Some might say that travelling to Manchester to see a Glasweigan band when you live just outside Glasgow is lunacy, and to those people I say this: train fares are expensive, so you might be on to something. This, however, in no way takes away from the fanatical and extreme night of heavy metal brought to concert attendees by Scottish deathcore titans Bleed From Within. The quintet ran a sort of mini-tour to promote their most recent full-length release; Era, an album which produces such a weighty wall of barbaric energy that you will be hard pushed not to feel crushed under the sheer weight of it. The real question remains though, as it does with every release: how does the live set fare in comparison to the album? In short, Bleed’s live set fares very well, though before further gushing over their set, ing act Dyscarnate must first be given their due.
As the PA system blasted out the intricate intro to “Cain and Able”, the stage remained empty, a song beginning with no band to continue it. It wasn’t until I felt my shoulder thrust forward out of my own accord that I realised that Dyscarnate were themselves marching through the crowd, instruments in hand like weapons of war. Taking to the stage, this death metal trio had no interest in wasting time, clearly keen to dominate the audience with their wickedly heavy introductory track; something they accomplished easily, with fans enchanted almost immediately. By the time the second track, “Traitors in the Palace”, began, fans were entirely hooked, with the audience focusing more on the band on stage than the pint in their hands (myself included).
Dyscarnate performed a set which could have easily acted as a final act, with the band creating so much energy that the floor began to shake with thunderous riffs and and blastbeats. During “The Promethean”, the band’s final song, a moshpit erupted in to being, a pit so large, so vicious, that it left me square on my ass – though not for the last time of the night. Dyscarnate were true showmen, interacting with the crowd as much as they could, and delivering an absolutely colossal barrage of metal. A more perfect set up for Bleed From Within could not have taken place.
During the interval between sets, fans left the gig area feeling pumped-up and hyped for what was to follow and, unlike what is so common place with many gigs, arrived back feeling the same, if not more, excitement for the main event. The gap between bands had done nothing to quell enthusiasm for one of Scotland’s most prominent up-and-coming heavy metal bands, having the opposite effect in fact, with fans who would normally be strangers chatting eagerly about what they might expect to be played. The high expectations where trumped almost as soon as Bleed From Within took to the stage.
Often misconstrued as violence for the sake of it, a moshpit is a way for heavy metal fans to indulge in their own excitement for seeing a band play live. Given that definition, it should be stated that every single person must have been bursting with anticipation, for as soon as the first note to “Clarity” began, a moshpit exploded in to being, remaining for the entire duration of the show. Shortly after this moshpit began, I was landed on my ass for the second time. This was when I decided to hang over the barrier by the stage instead; a wise decision as my body was feeling the consequences of those pits for days afterwards.
Most of the emphasis of this concert was placed on tracks taken from Bleed From Within’s new album, Era, which is to be expected, as roughly three quarters of the set was taken from the band’s newest release. This was something to be expected however, and something that was celebrated by fans. As Bleed blasted out tracks such as “Crown Of Misery” and “I Am Oblivion”, the crowd would erupt in to a fanfare of wild joy, the moshpit ramping up a notch, the fans pushing further forward to get just that little bit closer to the stage. There was no denying that there was a fierce love for heavy metal in that room as Bleed dominated the stage. The band themselves were actually overhanging the crowd on their short stage, with many fans at the front close enough to touch the band.
Once Bleed had gotten the audience riled up enough to a point where a moshpit simply would not suffice as a way of releasing energy, vocalist Scott Kennedy broke the music, disregarding his lyrical commitments, leaving the band to continue on behind him, announcing to the crowd that it was time for the most barbaric, yet most revered heavy metal concert mainstay. The wall of death. With the music low and slow, as the audience mindlessly obliged to the orders of Kennedy, separating down the middle. We readied ourselves to charge in to one another, no goal in completing the task, yet an immense joy in doing so since an angry man on a stage had told us to. With a force so powerful certain of the crowd were taken by surprise, Kennedy ordered the concert congregation to run at one another; and run at one another we did.
This was clearly the epitome of what a heavy metal gig should ever be; a group of loyal, overactive, less than sober fans partaking in an activity to impress those on stage while also releasing all of the energy they have pent up listening to said band’s albums. Bleed From Within played one of the tightest, most sweaty, least give-a-fuck-est gigs I have ever attended: and I cannot wait to see them play again. To answer my own question from earlier; the live showings are more than able to stand head to head with the studio recordings from Era, and are, thanks to both the crowd and band participation, sometimes better.
Dyscarnate: official | facebook | twitter | youtube
Bleed From Within: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | youtube
