After spending the 2010s dominating the UK hardcore underground but seeming to slip by the mainstream, Malevolence once seemed like a band who might never get the success they deserve. Which makes nights like this feel so special as they have now climbed to position of headlining Brixton Academy, something that basically no bands from a UK hardcore background have done. And to celebrate they’ve brought along some of the finest heavy bands going right now.
Openers PSYCHO-FRAME (7) are unfortunate victims of Brixton Academy opening band sound. Their MySpace deathcore revival on record is full of technical flourishs that are completely lost in the muddy dirge meaning all that can really be heard is the breakdowns and both vocalists. This of course isn’t their fault its just a little unfortunate some of the more interesting elements of their sound feel non existent tonight. Still, those breakdowns are devastating and get the early arrivers moshing hard. And both vocalists sound monstrous and bust out their own sick mosh moves on stage (when they aren’t getting tangled up in each others mic cables). Even with the dull sound they still make an impression and feel like something genuinely cool in a deathcore scene now flooded with the same symphonic bluster.
Any sound issues feel completely resolved when Dying Wish (9) take to the stage and tonight they make a strong case for being one of the best bands in metalcore right now. Their new album Flesh Stays Together has really helped flesh out their sound beyond the brilliant early metallic hardcore worship and successfully delivering on the usual cliche of being heavier and more melodic. The weight of the guitars on opener I Don’t Belong Anywhere is genuinely oppressive and the bands performance just adds so much menace. They mix these moments in nicely with the older tracks to keep the set varied in approach so you get that excellent throwback sound on a song like Watch My Promise Die.
The real star is Emma Boster who has really come into her own as a vocalist, the choruses in particular sound excellent tonight delivered with so much power and she can still balance this with such a feral intensity in her screams. The rest of the band match this intensity in their performance with nothing here feeling like your typical stock metalcore performance, the safety and inauthenticity that plagues so many bands is nowhere to be seen.
“Hardcore is a participation sport” belts Speed (8) vocalist Jem Siow, reminding everyone what sort of gig they are at tonight. Judging by the number of “SPEED” chants coming from the crowd before they even take to the stage I don’t think people needed much reminding. Speed very much feel like one of the bands of the moment and they are riding that momentum and going off the reaction to them tonight you could almost be mistaken for thinking they are headlining.
By their own admission they claim to be the worst musicians on the tour and really their take on hardcore is the most straightforward but they’ve got the tunes and their energy is completely infectious. As is Jem’s clear passion for hardcore when he talks about this being more than just music to him and this just seems to hype up the crowd even more where they just never want to stop moshing, jumping and crowd surfing. And of course no Speed set is complete now without a flute mosh during The First Test. If Speeds rise continues this way it might not be impossible to be one of the rare hardcore bands to headline venues this size.
Finally it was time for Malevolence (9) to take to the stage but before that, a special occasion such as this requires a special intro so enter Brick Top himself, Alan Ford to set the scene perfectly. There really isn’t much else in the way of pageantry and stage show tonight but this is such a fun and unique way to kick things off. Once this intro is done done Malevolence take to the stage and slam into Blood To The Leach and its immediately clear just how at home Malevolence feel on stages this size. Trenches takes things to another level and really shows how Malevolence have reached this point and overtaken so many UK metalcore bands.
The real joy from Malevolence comes from their genuine love and reverance for the riff. Josh Baines in particular tonight seems to really flourish living his guitar hero dreams as he cranks out every sick riff and shreds numerous solos. Alex Taylor conducts all the carnage calling for as many circle pits as Brixton can handle during Self Supremacy or trying to get the crowd surfing record broken during On Broken Glass.
And yet for a band who made their name on big grooves and mean beatdowns, the magic that takes place when they turn their hand to a ballad is undeniable as Higher Place and The Other Side feel like the moments when you are watching a massive band. The only slight mark against tonight is the somewhat unnecessary jam session and the lack of early tracks in the setlist. The jam is impressive but for long time fans no Serpents Chokehold is maybe a little disappointing. Though you could argue given the size of the show indulging these rockstar tendencies gets a pass this time.
Keep Your Distance wraps up the main set with more violence before Alan Ford returns to praise Malevolence one final time for their encore of If It’s All The Same To You. Five years ago Malevolence achieving what they did here would have seemed near impossible but the last few years have seen them go from strength to strength and tonight was the payoff for all their years grinding away and basically cements them as the new bosses of UK metalcore.
Malevolence photo credit – Ramsey Ramone.
