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It’s Saturday night in Brixton and it’s as cold as the Arctic in the streets, but if you’re one of the lucky folks with a ticket to tonight’s shenanigans at Electric Brixton then you’ll find warmth and a whole lot more waiting for you inside. Fans pile into the venue early to prepare for a stellar night of heavy music glory, topped off with a set from hardcore’s hotly tipped new favourite sons Better Lovers. It’s a disco load out tonight too, so there’s no time to waste…
Openers Greyhaven walk on stage to a warm welcome from an incredibly busy room, both the floor and balcony full of audio-hungry faces that are eager to hear what they’re capable of. This is their second ever UK show and a good portion people in the crowd are moshing and screaming their words back to them, elating the band and feeding into the energy of their set. Some of the riffs fall a little flat in places and lack the impact of their incredible records, likely due to their single guitar approach with no backing tracks, but the bare bones approach has to be respected; it’s refreshing to see a band just do it the “old school” way. From newer smashes like ‘The Welcome Party’ to some golden deep cuts like set closer ‘Echo And Dust, Pt.1’, their technical, raw and melodically rich brand of metalcore washes over the crowd like a morning sunrise, thawing any remaining icicles from the January cold and preparing them for what’s about to be a very sharp uptick in chaos.
You know that when you hear incoherent static and see strobe lights flickering in unison, you’re about to witness something crazy. Tonight, that something crazy is Frontierer. Imagine if The Dillinger Escape Plan down-tuned all their instruments, switched on all of their guitar pedals, threw them in a washing machine and then had a fight with the washing machine; that only begins to unpack what they sound like. Their performance sits somewhere between feral and robotic, the band thrashing their instruments and bodies whilst somehow managing to retain a robotic tightness to their sound, creating brief moments of total silence in the songs that are just as impactful as the barrage of noise. The mix is crushing, too, the bass so powerful it shakes the building, and those not sucked into the bedlam of the pits are left looking onwards in awe and bewilderment. The set is a like having an acid trip on a rollercoaster, which isn’t a surprise. Would a moment of respite to catch our breath have been nice? Sure, maybe. Do Frontierer have any songs in their catalogue that can provide that? No. No they do not. They’re capable of mayhem and mayhem only, and that’s exactly what they provided.
Now it’s time for the main event, the headliner, the band that everyone has been eagerly waiting for: Better Lovers. Comprised of former members of Every Time I Die and The Dillinger Escape Plan, as well as a Grammy-nominated producer, they’re a powerhouse on paper and most certainly on record, too. Can they replicate that power in a live setting? Without a shadow of a doubt, yes. The lights dim, a medley of classic love songs rumbles through the speakers, and during the crescendo that the snippet of Queen’s glorious ‘Somebody To Love’ created, the band emerges from the shadows. Wasting no time, the opening notes of ‘Lie Between The Lines’ summon the venues mosh-hungry attendees to split the room, and the chaos begins immediately. Without even a millisecond to catch our breaths, they rip into ‘Sacrificial Participant’, a fitting anthem for everyone throwing arms in the pit, and we’re left in immediate awe. Their mission statement has become immediately clear; take no prisoners, don’t hold back, make sure everyone leaves with borderline chronic neck pain.
The setlist that follows is sheer bliss. The breakneck pace of ‘Your Misplaced Self’ whips the circle pits into near warp speed, as does the frantic riff-work in ‘Superman Died Paralyzed’, but things really kick up a notch when they launch into ‘A White Horse Covered In Blood’. The first single to be taken from latest album ‘Highly Irresponsible’, it’s clearly a crowd favourite, demonstrated by the wealth of bodies surfing towards the stage. The only body not yet surfing is that of vocalist Greg Puciato, a man who usually spends a lot of his time not on the stage, but his presence tonight is still unhinged and wild and it seemingly enhances the rest of the band’s performances too. The punishment continues with the devastating one-two hit of standalone singles ‘The Flowering’ and ‘Two Alive Amongst The Dead’, then the crushing weight of ‘Future Myopia’ and what can only be referred to as that riff; they don’t put a foot wrong the entire night, but its the last stretch of the set that feels the most special.
