Hatebreed / Agnostic Front / Napalm Death / Born From Pain / Bleed The Sky / The Red Chord / Full Blown Chaos / 50 Caliber
2 December 2005
The Forum, London
The annual Eastpak Resistance tour appears to have been rechristened the Persistence Tour and one persistent remaining niggle appears to be what time the thing actually starts. Having discovered doors were to be 2pm, not 7pm as first advertised, I arrived at the venue to be told there would be no bands until 4pm. So when the curtain final rose and 50 Caliber`s vocalist asked "Are you having a good time?", the answer was frankly no, and the band did little to change that.
Having been escorted to the side of the venue by a troop of kung-fu style dancers spinning into action before a song even started, my attention was split between watching the posing and posturing on the dance floor or 50 Caliber pacing around the stage aimlessly, a bit like their songs. The band has the typical mix of down-tuned hardcore riffs with a touch of Slayer`s South Of Heaven thrown in and topped off with some really grating screaming. Frankly it felt like the band were playing for their whirling friends in the crowd alone and they were welcome to them.
By complete contrast Full Blown Chaos wanted everyone involved. Frontman Ray Mazzola, a big guy with big personality, demanded "If you see someone not moving, take your shoe and kick them in the ass so hard they taste sneaker for a week!".
Mazzola tells us his band are from New York City, as if he needed to, as it was clear from the band`s brand of hardcore. Take the usual NYHC ingredients, push them to the max and add a touch of Obituary, as per the t-shirt of a very metal looking Ed Conroy on bass. Wake The Demons, is no doubt capable of doing just that and ends a very short but enjoyable set.
Full Blown Chaos set list included:
Apocalypse / Bloodflow / Red Tide / Wake The Demons
The Red Chord were a late replacement for A Perfect Murder and I don`t think a lot of people were expecting them, nor to be assaulted by anything so technical today. Certainly the soundman wasn`t, who only seemed capable of handling the usual chug-a-chug and big chords of hardcore bands, hence much of the fretboard dexterity of Mike McKenzie and Kevin Rampelberg went by inaudible if you hadn`t heard the songs before.
Having just encountered the band`s latest album, Clients, it has since made its way into my album of the year list with its ability to mix Morbid Angel with The Dillinger Escape Plan`s complexities whilst maintaining genuine hooks. Black Santa showcases such a sound, well it does if you strain hard today to hear the guitars. Underneath the appalling mix is one tight band, who resemble cousins of Mastodon. Vocalist Guy Kozowyk, who spends most of the set in the photopit, tells us the band are back in the U.K. before the end of the year, and if Rockers Digest hadn`t already a gig that night we`d be there.
The Red Chord set list included:
Nihilist / Black Santa / Antman / Clients / That Certain Special Ugly / Blue Line Cretin / Dreaming In Dog Years
If The Red Chord confused people, Bleed The Sky continued the trend, being a bit out of place on the bill today. The band were due to support Hypocrisy this month in London, which would have been an equally odd pairing. The band`s nu-metalcore sound banishes the windmilling hardcore faithfully from the pit, but actually adds variety to the day and was well received by this scribe.
Looking and sounding not a million miles from Chimaira, the band employ a sampler/sequencer in the form of Puck, who when not manning his deck is wandering around the stage adding pained backing screams to those of vocalist Noah Robinson.
Bleed The Sky open 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" left ringing in our ears.
Bleed The Sky set list:
Killtank / Paradigm In Entropy / Minion / God In The Frame / Borrelia Mass / Division
Holland`s Born From Pain have been impressive each time I have caught them live and today is no different. It`s back to traditional hardcore but the band add a little death metal à la Six Feet Under to the mix. Some people may believe that this style of music is easy to pull off, but if the band aren`t together it falls apart. Born From Pain, in regimented black, are a very tight unit and the final effect is that of an advancing steam train as Death & The City comes roaring down the tracks.
Rise Or Die breaks into a riff mid song that Crowbar would kill for, such is the depths of heaviness it plummets. The song concludes with a guitar solo from Stefan van Neerven with his flying V behind his head.
The band stick business and consequently fit more into their own short set than any of the preceding bands. Songs from their last three albums are all met warmly, with those from this year`s In Love With The End perhaps containing a dash more metal.
