Bands: Hatebreed/Agnostic Front/Napalm Death/Born From Pain/Bleed The Sky/The Red Chord/Full Blown Chaos/50 Caliber
Venue: The Forum, London
Date: 02.12.05

While this was a super gig for all fans of anything hardcore and after fairly standard hardcore fair from Full Blown Chaos and 50 Caliber, Bleed The Sky took the stage all dreadlocks and was that a sampler?! some people looked terrified! was nu metal back?! The answer? HELL NO! Although a bit out of place on the bill there unique brand of metalcore sound banished some of the hardcore faithful from the pit, but those so narrow minded really missed out. The band were out to have fun and provided an awesome show throwing themselves fully body and soul into each song and by the end had won a lot of people over. Unlike many bands the sampler and turntables actually adds variety to their sound, and manning them was Puck, who when not at his deck is roaming the stage adding backing screams to those of vocalist Noah. Bleed The Sky opened with a mix of the first three tracks on their latest album with title track Paradigm In Entropy and Minion stand outs. To close they head to the last three tracks from said album with Division’s refrain of “Nobody leaves here alive”. Bleed the Sky added a much needed bit of spice to this gig.

It’s back to more traditional hardcore with Holland’s Born From Pain they play super tight Rise Or Die has an awesome riff that hits all the super heavy buttons, but they remain a little lacking in general, never changing pace and remaining fairly businesslike, maybe it was being on such a big bill or venue the crowd certainly lapped em up though.

Next up, grindcore Legends Napalm Death. The curtain suddenly rises and we’re bludgeoned with Instinct of Survival. The brutality doesn’t let up with Instruments of Persuasion, with Barney Greenway stalking the stage. The band now reduced to just the one guitar of Mitch Harris, but their sound is as intense as ever while Shane Embury’s rocks out on the other side of the stage. Then comes Silence Is Deafening which crushes anything in its path and is followed by The Code Is Red..Long Live The Code. Embury’s distorted bass lets us know that its time for cuts from the seminal Scum, three tracks of blastbeats and super fast guitar parts sees the bands before the customary cover of The Dead Kennedys’ Nazi Punks F**k Off closed the set.

Next legends of the day were the Godfather’s of NYHC and crossover, Agnostic Front. Showing a nod to the metal and hardcore breeding ground that has become modern metal they played a large chunk of their groundbreaking crossover album Cause for Alarm. The Elimator, which split hardcore fans back in 1986 for containing a guitar solo, opened proceedings. The crunch of One Voice’s opening track New Jack followed quickly, before old favourites Gotta Go and Hardcore (The Definition) turned the pit into a huge circle pit. There were also guest appearances. when Barney from Napalm sang Blind Justice and the one and only Roi Pierce from The Last Resort sang Gotta Go!!

Headliners Hatebreed hit the stage and Tear It Down blasted out from the stage the pit turned into a seething mass of limbs. Frontman Jamey Jasta is a swirling dervish on stage, flying all over the stage, for Straight To Your Face he has the crowd with fists raised aloft singing back the title The frontman is in complete control and orders a circle pit which he instantly gets.. Like Napalm Death, Hatebreed are a guitarist short but Sean Martin seems comfortable in the solo role with his guitar sounding immense. Hatebreed are the real deal, no punches are pulled just straight up brutal hardcore and that’s how we like it!

All in all an intense and awesome night! Joe Freeman

Bands: Girlschool/In Flames/Motorhead
Venue: Carling Academy, Birmingham
Date: 10.11.05

After hearing Girlschool's new single, I thought I'd get there early so I can catch them open. Unfortunately, hundreds of other people had the same idea, which meant I only caught the last two or three songs. It was obvious that people weren't really there to see Girlschool, especially the hordes of In Flames fans, but they did manage to pull of a great performance and get a warm reaction from the crowd. The "Female Motorhead" as they've been dubbed sounded fresh, and had huge grins on their faces throughout, probably due to the decent turnout at that point, and the reaction they got, I'm sure they went away pleased and definitely gained some new fans in the process.

