Opening the night is Sheffield based heavy metal band Malevolence. The 5 piece band consists of Alex Taylor (Vocals), Josh Baines (Guitar), Konan Hall (Guitar/Co-Lead Vocals), Wilkie Robinson (Bass) and Charlie Thorpe (Drums).
Lead singer Alex speaks of how amazing it is to be playing to a room of 3,000 people as well as announcing to the crowd that this gig tonight is the biggest show of the tour so far. With it being the biggest show, Alex acknowledges it also has a bigger floor (cue a manic mosh pit!). The mosh pit is frenetic throughout, pausing for ‘Higher Place’ as Alex asks the crowd to light up the room with torches/lighters.
During the set the singer tells the crowd that the band have been coming to Manchester for the last 12 years and that this gig tonight is the best Manchester show they’ve played and goes on to thank the crowd. Malevolence have grown in performance over the last few years and really improved in their confidence – it will not be long before they command their headliner spot on a tour of this scale! Catch them back in the UK at Slam Dunk in May!
Set List
Malicious Intent
Life Sentence
Still Waters Run Deep
Self Supremacy
Higher Place
Remain Unbeaten
Keep Your Distance
On Broken Glass
Up next is German metal band ‘Heaven Shall Burn’ consisting of Marcus Bischoff (Vocals), Maik Weichert (Guitar), Alexander Dietz (Guitar), Eric Bischoff (Bass) and Christian Bass (Drums).
It becomes evident during the night that the language barrier is most likely contributing to the lack of interaction between songs, however the band still manage to encourage the mosh pits! HSB are a band with limited UK appearances but in spite of this the crowd mosh and shout their way through the setlist! It has been 9 years since they were last in the UK but they do return reasonably quickly with a spot already announced at this years Bloodstock Festival.
Towards the end of their set, they play a cover by Edge of Sanity, ‘Black Tears’. As the band leave the stage, Vocalist Marcus is the last to leave waving the crowd goodbye.
Set List
My Heart and the Ocean
Bring the War Home
Übermacht
Combat
Voice of the Voiceless
Whatever It May Take
March of Retribution
Thoughts and Prayers
Behind a Wall of Silence
Profane Believers
Black Tears (Edge of Sanity Cover)
Endzeit
After ‘Heaven Shall Burn’ leave the stage, a curtain is drawn while crew backstage set up for Trivium and the backdrop is changed. Before taking to the stage, ‘Run to the Hills’ by Iron Maiden is played through the speakers in the venue to get the crowd going and the curtain drops perfectly in sync with when the song stops.
Trivium are a band with a huge back catalogue spanning 10 albums and over two decades in the industry as a band. Hailing from Orlando way back in 1999, there have been a few line up changes, but currently touring is Matt Heafy (lead vocals), Corey Beaulieu (guitar), Paolo Gregoletto (bass) and Alex Bent (drums).
The band’s set list tonight is slightly different from the ones used in Birmingham and Glasgow, but the common theme is that ‘Rain’ is the first song of the set.
There’s a mix of tracks spanning the back catalogue with crowd appreciation equally clear for both the newer ‘Like A Sword Over Damocles’ and the older ‘To The Rats’.
Beginning the encore with the mammoth 9 minute long ‘Shogun’ and ending the night with ‘Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr’ from 2005 album ‘Ascendancy’, the crowd join in for the last song. They have been non-stop throughout the night with wave after wave of crowd surfing and circle pits that manage to take over the whole floor – security have definitely had their work cut out tonight!
It’s been an energetic and enjoyable night since the opening notes of Malevolence’s ‘Malicious Intent’ played, all the way through to the end of Trivium’s set. The last time Trivium played in Manchester was back in 2018 on their ‘The Sin And The Sentence’ tour, hopefully the band won’t leave it quite so long next time!
