You might’ve heard of the saying “miserable Mondays”… well this one is quite the opposite. The Hell We Create tour has made its way to the city of Manchester, luring out the metal heads to join together in this cold, foggy evening.
Tonight’s bill consists of not one, not two, but three support bands who could each sell out a gig of their own, easily. We’re talking Emmure, Thrown and The Gloom in the Corner, ready to get the party started for headliners, Fit for a King.
First up we have Melbourne metal heads, Gloom. Straight off the bat, these guys mean business. Kicking it off with From Heaven to Hell, the room exploded.
Already the audience is up and moshing away to the guttural screams of vocalist Mikey, paired seamlessly with the pounding drums and aggressive riffs.
The band’s energy was immaculate, considering this was Gloom’s first-ever UK performance, they took that stage and owned it like a regular. Here’s to hoping we at least gave them a warm, Manny welcome before continuing their UK adventure to five more cities. I think it’s safe to say I’m pretty certain these guys will return, the amount of love they received from the
crowd was admirable, definitely an unforgettable performance.
Up next on the stage is a band that made my top five on Spotify wrapped. I’ve been listening to these guys nonstop since discovering them only a few months back. If it wasn’t for them on the lineup, I probably wouldn’t be here tonight so props to the lads.
Hailing from Sweden, Thrown are here to shut this place down. Now wasn’t I lucky tonight, all six of my favourite songs were on the nine-song long setlist, the extra three being teasers at some new releases. Going from being just music in my headphones to a full live performance was insane. These guys delivered a brutally engineered performance with guitar riffs like no other.
Opening with grayout, it was the perfect choice to show this audience that they’re a force to be reckoned with. Each song hit like an assault rifle, banger after banger; dwell, guilt, on the verge – the Swedes knew
exactly what they were doing.
The crowd’s heads banged in unison whilst bodies were being thrown (pun intended) around the room all whilst lead singer Marcus commanded the stage like no other with pure, gut-punching passion. Backfire, Set me free and parasite were the newbies and they were on par, if not even better than their other
releases, if that’s even possible. It was quite literally, music to my ears.
I cannot wait to see Thrown again.
The third and final support band for the night are American metalcore band, Emmure. Well, it’s safe to say the crowd absolutely loved them and for a whole forty-five minutes, it was bedlam. All hell broke loose in the venue from the moment they hit the stage.
From the relentless double bass drum to the perfectly executed breakdowns, Emmure definitely gave their fans a deafening, thrilling experience. Playing hits such as You Asked for It, Natural Born Killer and Nemesis, they pretty much covered everyone’s needs for a bloody good time. All of this combined with a blistering light show, Emmure were unstoppable. You can see why their set was longer than normal and the fans just couldn’t get enough. Ace show.
Without further ado, it is time for the Texas Titans, Fit for a King to shut this night down. Diving straight into it with The Hell We Create, it became almost mandatory for a sea of crowd surfers and boy did the security have their hands full. With the venue being on the smaller side, I imagined there wouldn’t be many bodies flying over the barrier but oh how I was wrong.
It was crazy. We had mosh pits, head banging, two-stepping… the lot all in a 470-capacity room. I have to say, I was purely mesmerised by Kirby and O’Leary’s ability to jump higher than my actual head. If I tried to do that, I would break my back and my knees and I’m only 21, so how they do it is beyond me.
The crowd is still going strong also. You’d think after being stood here waiting endlessly for their
favourite band to take the stage, everyone would be tired. Nope. More energy than a two-year-old.
Especially in the front row, see there’s speculation that sometimes the people at the barrier look the most fed up, whether that’s because they’ve been stood there clutching their spot for hours, who knows. But these guys, they carried the show.
Their energy was unmatched and so was the bands’. Keeping the vibes high with Reaper, Vendetta and God of Fire, FFAK’s performance was an onslaught of heavy breakdowns and melodic riffs. Not to mention the excellent choice of encore The Price of Agony, now that was an ending for the books.
Review & Photography by Sian Connolly for MPM