The set sees its first real change of pace with the epic ‘At All Times’, tapping into a side of the band that isn’t often tapped into but is always a treat to experience. If you heard them playing the aforementioned cover at previous shows, that influence really shines through here – you can really hear Soundgarden in this, and those delicious tones hypnotise the crowd into a calm that they’ve not experienced the entire night. It’s a much needed breather before a cataclysmic end of the set, kicked off by huge renditions of ‘God Made Me An Animal’ and the melodic-yet-monolithic ‘Love As An Act Of Rebellion’, both seeing guitarist Jordan Buckley repeatedly yell “circle pit” into the spare stage mic. The crowd obey his demands with zero resistance, and the intensity builds to a fever pitch once again. We aren’t quite done just yet, though. There’s one final hurrah…
The band’s first single, the song that started it all, is the perfect song to end the evening on. After a little singalong to everyone’s favourite nursery rhyme (spoiler alert: everyone was happy and clapped their hands), ‘30 Under 13’ sees the electricity in the room reach its peak, the entire crowd seeming to move and shift as one with every riff the band plays conducting its movement. The pit is at its wildest, the voices are at their loudest, and somehow the band are at their most active, all stomping and thrashing across the entire width of the stage. Puciato finally seizes the opportunity to do his usual “I’m not going to be on stage for a bit” routine and seeing it feels like a very early Christmas gift, or a slightly late one depending on your outlook. He writhes atop the crowd, still blasting his vocals with that staggering power, and by the time the song comes to a close the entire room is left breathless. Breathless from exhaustion, but also from the sheer power of what just happened.
This show will have been the first of the year for a lot of the people tonight, and what a way to kick off the year. One of heavy music’s brightest lights, with one of heavy music’s most visceral shows, proving that they’re fully deserving of the hype that’s got them selling out a 1700 cap venue a mere two years into their career. The best thing? They’re just getting started. A glorious celebration of how far they’ve come in such a short time as a band; long may they continue.
DAVE STEWART
Openers Greyhaven walk on stage to a warm welcome from an incredibly busy room, both the floor and balcony full of audio-hungry faces that are eager to hear what they’re capable of. This is their second ever UK show and a good portion people in the crowd are moshing and screaming their words back to them, elating the band and feeding into the energy of their set. Some of the riffs fall a little flat in places and lack the impact of their incredible records, likely due to their single guitar approach with no backing tracks, but the bare bones approach has to be respected; it’s refreshing to see a band just do it the “old school” way. From newer smashes like ‘The Welcome Party’ to some golden deep cuts like set closer ‘Echo And Dust, Pt.1’, their technical, raw and melodically rich brand of metalcore washes over the crowd like a morning sunrise, thawing any remaining icicles from the January cold and preparing them for what’s about to be a very sharp uptick in chaos.
You know that when you hear incoherent static and see strobe lights flickering in unison, you’re about to witness something crazy. Tonight, that something crazy is Frontierer. Imagine if The Dillinger Escape Plan down-tuned all their instruments, switched on all of their guitar pedals, threw them in a washing machine and then had a fight with the washing machine; that only begins to unpack what they sound like. Their performance sits somewhere between feral and robotic, the band thrashing their instruments and bodies whilst somehow managing to retain a robotic tightness to their sound, creating brief moments of total silence in the songs that are just as impactful as the barrage of noise. The mix is crushing, too, the bass so powerful it shakes the building, and those not sucked into the bedlam of the pits are left looking onwards in awe and bewilderment. The set is a like having an acid trip on a rollercoaster, which isn’t a surprise. Would a moment of respite to catch our breath have been nice? Sure, maybe. Do Frontierer have any songs in their catalogue that can provide that? No. No they do not. They’re capable of mayhem and mayhem only, and that’s exactly what they provided.
