fighters, The Prodigy, Bullet For My Valentine and so many more. Not one to just stand behind his laptop, Mahon was constantly running into the crowd and getting pits started, persuading the crowd to sing along to the songs and even singing himself a little bit. While not the same as a live band performing, Jon Mahon’s DJ set left an impression and the flow of the night was certainly not disrupted; if anything Mahon was the perfect bridge between Shields’ straight up metalcore and the madness of The Algorithm.
Speaking of whom, a short break eventually unleashed Remi Gallego and his almost indescribable set from The Algorithm [10] upon us. Prioritising music from Brute Force, Remi and new live drummer Jean Ferry were as tight as you could get from music this demanding. The sheer fact that Remi was able to seemlessly switch from his keyboards, synths and laptop to his guitar mid-song (and even playing at the same time) speaks volumes for the talent he possesses (aided for a couple of songs by Jon Mahon joining onstage on guitar). There weren’t many pauses during the set so all the songs somewhat merged into one seamless juggernaut of tech-metal and electronic mayhem, with the crowd responding in kind. Performances of tracks like “Floating Point” and “Brute Force” stood out as highlights of the night, and as testament to his character, Remi stayed behind after the show to sign merch for his fans, and judging from the amount of people who stayed behind after the show, he may have had a sore wrist the next morning. He’ll be coming back with The Algorithm for the Camden Rocks festival in June, and one would expect that to go down a treat as well.
Shields are currently touring in support of their 2015 EP Guilt, available now online. Follow them on Facebook for updates.
The Algorithm’s third album Brute Force is out now via FiXT Music, and they are currently touring across Europe in support of the album. Follow them on Facebook for updates.
