Review & Photography by Sheri Bicheno for MPM
British metalcore meets mathcore heavyweights Employed to Serve just dropped their newest album Fallen Star and had a hefty tour to boot. Along with them, supports took shape in the increasingly popular Church Road Records favourites Burner and Celestial Sanctuary.
Due to work and shifting through London’s transport, I made it just in time to see a few last songs delivered by openers Burner, blending death metal and blackened hardcore. Visceral and intense, frontman Harry Nott dominated the stage with his raw and demanding vocals carving through all souls beneath them.
Delivering each blistering riff and complex blast beats with precision, the night kicked off with a pummeling energy. EF5 serves as an aggressive and hammering track with sections of groove djent notes and subtle melodics amongst the hammering slabs of intense moods.
These guys have some serious skills in transitioning from slabs of slow and heavy tempos to rapid, angry breakdowns.
With new track The Night Does Not End just dropped, we’re gonna be in for a major thrashing this year!!
Celestial Sanctuary came next, embodying the intensity of death metal.
Battering in with a new track Puddles of You Reflect The Filth Within, chunky slabs of riffs come bludgeoning in, introducing a complete gorefest of some of the most menacing vocals of the night over the top of bleeding riffs and stomping drum beats.
This kick off to the set raised the bar in a bewildering amount of energy being circulated around the room. The room was brumful of headbanging bodies and already a pit forming.
The stunning melodics incorporated into the layers of pummeling licks of guitars and vibrating bass was a total assault on the senses. Something I absolutely got my teeth into.
The blast beats and killer guitar work with rhythm sections running almost doom like vibrations over the screeching under riff of this song topped off a completely feral vibe. Pure filth!
Visions Of Stagnant Blood sees most of this blistering EP delivered and the whole crowd si absolutely feral throughout – a wall of death forming second track in saw the place spinning bodies all over the place.
With blistering tempos, savage and relentless drums, and head-spinning riffs, this band delivers some of the most intense energy on stage that i’ve seen in recent days. A new favourite!!
As ever, the anticipation for Employed To Serve to make an appearance was looming. The place was heaving and then out of the lights of the stage, the band took their places.
Sammy and David’s guitars introduced a whirring of Atonement chunky intro riffs and then from behind the doors, out skipped Justine Jones armed with the worlds biggest smiles welcomed by a huge roar of the crowd.
Crafting the energy of the crowd, Justine uses stunning gutturals and conjures her sonic assault across the entire room amongst the absolutely incredible groove infused drumming of Casey. 2019 offering Eternal Forward Motion came in as a battering ram and scored down Employed To Serve’s frenzied layers skitting across hardcore and groove metal fusions.
Sammy and David fuse riffs that explode into the set with hard and furious energy backed up by Nathan’s backbone of thundering basslines.
Force Fed bludgeoned guitar riffs and groove tempo drums that shattered the atmosphere and saw the crowd pit go mental.
Justine snarls vocals in high tones alongside Sammy’s clean and melodic cuts. This track in its live setting is a headbanger with tech heavy groove guitars skipping through and giving the drums way to shine some through some filthy tempo change beats to get feral to.
Title track from new album Fallen Star shimmered in as one of the most stunning tracks that has newly come out from Employed To Serve.
Focusing on some of the melodic side of these guys, the stage lit to gold and a beautiful key piece churned out from the stage before hard hitting with groove guitars and winding riffs. Tight drums came together with epic and mesmerising energy with the guitars over Justine’s raw screams and Sammy’s beautiful notes.
Full of infectious smiles and headbanging on stage, Justine commands the energy to the crowd and they mirror her movements. A hugely memorable part of the set.
Owed Zero stamps a filthy vehement streak into the mix with the older hardcore vibes powering through whilst We Dont Need You hammered in with the evolvement of Employed To Serve, bringing in those progressive and almost djent style guitars.
“I wanna see everyone jumping!” Justine shouts out and is met with an obliged crowd. The breakdown hits and the whole Academy is bouncing. Utterly anguished drums stretch across the crowd and the filthy beatdowns paired with the groove guitars send the place into a headbanging, sledgehammer wave of people.
Breaks Me Down brought us back to a new offering on the album and came armed with synth keys to wind gently into the track with subtle clean vocals before blending seamlessly into a
storm of gorgeous groove riffs and shimmering keys skittered in between. Justine serves up another dose of some her most finest vocals – the rawness in her range and precision amongst the energy is mind blowing!
“Spin this room!” A pit circles around and welcomes in thundering blast beats and chugging strings for Mark Of The Grave.
Face melting riffs batter through hard hitting slower drums for this track and gives off more of the hardcore side of these guys. The stage is absolutely alive with movement. All members headbanging as low to the floor as hell goes and whilst pummeling out an utterly mental solo that meshes all the tech infused notes together to bring in some of the heaviest harmonies.
Speaking of which… Who’s Side Are You On? Was easily the most heaviest track of the night with some of the fastest kit work of the night, bringing in together evil riffs and stunning guttural ranges. Bringing in tow a whole tonnes of filthy breakdowns and gorgeously visceral riffs blending with one another, this was an experience in it’s live setting. Some melodics bleeding into heavy as hell beats and giving a subtle under synth to pull you right into the stage and spit you right back out.
Ending on Party’s Over, the crowd got one last shove to bounce the place down with an almost anthemic send off. Throughout, the vibe was still unrestrained and shows no signs of slowing down on the last offering of the day.
Raw guitars playing with distorted strings and winding riffs gave an old school feel to this track with elements of punk and hardcore. Still full of smiles, Justine delivers another face hammering blow with her roars and behind her, the stage is still very much alive with some of the most tightest musicianship that modern music has to offer.
Having also seen them so long ago, Fallen Star is without a doubt, one of those albums that is a distinctive mark on Employed To Serve to further propel them into their evolution – and tonight in it’s live setting, it shows how far Employed To Serve have come whilst still staying true to their roots.
This was a mental show and the tour’s success is every bit deserved.