Now it’s time for the main event, the headliner, the band that everyone has been eagerly waiting for: Better Lovers. Comprised of former members of Every Time I Die and The Dillinger Escape Plan, as well as a Grammy-nominated producer, they’re a powerhouse on paper and most certainly on record, too. Can they replicate that power in a live setting? Without a shadow of a doubt, yes. The lights dim, a medley of classic love songs rumbles through the speakers, and during the crescendo that the snippet of Queen’s glorious ‘Somebody To Love’ created, the band emerges from the shadows. Wasting no time, the opening notes of ‘Lie Between The Lines’ summon the venues mosh-hungry attendees to split the room, and the chaos begins immediately. Without even a millisecond to catch our breaths, they rip into ‘Sacrificial Participant’, a fitting anthem for everyone throwing arms in the pit, and we’re left in immediate awe. Their mission statement has become immediately clear; take no prisoners, don’t hold back, make sure everyone leaves with borderline chronic neck pain.
The setlist that follows is sheer bliss. The breakneck pace of ‘Your Misplaced Self’ whips the circle pits into near warp speed, as does the frantic riff-work in ‘Superman Died Paralyzed’, but things really kick up a notch when they launch into ‘A White Horse Covered In Blood’. The first single to be taken from latest album ‘Highly Irresponsible’, it’s clearly a crowd favourite, demonstrated by the wealth of bodies surfing towards the stage. The only body not yet surfing is that of vocalist Greg Puciato, a man who usually spends a lot of his time not on the stage, but his presence tonight is still unhinged and wild and it seemingly enhances the rest of the band’s performances too. The punishment continues with the devastating one-two hit of standalone singles ‘The Flowering’ and ‘Two Alive Amongst The Dead’, then the crushing weight of ‘Future Myopia’ and what can only be referred to as that riff; they don’t put a foot wrong the entire night, but its the last stretch of the set that feels the most special.
The set sees its first real change of pace with the epic ‘At All Times’, tapping into a side of the band that isn’t often tapped into but is always a treat to experience. If you heard them playing the aforementioned cover at previous shows, that influence really shines through here – you can really hear Soundgarden in this, and those delicious tones hypnotise the crowd into a calm that they’ve not experienced the entire night. It’s a much needed breather before a cataclysmic end of the set, kicked off by huge renditions of ‘God Made Me An Animal’ and the melodic-yet-monolithic ‘Love As An Act Of Rebellion’, both seeing guitarist Jordan Buckley repeatedly yell “circle pit” into the spare stage mic. The crowd obey his demands with zero resistance, and the intensity builds to a fever pitch once again. We aren’t quite done just yet, though. There’s one final hurrah…
The band’s first single, the song that started it all, is the perfect song to end the evening on. After a little singalong to everyone’s favourite nursery rhyme (spoiler alert: everyone was happy and clapped their hands), ‘30 Under 13’ sees the electricity in the room reach its peak, the entire crowd seeming to move and shift as one with every riff the band plays conducting its movement. The pit is at its wildest, the voices are at their loudest, and somehow the band are at their most active, all stomping and thrashing across the entire width of the stage. Puciato finally seizes the opportunity to do his usual “I’m not going to be on stage for a bit” routine and seeing it feels like a very early Christmas gift, or a slightly late one depending on your outlook. He writhes atop the crowd, still blasting his vocals with that staggering power, and by the time the song comes to a close the entire room is left breathless. Breathless from exhaustion, but also from the sheer power of what just happened.
This show will have been the first of the year for a lot of the people tonight, and what a way to kick off the year. One of heavy music’s brightest lights, with one of heavy music’s most visceral shows, proving that they’re fully deserving of the hype that’s got them selling out a 1700 cap venue a mere two years into their career. The best thing? They’re just getting started. A glorious celebration of how far they’ve come in such a short time as a band; long may they continue.
DAVE STEWART