As with Sepultura last year, Motorhead have again decided to bring along a younger/popular band at the moment, this time it's the turn of In Flames. I've been a little disappointed with In Flames as of late, whether its due to the change of direction, I just don't know but with their new album "Come Clarity" out in the new year, I was hoping they were going to give us a sneak preview. As the In Flames faithfuls made their way to the front, it was clear that a lot of In Flames fans had turned up. They are without drummer Daniel Svensson this evening as he was about to become a father for the second time, so behind the kit tonight is Tobbe Kellgren of Wolf fame, who does an amazing job, especially at such short notice. Tonight, they were awesome, and it made me realise just why I got into them in the first place. They ripped thorough songs such as "Pinball Map", "Clayman", "Trigger", "Cloud Connected" and "Colony" with perfection, but unfortunately nothing from the forthcoming album "Come Clarity". They would definitely be welcomed back here when they return with Sepultura in March 2006.

Well, what was already a good night was about to get even better! If you've never experienced Motorhead live, then what the hell have you been doing? If you have seen them, then you'll know exactly what I mean when I say that they are one of those bands that you must see at least once in your lifetime. As they say themselves, the "Only way to feel the noise is when it's good and loud", but just to make sure we left with our heads pounding and our ears ringing, they asked mid-set whether they were loud enough, and promptly turned up their amps even louder to the delight of the crowd. Now THAT! Is rock ‘n’ roll! No real surprises with their set list, all the classics and some more such as "Killed By Death", "No Class", "Iron Fist", a couple of cuts from the latest album "Killers" and "In The Name Of Tragedy" and of course, "Overkill" and "Ace of Spades". After thirty years and be able to easily pull in crowds like this, just goes to show what an awesome live force they are! There will never be another Motorhead, so get down and see them before its too late!

Bands: Dio
Venue: Carling Academy, Birmingham
Date: 21.10.05

If you ever needed reminding just how great Ronnie James Dio is, Friday night at the Birmingham Academy was the place to be.

The sold out Academy 1 was buzzing at the atmosphere was great, it was obvious that "An Evening with Dio" was going to be something special, and it was just that.

Opening with "Tarot Woman" from his Rainbow days, followed by "Sign of the Southern Cross" and "One Night in the City", what proceeded next was just amazing. I knew they were going to play the "Holy Diver" album in its entirety, but it never crossed my mind that they would play it in one go, no breaks just wham! "Stand Up and Shout" straight through to "Shame on the Night", the crowd loved it!

I would have been left happy if that was the end of the gig, but no, "a few more tracks" he announced! "Gates of Babylon" followed and then onto the Sabbath era "Heaven and Hell", it went down really well, the crowd singing and chanting along, followed by the final couple of Rainbow songs, "Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll" and then finally "Man on the Silver Mountain".

I was particularly impressed by Simon Wright’s drum solo, with him playing along with an extract from Jupiter, part of The Planet suite, by Gustav Holst it was just great to watch. Also, stand in guitarist Doug Aldrich was on fire all night, especially when had to learn this stuff in such a short period of time. If you have the chance to catch Dio on this tour, don’t miss out!!! I highly recommend you get down to a venue near you and check out just how good this was! Unbelievable!

Bands: Soilwork/Hatesphere/Construcdead
Venue: Scala, London
Date: 19/10/05

Opening tonight’s gig to a packed Scala were Swedish death metallers Construcdead who have released 3 albums and been through a few line up changes. Now when I think Swedish death metal I usually think of melodic death of In Flames and At The Gates, but Construcdead have broken away from that and just play straight up old school Death metal mixing with a mixture of European and Florida influences. Vocalist Jens Broman prowled the stage and encouraged the crowd to bang there heads and between songs he was all smiles and looked like he and the rest of the band were having real fun up there. Drummer Erik played so tight and precise he is one of the best drummers I have seen in some time while the double guitar of axe men RICKARD and Christian riffed away and shredded some awesome solos, while bass player Viktor Hemgren, formerly of maze of torment centre stage pounding away at his bass. Its always hard opening a gig but Construcdead definitely got the crowd warmed up and I am sure they made some new fans too.

