Manchester’s hot ticket is tonight is Dragged into Sunlight, and people have turned out in force. As usual, their merch queue is ridiculous, and it stays ridiculous for a ridiculous amount of time. Good for them. They’re not the only tasty treat on this gnarled bill though; first comes death metal most foul.
Plague Pit
Tonight’s festivities are opened my Plague Pit, who peddle a massively heavy form of death metal. Laced with hardcore and carrying a blackened feel in places, they hit the spot with pulverising power. It’s big, it’s ugly, and it works.
Bathed in blood-red light throughout the band smash through their set like a battle tank covered in spikes and corpses. The songs demolish with flattening heaviness and bursts of brutal speed. Crushing is an apt word. Melody is used sparingly, only deployed when strategically right.
Plague Pit warm the venue up nicely. They focus on their grisly work, and let the music do the talking. Ones to watch it seems.
Vacuous
Ferocity, thy name is Vacuous. From feral savagery to clinical blades, the band deliver the goods with brutal finesse.
On record Vacuous are more diverse and interesting than most death metal acts, and live this translates to an absorbing set. It’s an impassioned performance, with the right amount of unhinged barbarity versus tight delivery. The red lights are here to stay, and Vacuous fill every part of the stage with their dynamic death metal.
The drummer and singer are particularly compelling to watch. The former especially; a powerhouse display of hypnotic intensity. He hits the drums like he’s trying to kill them. And the singer – even with the vocals a touch too far down in the mix, his voice is monstrous.
Graded purely on raw enjoyment levels, Vacuous would get extremely high marks. Put simply – Vacuous put on a brilliant performance. If you get a chance to see Vacuous destroy a venue near you, take it.
Dragged into Sunlight
After their utterly brutal performance at 2024’s Damnation, it’s great to get to weather the Dragged into Sunlight Hatred for Mankind experience once more.
Ominous sounds and abrasive noise precede the eruption of chaos and mayhem that Dragged into Sunlight bring to Manchester. The place is packed, with hardly any room to spare except at the back and in the heart of the pit.
Riven with samples, and pushing out the sort of hideous hate-fuelled blackened sludge that’s obscenely good, Dragged into Sunlight dominate from the very start. The onslaught is withering, but powerful. Intensity bleeds off the stage in waves of malevolent violence.
It’s an assault of light and sound, with the band largely facing away from the audience, (although not all of them, and not all of the time). There’s a huge candelabrum at the front of the stage that’s flanked by deer skulls to the rear.
Relentless, vicious, merciless; mere words don’t adequately describe the Dragged into Sunlight live show, as most people who have seen them can attest to. With the sort of light show that is surely not good for anyone’s health, it’s a show designed for impact. Some in the crowd have come prepared, donning sunglasses to better withstand the band’s visual attack.
Dragged into Sunlight offer up an overwhelming malicious darkness in serrated sonic form, channelled by a band that are utterly consumed by their venomous art. It is a singular experience. It’s basically like being totally engulfed in extremity for almost an hour. It’s a potent venom, and the crowd lap it up. As the set progresses it somehow keeps getting better too. The punishment is increasingly welcome, and when it’s gone, it’s noticeable by its absence.
A masterclass in extremity, carved into the venue’s bones. It hurt, but is worth every scar.
Wonderbox Metal 