Well, what a stacked death metal bill this is. Each band has a lot to offer on their own, but as part of the mighty Archspire’s European Vacation tour package, it promises a great evening of growls, riffs, and shreds.
Analepsy
Analepsy may be on early, but they immediately get things going with their chunky deathly grooves. It’s heavy and meaty, and the band are clearly loving being on stage. It’s an energetic performance that’s infectious. Their entire set is a dynamic ball of high-octane movement-inducing brutality. It’s outrageous fun.
The band’s latest song – Recursive Singularity – gets a bit of a circle pit going too, the first of the evening. Analepsy also play standout older track Genetic Mutations. When they leave the stage, they leave the crowd eager for more.
It’s a joyous display of slamming death metal. Analepsy are great live, and start the evening off with a bang.
The Zenith Passage
The crowd has swelled in size considerably by the time The Zenith Passage take the stage, and when they do, there’s no fanfare, they just get right down to it.
The Zenith Passage offer up a mood-rich progressive/tech death bonanza that’s lethally precise. Their set is crushing enough to fire the body, while still displaying the band’s more atmospheric components well. This mix of the brutal and the sublime works better live than it might have done. The former is emphasised, but the latter is still present and correct; credit to both the band and the sound engineer. Datalysium is probably the best example of this aired tonight. Closer Algorithmic Salvation sees the first crowd surfer of the evening go over the barrier.
The Zenith Passage do not disappoint, putting in a really good, focused set that hits the spot.
Crown Magnetar
Much like Analepsy, Crown Magnetar are here to destroy. Their brand of deathcore-infused death metal, (or death metal-infused deathcore, if you’d prefer), is ferocious and heavy, flattening the venue with punishing grooves.
Crown Magnetar are all energy and aggression, effortlessly unleashing the sort of barbaric sounds that get the ample crowd moving hard, (including circle pits, a wall of death, and many crowd surfers). The band’s performance only pushes this to further heights, adding fuel to the fire. The grooves and breakdowns are colossal, and the blast beats are absolutely savage, (Godkiller!).
The material from The Hollowing of Godflesh, which forms the bulk of the set, comes to life with muscular intensity, The band tear out some of their older stuff too, which includes the slightly surreal mass phone waving start to The Killing Stone.
A glorious showcase of Crown Magnetar in their prime, working the crowd like pros; a hideously nasty set of belligerent ferocity. Top work Crown Magnetar.
Archspire
Archspire are a popular bunch, and the place is now rammed. They make quite the entrance, with the theme from The Terminator playing, while an intro guy/hype man bigs the band up wrestling-style. Archspire then take to the stage with huge smiles and the singer in a giant fluffy coat. They then tear into Drone Corpse Aviator and the dizzying technical carnage commences. Or at least, entertainment-focused dizzying technical carnage, as it turns out.
The singer’s hyperspeed vocals may get much of the limelight, but the entire band are on fire. They’re hypnotic to watch, in a frenetic, crazed sort of way. They don’t keep still for the most part. The drummer in particular is fascinating to observe in the wild. That’s he’s human and not machine is almost shocking. The talent of Archspire is undeniable. Having said all that, the singer remains a focal point, especially between songs, where he reveals a talent for comedy.
Yes, more than just a simple airing of songs, Archspire put on a humour-filled show, with banter, skits, props, partial cover songs, audience participation, and crew extras. Unusually, there’s what appears to be repeated ad reads throughout, which is a bit weird initially, but over time these become humorously incorporated. Apart from those early ad reads, it’s a very entertaining affair throughout. The band are thoroughly enjoying themselves, and this is reflected by the audience. Everyone seems to be having a great time.
Musically, Archspire pull tracks from across their last three records, and each song is impressively rendered live. With material as strong as this, it demands a good performance and sound to match, and tonight they have exactly this. It’s a Grade A feast of tasty tech death delights.
A masterclass in fusing together entertainment value and complex-yet-catchy tech death, it seems there is no stopping the Archspire rocket ship to the moon. Best get on board then.