Danes Hatesphere were up next, wow was I impressed, some people have called them thrashcore, or metalcore but this is not the trendy "metalcore" that’s been around the scene lately, but proper thrash and hardcore, Imagine if Slayer and Agnostic front gave birth to a fucked up love child, that’s Hatesphere. On stage it was very clear the band were enjoying themselves and their enthusiasm was infectious with vocalist Brehdal leading the crowd and getting right down in front with them. This Guy is a real star he is frontman in every sense, yet he has no pretensions, I can see him and the rest of the band going on to great things! They played songs off each album but mostly from their latest release. They are an awesome live band.

A tough act to follow but everyone was here really for one band, Soilwork’s fan base are pretty rabid about their band! It’s been a while since the Swede’s have played in the UK and the crowd were definitely up for it providing a great atmosphere as the lights went down. Singer Björn "Speed" Strid took the stage like a returning champion and got an immense reception from the crowd, as the band blasted straight into their set which included "Chainheart machine" and "Overload". "Room no 99", "Needlefeast", "Bastard chain", "The bringer", "As we speak", the great "Follow the hollow", "Rejection role" and "Sadistic lullaby" from the first album. Material from the new album “Stabbing the drama” has a slightly different sound more polished and melodic than in the past with some really awesome songs that were well received by the crowd. The whole band were going for it big time with bass player Ola Flink really loosing it standing on the monitors and gunning the crowd with his bass. The band was all over the stage and played so tight, accurate, and precise while still rocking out. The crowd lapped it up at one point the Scala was a sea of raised fists in the air banging in unison while chanting along "hey!hey!hey!" with Speed, a wicked sight. I talked to a few fans after the gig some who had seen the band many times said "The new material is different but its still Soilwork and its great they are the best live act out there" to Soilwork virgins who said they were "blown away man, totally I am converted for life!!!!"
In short the support bands were excellent but Soilwork owned it! Joe Freeman

Bands: Ektomorf/Betzefer/By Night/Malefice
Venue: Camden Underworld, London
Date: 16/10/05

What a line up! Young Reading band Malefice were the only British band playing and they flew the flag and did us proud! They have a metal/hardcore sound in the style of Hatebreed or lamb of God and for such a young band they were great my first experience of them and I was very impressed, good stuff and bright hope for the UK

By Night played that melodic Death metal that the Swedish bands play so well with a hard almost Metalcore edge I wasn’t familiar with them but will be definitely checking them out.

Metal Mayhem favourites Betzefer totally nailed their performance. I have been looking forward to seeing them live having loved their debut album Down Low, and they did not disappoint some awesome double kick drumming and pure new school thrash madness, they played most of the album and totally owned the underworld crowd.

Hungarian band Ektomorf can be a bit of a hard band for people to get their heads around, I have to say if you try not to categorise or pigeon hole Ektomorf and just accept them as a great band and an excellent live act. Their music mixes thrash, metal, hardcore, punk, folk and traditional Hungarian influences and is eclectic to say the least but it really works, think more of a European Soulfly and your somewhere near. They played older cuts from 2004’s “Destroy” alongside material from their latest album "Instinct" as well.

It was the newer songs like "Set me free", and mosh inducing protest anthems "Show your fist" and "The Holy noise" however that prove what a step forward "Instinct" is for the band the songs were tight tonight and the playing couldn’t be faulted. Drums were super tight and the bass thundered on, the band really put their all into their performance whipping the crowd into a frenzy, Zoltán shouting at the crowd to "Jump" and "Mosh" as the twin guitar assault went crazy on stage and the crowd responded in kind. Great stuff! Joe Freeman