Without wanting to spend too much time dwelling on past bands, there was a huge hole left when Every Time I Die had their untimely split. So when news that members of that band were teaming up with Greg Puciato and bringing Will Putney along as well it felt like Christmas coming early. Now with their debut album out Better Lovers embark on their first full UK and stopped off to absolutely level the Electric Brixton in London.
Greyhaven (6.5) certainly fit the ideal opener for a gig like tonight. They bring a nice mix of sludgy grooves and mathcore chaos and going by how busy the room is early on there’s enough to their reputation that’s drawn people in. What they might lack in truly standout songs they make up by consistently keeping the audience on their toes shitting hulking grooves and onslaughts of panic chords and ferocious tapping riffs. Its a strong warm up for tonight from band who clearly look up to the roots of the headliners
Frontierer (7) continue this trend and up the intensity. Again delivery a burst of frantic mathcore with the most demented tech metal grooves. Calling them tech metal almost feels like a disservice because Frontierer aren’t just dropping the same old djent sounding riffs. The noises Frontierer manage to get out of their guitars never cease to impress providing some genuine inventivness in a genre that can be played out. And despite all the sonic intensity the band seem to have a lot of fun with it with members occasionally bouncing around the stage and firing up the crowd to get more and more aggressive and by the end of their set the crowd was more than ready for what was to come next.
Given the history of the bands most of Better Lovers (9) came from, its hardly surprising that tonight is just all out chaos. Taking the band members of Every Time I Die and inserting Greg Puciato as vocalist isn’t some new revelation to music but god damn if it isn’t the best thing to see live. Songs that are great on record truly burst to life in this setting. The opening riff on Lie Between The Lines is so mean it effectively bullies the crowd into moshing and from there it barely stops for the whole night. In the chaos of it all some songs can blur together a little but those chaotic Jordan Buckley riffs still cut through and with just an album and EP out which both get aired in their entirety tonight there’s already a real strong collection of metallic hardcore ragers here. Sacrificial Participant’s chorus whips up a singalong to show there’s more to these songs than just violent flailing but the combo of Become So Small and Superman Died Paralyzed also just confirms that when it comes to insanely high energy chaos Better Lovers absolutely deliver the goods
A White Horse Covered In Blood feels like the real mid set highlight, Greg snarling out the lyrics with a cool charisma, he might not be the truly insane presence on stage he once was but he still knows how to control a crowd and be an absolutely captivating presence amongst all the bodies flying aroubd. At All Times serves as the one moment where things slow down and this is where Greg is truly magnetic and holds the crowd in the palm of his hand whilst getting to flex his vocal range a little more. As impressive as everything about this set had been though, the song that started it all still feels like the real moment for Better Lovers. 30 Under 13 has just become a song that turns already rowdy moshers into true maniacs throwing everything at each other. Jordan Buckley winds up stood on some amps at one point calling for a circle pit which the crowd obliges but its final moments where Greg throws himself from the stage onto the crowd that just ends the night in such a gloriously unhinged and celebratory fashion. There aren’t many things that fans of this sort of music will find as comforting as a Better Lovers show, they might come away a little battered and bruised but they wouldn’t have it any other way.