The Mandela Hall, part of Queen’s University Belfast Student’s Union estate, plays host to a smorgasbord of acts throughout the year. Tonight, it plays host to Seattle based rockers Rivetskull who are giving the Belfast crowd a taste of heavy metal through their own original work and a full set of the songs of Dio throughout his career. The anticipation of the gathering Belfast metallers is quite palpable with a swathe of veteran fans as well as a good mix of younger fans.
And Rivetskull do not come alone as the musical intro with “Harbinger” begins on come County Louth’s own Deithesis. With Allan Clarke on Vocals, Darren Duffy on Guitar, Darragh Skelly on Drums, John Rankin on Guitar and Hugh Sweeney on Bass they began in 2020.
Tonight, they were going to be playing hard and heavy with tracks from their debut album “Equilibrium”.
Allan quipped at the start “We will just ease you into it tonight. That’s the health and safety announcement out of the way, lets rock.”
With a no nonsense look and approach they were relaxed, open and friendly with the banter while the tunes they rolled off the stage like “Unseen”, “Beyond Tomorrow” and “Equilibrium” they showed off a well-oiled machine producing heavy doom thrash powered with heavy rolling riffs and powerful rhythms.
The slow thundering of “Virtue”, “Once Forsaken”, “Sanctity” and “Beckon Tragedy” solidified their skills in producing lyrical dominance and the musical fervour of headbangers at heart. While many of the songs including “Equilibrium” itself generated a slow ponderous headbanging rhythm built of a solid foundation of thumping riffage, they all had a slight hint of an Irish lilt hovering wings spread forth in the background.
The crowd, most, if not all, hearing them for the first time really warmed to them fairly quickly in the set. The sound of the band allowed this as the songs had little twangs of familiarity sewn neatly throughout whether through influence of listening to mighty bands, from Metallica to Thin Lizzy, or through the almost hypnotic heavy rhythms.
They had won many a new fan over. With the last act of their set throwing the horns a roar of appreciation was the reply.
Find out more about them online at https://www.metallurg.net/deithesis/
Next up was the awaited Rivetskull! The roar went up as they lightly jogged onto stage, which should have been the klaxon letting everyone know they were going to be quite active on the stage.
On a side note, while this was the first visit of Rivetskull to the UK and Ireland, they had been here nine years before under the guise of Dio Rising. So the second part of their set and the perfectly sold ‘bait’ of the show would be more or less reprising their skills of delivering a tribute to one of the greatest metallers to exist and the father of throwing the horns, Ronnie James Dio.
Chad McMurray on vocals, Mark X. Plog on guitar, Johnny Massey on Bass and Michael Robson on drums coalesced into a tight well-oiled entertainment machine. Plunging straight into a heavily slamming, driving song “Hellbound” they immediately made their mark.
With “Crash and Burn”, Eyes of a Fallen Angel”, and Not Gonna Run” they had impressed without doubt that they were purveyors of professionally powerful classic heavy metal par excellence. Chad’s vocals were powerful clear and energetic while the rest of the band proved themselves as adepts in their field. Mark’s guitar sophistry was magical; Michael’s drum thumping was tight and loud while Johnny’s bass playing antics was magnetic.
Next up was their single “The Hammer Falls” was just a wizardly conjuration of high-octane metal that felt new and yet so familiar at the same time. With Chad’s vocals weaving through the rhythm of the tune definitely brought to the fore his skills as a Dio singer, giving the impression this could have been on a Dio album.
Then came “Another Way to Heaven”, “Time Will Tell”, and “The King is Dead”, all individual and providing clearly the originality of Rivetskull, their song writing skills and their musicality to put it with guitar, bass and drums to deliver instantly replayable tunes.
Finishing the first part of their performance was “Isolation” and “Forever” that left the audience in no doubt as to the stage and playing skill was flawless. A four-piece working as one to give an incredible performance experience. Rivetskull have fully embraced the pathos of their musical forefathers yet have stamped their own unique spin on it.
They have crossed a Rubicon of the meaning and sound of the early 80’s metal carved out by the likes of Dio while providing the listener with a polished updated original sound. Combining the modern with the classic they have created their own space with familiarity.
Having taken a quick respite off stage they came back on to deliver a performance to remember for many in the Mandela hall as they had what seemed to be the time of their lives performing classic Dio songs, going straight into “Mob Rules” to kick things off. Then came “Rainbow in the Dark”, “Children of the Sea”, and “Long Live Rock and Roll”. If you closed your eyes you coul;d almost imagine it was not Chad but Ronnie himself on stage, The tribute they have deliver many times before was well lubricated with the oil of rock and metal.
They may have played these songs thousands of times but their joy and enthusiasm felt like these songs were being performed for the first time on stage. Each and every song had the crowd going wild. Yes, it was a tribute and yes, they were absolute banging classics but performed with such gusto it was almost as if you could be there, be it Rainbow, Deep Purple of Dio.
Then came “Don’t Talk to Strangers”, “Stand up and Shout”, and “Kill the King” with each one delivered with the passion they deserved. More classics like “Neon Knights”, “We Rock”, and “Heaven and Hell” landed with precision and on-stage energy that had everyone moving in time to the beats. Finishing with “Last in Line” and, of course, “Holy Diver” the roar of appreciation from the crowd was undeniable. What a night of heavy metal and pure joy.
It was more than just playing music but a full performance as Chad took time between songs in both sets to talk to the crowd with snippets of his and the band’s lives, making it much more personal. He is quite a skilled vocal enchanter with both his singing voice and storytelling as the crowd listened intently to every spoken and sung word that he uttered.
What an incredibly joyous evening in the presence of a band that has the real potential to become part of the next group of heavy metal bands that cross the next few generations of music lovers.
Find out more about Rivetskull and their tour dates at https://www.rivetskull.com/
