Pete Wall
Opening the night on such a stacked bill is no small task; get it wrong and risk a half-engaged crowd drifting back towards the bar. Typically, Bristol’s own Breathe/Rust attack the assignment like their lives depend on it, with vocalist Rich Thomas throwing shapes à la a young Jake Bannon as his band batter their way through a tight set packed to the limit with ferocious, angular metalcore and blackened hardcore. For anyone even passingly into Trap Them or Converge, to throw out the first names that come to mind, this is manna from heaven. Having previously shown up in support of Glassing at this very same venue, and with the backing of Road to Masochist, it seems like high time that Breathe/Rust get the respect they deserve.
Shortly after one heavy-hitter of a Road to Masochist band departs the stage and the crowd drifts away to reassemble themselves, everyone returns as Row of Ashes take the stage for round two of this gloriously punishing night. With their heady concoction of sludge, noise, post-metal, and all manner of riffs, Row of Ashes manage to sound like half a dozen stellar bands from one track to the next while standing outside easy pigeon-holing. Last summer’s full-length Tide Into Ruin is a hell of a record, and the three-piece are almost mesmerising as a live proposition. Bassist and vocalist Chris Wilson is an imposing figure decked out in a well-worn Pig Destroyer t-shirt, and while that band is a very different sonic proposition, there’s something perfectly fitting in the nod from a band so locked in when it comes to dishing out layered, incisive slabs of heaviness.
The opening pairing of bands has already more than justified the price of admission before California’s Armed For Apocalypse enters the fray. The four-piece sub in founding member Kirk Williams to fill the shoes of regular guitarist Cayle Hunter (Oddman, formerly Will Haven) and their punishing sludgey sound, shot through with punk energy, is something to behold. The sheer speed and precision of the playing is like a shot of adrenaline to the heart of an already amped up room, and we’re collectively swept through an immaculate set in what seems like no time at all. With the bar they set in releasing their mammoth new record The Earth Is Breathing Beneath Me earlier this year, the band not only met their own dizzying standards but also surpassed them in the intimacy and immediacy of the live show. The set is an absolute triumph for a band so clearly on the rise.
Topping the bill hot on the heels of dropping their crushing new record The Colorless Light of Emptiness, Idaho three-piece Throes are not here to play around. They attack their set with full-blooded conviction and ear-drum-lacerating intensity. Their blend of sludge and metallic hardcore has breadth and depth while being in-your-face enough to get heads banging from the off. The pedal-to-the-metal onslaught brings to mind the likes of END and Cult Leader, with a low-end that nods to the sludgy mire of Eyehategod. After a run of such exceptional quality, Throes dialled in performance is the cherry on the cake for what is a stellar night in Bristol and a living testament to the strength of the scene.