Thy Art Is Murder, Whitechapel, Fit For An Autopsy & Spite, O2 Ritz, Manchester 23.10.23
As I’m walking down Oxford Road with my friends we’re all surprised by how far back the queue went, everybody clearly wanting to get inside on time for easily this year's biggest deathcore line up.
Spite (10) opens the evening. With a mix of hardcore punk and modern deathcore, they definitely made an impact. Even with doors only just opening they got the crowd going like they were hours into the show. Vocalist Darius Tehrani spent the whole set stomping around as if he were deranged. Spite truly astounded me with the amount of energy they brought to the stage. For an opener on a bill of four bands they were up there acting like they were the act everyone was there to see. They performed with such intensity that the crowd had no choice but to start moshing early.
Spite (10) opens the evening. With a mix of hardcore punk and modern deathcore, they definitely made an impact. Even with doors only just opening they got the crowd going like they were hours into the show. Vocalist Darius Tehrani spent the whole set stomping around as if he were deranged. Spite truly astounded me with the amount of energy they brought to the stage. For an opener on a bill of four bands they were up there acting like they were the act everyone was there to see. They performed with such intensity that the crowd had no choice but to start moshing early.
The formidable Fit For An Autopsy (10) are up next. They opened with massive track, A Higher Level Of Hate, with its 40 second build up getting the crowd ready for half an hour of non stop savagery. Even at such a large venue they manage to create an intimate atmosphere in such a vast space. Fit For An Autopsy’s shattering sound is purposefully gritty. The group masterfully combines atmospheric groove with extreme force driven death metal. Hellions demonstrates the band's extreme and unwavering intensity. The song effectively broke up their set with its beautiful moments of blackened death metal. The band took their time slot and gave the crowd 100% the best performance of the whole night. They ended with Far From Heaven which got one of the biggest pits of the entire night, it's impossible to stand still for this track. I would’ve been happy with these as headliners with the standard they brought. The whole band were relentless in delivering a brutal assault to Manchester.
Deathcore titans Whitechapel (6) are third on. The band opened with I Will Find You, a more recent track. With a fast moving, catchy chorus, brilliant riffs and the impeccable growls from Phil Bozeman. With This Is Exile, a cornerstone of the deathcore sound, the band gave the audience an opportunity to experience the brutality of their sound. Their set included a healthy mix of old and new to please all. But, I did have one issue with their set. Although they sounded amazing there was no stage presence. None at all. I would’ve got the same excitement watching a recording of their set. For such titans of the deathcore scene you’d expect more. The set sounded unbelievable but the performance was placid. Although their presence was a little subdued, the music was still excellent. Whitechapel demonstrated to us how brutal their music can still be after all these years but, it can be a bit underwhelming when the songs sound amazing but the band are stood there not hyping the crowd at all. I highly anticipated their set but it ended with me feeling a little underwhelmed.
Thy Art Is Murder (7) are here to give the audience what they came for, a gruesome show. But first, they opened with Venga Boys and a room full of rainbow lights for a fun but confusing start to their set. A band's live reputation can drop rapidly with a vocalist who has such a drastic change in personality to the latter. Unfortunately, I thought that was the case that evening. Although Tyler is obviously talented with his brutal vocals, I thought something was lacking live.
Deathcore titans Whitechapel (6) are third on. The band opened with I Will Find You, a more recent track. With a fast moving, catchy chorus, brilliant riffs and the impeccable growls from Phil Bozeman. With This Is Exile, a cornerstone of the deathcore sound, the band gave the audience an opportunity to experience the brutality of their sound. Their set included a healthy mix of old and new to please all. But, I did have one issue with their set. Although they sounded amazing there was no stage presence. None at all. I would’ve got the same excitement watching a recording of their set. For such titans of the deathcore scene you’d expect more. The set sounded unbelievable but the performance was placid. Although their presence was a little subdued, the music was still excellent. Whitechapel demonstrated to us how brutal their music can still be after all these years but, it can be a bit underwhelming when the songs sound amazing but the band are stood there not hyping the crowd at all. I highly anticipated their set but it ended with me feeling a little underwhelmed.
Thy Art Is Murder (7) are here to give the audience what they came for, a gruesome show. But first, they opened with Venga Boys and a room full of rainbow lights for a fun but confusing start to their set. A band's live reputation can drop rapidly with a vocalist who has such a drastic change in personality to the latter. Unfortunately, I thought that was the case that evening. Although Tyler is obviously talented with his brutal vocals, I thought something was lacking live.
The band opened with a newer track, Destroyer Of Dreams. Quite a primal song it was a good choice to start their set. It all felt a bit too mellow until the band got to their fourth song of the night, Make America Hate Again. This is when the crowd started acting like they were watching such pioneers of the scene. Having listened to their newest album, Godlike, a lot since its release late last month I have been looking forward to hearing my favourite track off it live. The excitement was short lived.
Never have I been so disappointed at how different a track sounds live compared to a studio recording but this was the case for Keres. It felt flat and void of life, what should’ve had the crowd (and the vocalist) stomping about was a dead track. The addition of vocalist Tyler Miller felt like a good fit when listening to Godlike but after watching the full line up Darius from Spite or Joe from Fit For An Autopsy would be a better live fit. Overall, Thy Art Is Murder were fantastic at delivering each song with an extreme level of aggression and brutality, but I can't help but think Tyler needs to work on his showmanship.