 Chthonic are a melodic death metal band from Taiwan,
while I'm not a fan of the vocals, the music is
superb, and I'm also slightly scared by Freddy
the vocalist, although he is awesome!! The band
have got a good amount of energy going on stage
and seem like a really tight band, they have some
really great riffs and are heavy as hell, it was
quite fun watching a can of red stripe dance too!!
The drumming is good fast and solid, as was the
bass playing, the guitar playing as I said was
awesome, The solos were pretty decent and squealy.
Not normally a fan of this music but I enjoyed
what I heard.
Malefice, I Last saw them in October of last year,
I didn't like em much then and really didn't expect
too much today, I must be in the mood for their
particular brand of death metal/core today, as
it isn’t as bad as last time out, everything
seems more palatable, still not much of a fan
of the vocals, but I'll live, the riffs are pretty
this time around, decent the blasting from the
drumming which isn’t bad, some of the guitar
riffs in the songs are actually pretty decent
also, they seem better all round, can feel the
bass rather than hear it, the lead guitar is really
good, am liking the solos. The last song had a
monster beat and riff to it very enjoyable, very
fucking heavy!! It’s good to be surprised
sometimes!!
 Grand Magus were the main support tonight, unfortunately
I only caught a bit of their set which I still
managed shoot, but they were really good and different
from the other bands that were on show tonight,
there a really good heavy metal band, bit like
Judas Priest but only a bit as there's only 3
of them drums bass and lead guitar, it was pretty
heavy and they had a nice rounded sound to them,
that's all you really need, I quote enjoyed what
I heard, not sure of the songs they played, and
Apparently a speaker fell over , I missed most
of their set due to an interview I had to do with
Doris from Chthonic, but what I heard was good
heavy melodic stuff!!
Arch enemy, A band I've heard of and know about
but never really liked, I was put off by the vocals
mainly, but the music is bloody immense, nice
and heavy plenty of meaty riffs and catchy hooks,
and a fair few really top solos, Including the
two guitarists have solo spots in the set, the
drumming consistently good really fast and heavy
as is the bass, but the two guitarist are really
awesome. Am really feeling the music, it's heavy
and aggressive pretty much all the way  through
the set, I am even starting to enjoy the vocals
a little!! The opened there set with The Immortal
and Revolution Begins, and really top way to start,
never heard the songs before, so wasn't really
sure what to expect, again surprised for probably
the 4th time tonight, the songs are fast, heavy,
and really melodically catchy, the melodic breakdowns
are top notch!! They also played, Taking Back
my soul. My Apocalypse which is fucking awesome,
great riff and drumming, Dark insanity and I will
live again was spit by a drum solo, never a fan
of those though!! Dead eyes see no future had
two guitar solos tacked on to it from each of
the guitarist, now these I am a fan of, Which
was then followed by the dead bury their dead
and main set closer we will rise! Encore consisted
of Snowbound, Nemesis which was my favourite song
of the night, and the set was closed by the Fields
of Desolation outro bloody awesome way to end
the set. I had a good night some great bands and
great music, not bad way to end a bloody long
day, and I might add, getting kicked in the back
of the head by crowd surfers is not fun!!
Chthonic 3/5
Malefice 3/5
Grand Magus 3/5
Arch Enemy 5/5
Review Robert Lawrence
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