Born From Pain set list:
Death & The City / Rise Or Die / Final Nail / Kill It Tonight / Reclaiming The Crown / The New Hate / Renewal / Black Gold / Here Lies Civilization
Next up one of two back to back legends on today`s bill in the shape of Napalm Death. The use of the stage curtain means there`s no forewarning as the curtain suddenly rises and we`re hit with Instinct Of Survival. No forewarning for the sound man either it seems and the first half of the set suffers as a result while he tries to grip a grip on the intense sound.
The pace doesn`t let up with Instruments of Persuasion, with Barney Greenway pacing around the stage, twisting his head from left to right like some kind of possessed madman. The band may be now reduced to just the guitar of Mitch Harris, but their sound is no less claustrophobic. On the other side of the stage Shane Embury`s new beard and longer hair has him beginning to resemble Hagrid.
Finally the sound comes together by Silence Is Deafening which crushes anything in its path and is followed by The Code Is Red..Long Live The Code with its addictive tripped main riff.
Just as the band had hit their stride, Embury`s distorted bass fuzz signalled Scum and you knew things were heading towards a conclusion. Sure enough a trio of blastbeat frenzies from the same album followed before the customary cover of The Dead Kennedys` Nazi Punks F**k Off closed the set, leaving all in attendance breathless and stunned.
Napalm Death set list included:
Instinct Of Survival / Instruments Of Persuasion / Suffer The Children / Breed To Breathe / Silence Is Deafening / The Code Is Red…Long Live The Code / Narcoleptic / You Suffer / Unchallenged Hate / Scum / Life? / The Kill / Deceiver / Nazi Punks F**k Off
The other legend today was the Godfather`s of NYHC,Agnostic Front. Over their life the band have yo-yoed between oi influenced hardcore and the borders of metal. Having ignored their most metal album One Voice over recent years, the band`s last album Another Voice was an obvious homage to it`s sound and it`s that sound the band are playing today.
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, rippling with metallic muscle. A technical problem suddenly robbed Fall Of The Parasite of sound, but once things are restored the band take us back to the 1986 Cause For Alarm album for a Toxic Shock , satisfying the old skool.
As ever the duo of Roger Miret, who can`t have much skin left not tattooed, and Vinnie Stigma take the limelight, but it must be said that the current line-up form a very solid unit and Agnostic Front are certainly a heavier proposition than recent years.
We get a couple of guest appearances. The first of whom I could not identify during Gotta Go, but its Napalm`s Barney Greenway who strides on for classic Blind Justice.
Agnostic Front set list included:
The Eliminator / New Jack / Fall Of The Parasite / Toxic Shock / All Is Not Forgotten / Crucified / Peace / Still Here / Blind Justice / Gotta Go / Hardcore (The Definition) / Infiltrate / Public Assistance
So finally to Hatebreed, who judging from the number of t-shirts and manic reaction to their appearance are surely the current crowned kings of hardcore in terms of popularity. Seriously as the curtain rose and Tear It Down blasted out from the stage the dancefloor turned into a seething mass of limbs.
Frontman Jamey Jasta has become a bit of a celebrity since becoming the presenter of Headbanger`s Ball, but his association with metal doesn`t seem to have deterred the hardcore faithful here tonight. Jasta is a non stop ball of energy, flying all over the stage and for Straight To Your Face has the crowd with fists raised aloft singing back the title.
Like Napalm Death, Hatebreed also lost a guitarist and decided to continue with a lone six-stringer. When I last saw them it was just after that change and today Sean Martin seems more comfortable in that sole role with his guitar sound positively massive.
Jasta barks out "You wanna see me fail" at the start of Proven, but it`s apparent we won`t. The frontman is in complete control of proceedings and can order a circle pit on demand from the stage which he instantly gets.
The band`s set includes new song which continues in their brutal tradition which never let`s up for the duration of the set. Hatebreed were deserved headliners of a very intense day.
Hatebreed set list included:
Tear It down / Straight To Your Face / Proven / Empty Promises / Burn The Lies
LINKS:
Persistance Tour
Hatebreed
Agnostic Front
Napalm Death
Born From Pain
Bleed The Sky
The Red Chord
Full Blown Chaos
50 Caliber
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