Live Review: Blood Youth Death Blooms, Devine Hatred, Altered and Surya | The Parish, Huddersfield | 26/09/21
Multi-roomed, beautifully decorated and very recently done up, Huddersfield’s pride and joy The Parish was the venue playing host to five incredibly noisy and talented heavy rock artists last night as part of the most recent Blood Youth run.
Surya
While the main bar played some fantastic classic pop punk and emo hits and served a selection of delectable dishes, the upstairs room was the main focus of everyone’s night. With it being a Sunday, doors opened fairly early at 6pm and opening up the night to the small but appreciative group of early arrivals were local Leeds post-metalcore outfit Surya. Looking smart in their matching black & white hooded tops and sounding fairly tight, they had the tough graveyard slot. Playing to a mostly static audience who were yet to warm up and move around much, they did well to gradually win over the crowd over the course of their short set. By the time they played their final song – which was by far their catchiest, with a fun and memorable singalong chorus – there was something more of an atmosphere in the room which hinted at good things to come.
Score: 7/10
Altered
Bringing an impressively thick, full sound for a four-piece were second band of the night Altered, hailing from Nottingham. A contrast to the first act in terms of appearance, it was all about the long hair and shades (and even shorts). Colourful and fun, the band had presence and a certain level of charisma as they leapt enthusiastically around the stage. They’d also brought a bit of a following with them, with a few fans in the crowd wearing their merch, and their drummer whacked their symbols so hard they almost fell over. Great stuff. Full of energy but still not quite enough to wake up the somewhat lacklustre crowd, they were met with rapturous applause at the end regardless.
Score: 7/10
Divine Hatred
Third on the bill, Divine Hatred looked like they were having an absolute blast up on stage. Full of smiles and a friendly, down-to-earth approach from their lead vocalist, he genially invited everyone to come a little closer. The bodies shuffled forward and soon enough, people were beginning to relax and let loose. Heads were banging, bodies were rocking back and forth as the five-piece shook things up a bit with their more classic hardcore approach. Brutal and straight to the point, the band were a breath of fresh air and perfectly placed at just the right spot on the bill.
Score: 7/10
Death Blooms
Main support Death Blooms were the transformational point the night needed to really get people in the zone for Blood Youth. The Liverpool trio commanded the stage with ease, their insanely loud sound a cut above the rest.
Mixing self-assuredness with a relaxed on stage banter, the band got people up and moving in a way no one else had quite fully managed so far. Of course, already having an established fan base helps with this. With a big turn out of enthusiastic metal-heads who knew a lot of the material, the pits opened up quickly. At first it was just a handful, but as the set continued and built towards its climactic finish, Death Blooms fever continued to spread until practically the whole floor was the pit. A teeming mass of arm, legs, sweat and laughter, frontman Paul Barrow had the crowd eating out of his hand. Not even a spillage of water on the stage part way through the set could hinder them!
Tight and full of energy, it was an impressive performance from a band going from strength to strength. They had the place totally bouncing.
Score: 8/10
Blood Youth
It was into a somewhat diminished capacity room that Blood Youth emerged as they took the stage around 9:30 although it soon began to fill out again as people returned from smoking, bar and toilet breaks. At first it felt as though the crowd had tired themselves out a bit during the previous set though, with everyone a little out of practice after the long period of lockdown and energy levels having dropped amongst the audience. This picked up around four songs in when new vocalist Harry Rule demanded a pit for ‘Keep You Alive’ – and got what he wanted. Opening everything up into a giant circle, everyone came crashing in again and got a little more lively.
With big boots to fill, Harry seemed to be settling in nicely. For any hardcore fans of Blood Youth who are worried about the new lineup changes, rest assured they’re just as heavy and exciting as ever. While Harry’s vocal tones bring a certain change in cadence and delivery to some tracks, he stays faithful to the Blood Youth sound while bringing in his own personality and putting his own stamp on it. Like some kind of unmasked Corey Taylor jumping around in his black jumpsuit, he commanded the frontman position of Blood Youth with confidence and enthusiasm. With backing vocals from guitarist Chris at some points, the two of them sounded good together when they both sang at the same time, their voices blending well.
With recent lineup changes, this tour has been something of an experiment and a warm up for them, but the band have definitely stepped up to the mark. Playing a set comprised entirely of their newer material, Blood Youth didn’t including anything before 2019’s full length STARVE, choosing a fresh set of their most recent songs. All their newest 2021 singles are present too – ‘Iron Lung’, ‘Body Of Wire’, ‘Colony3’ etc – helping to herald them into this new era of the band by focusing on moving forwards and the future, not the past.
Some people definitely seemed to be sussing Harry out and had come out of interest to see the new singer, but if there were any doubts at the beginning of the set, there were none by the end. It was fist bumps all round between Harry and the crowd before the penultimate song ‘Starve’. Ending what felt like a very long night on an exhausted but happy high on newer single ‘Cells’, the band finished their eleventh date on their eleven night tour to enthusiastic applause and cheers. Blood Youth are back with a vengeance and their new era is just beginning.
Score: 9/10