Tonight, the Transatlantic world of Core had been brought to the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester and it well and truly shook the building and all that stood within its confines to their roots.
First up were Brand Of Sacrifice and they battered the healthy early evening contingency with their unrelenting and unapologetic Death Core with a brief yet barbaric 30 minutes. ‘Demon King’ was absolutely brutal and caustic, the vocals from Anderson were spat out with venomous toxicity and Westmoreland was an absolute beast behind his kit. ‘Exodus’ was a true catalyst and incited a violent and energetic response from the gathered hordes who stood before the Canadians in the warehouse. Anderson stalked the stage like a possessed figure while constantly demanding and dictating with an ominous presence which seemed to fill the cavernous stage with ease. As the band signed off from their shift, a tantalising amuse bouche had well and truly been served up to the ravenous diners, a feast which was only going to get bloodier and more aggressive as the courses went on.
Fit For A King turned up with seemingly one intention in mind and that was to annihilate all that stood in their path tonight. The set was animated and ferocious from the off which only served to light the fire under the crowd and demanded the energy which flowed from the stage to be reciprocated which the black-clad ensemble duly obliged with. Kirby led the charge with a powerful and authoritative swagger, his lungs seeming to be iron-clad with the ferocity and power that he dispatched his vocal duties with. The strings from Lynge and Gailey intertwined to create harmonies and riffs which were absorbed by the baying crowd beneath them while the skins and fretwork from Celaya and O’Leary respectively generated the anchors on which it all clung to. Another rousing response to a set that had just been carved open before our very eyes.
Motionless In White were up next and as the house lights dimmed the energy was obviously turned up a notch and the vigour and anticipation was now well and truly palpable. Then when the sold-out Warehouse caught its first glimpse of Motionless et al the whole venue just erupted. ‘Meltdown’ subliminally encouraged a riot of the friendliest fashion, a pit of epic proportions erupted reminiscent of Vesuvius at its best and we were well and truly at a gig. As the set progressed with behemoths such as ‘Masterpiece’, ‘Werewolf’ and ‘Voices’ the whole set just steamrolled its way through the Mancunian structure and commanded the speaker stacks to stand strong under the obliteration it was unleashing upon them. The vocals from Motionless were passionate and hungry, thirsty for total domination and a mission that was well and truly accomplished in spades. The vocals were assisted in the conquest by all factions of these Metalcore deities, each and every limb of the juggernaut was well and truly ignited to the duties bestowed upon them and each and every member of these metal giants were part of the celebration this evening.
Tonight had been a Metal gala and one which was masterful with perfection personified. Without doubt, when Motionless In White roll into town on their next visit they will be headlining a much bigger structure than the one we had been in tonight. Simply sublime
