Gig Review

Every Time I Die
Stray From The Path, Last Witness
Wolverhampton, Slade Rooms

30th October 2012


Every Time I Die                   Stray From The Path        Last Witness
                                  

Last Witness are tonight’s opening act on the bottom on the bill, not only that but they are on the bottom of the list in terms of performance quality, the babies of tonight if you will. I don’t know if it was nerves or just general inexperience but the members are all expressionless, motionless and emotionless pretty much standing in the same place softly head banging for their entire set, the vocalist in particular plays most of the set with his eyes closed and his back to the audience, pacing around seemingly unsure what to do with himself. As for the music I can get into the musical side of things but those vocals really just aren’t for me as I cannot understand a single word that was said, between songs as well the lack of confidence is present as there is plenty of silence as he doesn’t really speak nor does the crowd really seem bothered about them.

Stray From The Path are much more on par with tonight’s headline act with this performance, much more aggressive and energetic, confidence exuding and making for some great moments. Their vocalist asks for movement and a first doesn’t get it, but then he asks for even a little bit just to see the crowd get their money’s worth and then a few people get to it. The room isn’t really that well populated in all fairness but towards the end of the set people to seem to be turning up and on their last song chaos absolutely explodes, it’s a shame this only picks up at the end but at least they’ll take that memory away from them and seeing as their main job was to warm us up for Everytime I Die you can safely say that that has easily been done here thanks to their aggressive onstage presence and vocalist Drew York’s fantastic interaction skills.

Everytime I Die absolutely explode on that stage with a furious momentum, a momentum which never lets up throughout the set; songs flowing off into the next, reaching a total of a whopping 17 songs in their hour and 15 minute set! Aside from the rapid growth of Keith Buckley’s facial hair nothing has changed from the last time I saw them play back on the 2009 Taste of Chaos tour; energetic, aggressive, fast paced, chaos provoking and generally epic. Buckley is on top form as always, vocals are damn near perfect and his stage presence is immense, having a laugh with fans and riling everybody up. If you compare this atmosphere, this reception and the energy on display with the other acts of the night the difference is unbelievable; you can hear the voices of hardcore fans screaming the lyrics to every song over the band, feet are flying in the air smashing into the lighting rigs, cups and assorted liquids are flying all over the room and the best part of it all none of it phases the band even a little bit they appear like this is just another day at the office! Never have I been a part of something quite so high octane and fast paced, it’s a set I won’t soon be forgetting that’s for sure!

Last Witness – 3/5
Stray From The Path – 4/5
Everytime I Die – 4.5/5

Review By James Webb

 Every Time I Die


Keith Buckley
Andrew Williams
Jordan Buckley
Josh Newton
Ryan Leger

 Stray From The Path


Tom Williams
Drew York
Dan Bourke
Anthony Altamura

 Last Witness


Theo
Bobby Daniels
Anthony Sykes
Adrian Cecil
Connor Christie

 Band Related Links
Every Time I Die Facebook
Stray From The Path Facebook
Last Witness Facebook
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?