Veil of Maya were a last minute addition
to this gig replacing Whitechapel who unfortunately
had to pull out, much to my delight may I add
as I’m quite the Veil of Maya fan. The performance
and reception though plainly show that the fact
they were only a last minute addition has taken
its toll; the band themselves seem a bit less
confidant than they usually would be and due to
the crowd obviously only finding out it was these
guys last minute their fans haven’t really
been able to fully realise these guys are actually
in town, that result shows not a disappointing
but lesser reaction that I think these guys would
usually pull. Nevertheless though they push on
and try to really make the best of being over
here by getting the best of their material heard
in the short time they have, and for that you
have to respect the lads and maybe next time they’ll
pull a more intense audience.
The Devil Wears Prada ignite absolute chaos
in this tiny room, the venue supervisors must
regret not putting protective coverings on absolutely
everything including the lighting which was all
dripping wet from thrown beverages and kicked
by a range of over enthusiastic crowd surfers,
I’m extremely surprised that the chandeliers
are still intact. Regardless of damage you can’t
help but feed off the savage energy in the air
even if you resisted hard, the members of this
band especially front man Mike Hranica who exuded
confidence and power since emerging onstage. Using
a variety of spoken word samples to introduce
songs and flow through interludes for most of
the set their crowd interaction is extremely minimal
to the point of a few spouts of “do it”
every now and again which from what happened after
each saying incited absolute madness so proof
that interaction is not needed if you know what
you’re doing. They only had a support slot
so they didn’t really get much time to play
their stuff and they balanced their 8 songs between
their “Zombie” EP and their latest
2 albums; “Dead Throne” and “With
Roots Above and Branches Below”, I must
say I wasn’t expecting anything from them
and I got something amazing.
August Burns Red took a different yet similar
approach to TDWP, they used that aggressive metal
style as you would expect but they tried to expel
a little spice into it whilst they were at it
by encouraging people to dance and do various
other unorthodox metal show antics during the
slower flamenco-esque styled parts which for the
first half an hour or so is a big success and
makes everyone smile but after that I personally
find myself a bit bored of it and by the reactions
of others in the crowd I would guess that they
too are either too tired or relate to my state
of mind. After a pretty big 14 song set though
that would take its toll on anyone’s endurance
but everyone seems to be dedicated right up to
the end. Onstage too they keep the momentum running
right up until the very end even though people
seemingly people have left the venue right after
TDWP finished up, having never really listened
to them before I’d be inclined to check
them out properly now but even though I was impressed
with them I felt like after a while I was just
feeling that I was reliving some of the same moments
throughout the gig again and again, this is why
this review isn’t as glowing as TDWP as
they have completely stolen this show.
Veil of Maya 3.5/5
The Devil Wears Prada 4/5
August Burns Red 3.5/5
Review By James Webb
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