Support from Empress and Crossfaith
Manchester Academy 2
29th April 2013
With their 4th studio album ‘Sempiternal’ being
leaked two months prior to actual release our initial thoughts were that the Bring
Me the Horizon were in for the rough earlier this year. It turns out things
couldn’t have gone any better. ‘Sempiternal’ got pushed forward a month and
made its debut at #3 in the UK album charts. To say that they achieved that
when their album had been streamed illegally shows that fans really do remain
faithful.
Hailing from Yorkshire, the band set out on a number of small
dates to promote new album prior to this current tour. Bmth could easily
sell out a big venue anywhere in Britain. It seems however, smaller ones bring
out the more intimate atmosphere. Manchester Academy 2 has the pleasure of
starting off the tour.
It’s 8:00pm and Yorkshire based band Empress are here to get
the night going. The room is still filling out and luckily people stay to
listen. There isn’t much interaction built amongst the crowd. However, It isn’t
the worst set a band can play live, just a little wobbly here and there.
Techno-Metalcore band Crossfaith are a great choice to have
as support. Having arrived all the way from Osaka, Japan the band are keen to
get the crowd stomping. Pits appear as soon as it kicks into their first song
and they don’t slow down for the next half an hour. They play a cover of The
Prodigy’s ‘Omen’ and the room is filled with boundless energy.
Bring Me the Horizon enter with ‘Shadow Moses’, pits start to
build up and cries of ‘This is Sandpit Turtle’ echo around the building. It
seems like the band won’t be able to get rid of the lyrical joke any time soon.
Unfortunately three songs in during ‘Alligator Blood’ there
are technical difficulties. The band play without realising most of the crowd
can’t hear them. The momentum is rebooted once the difficulties are rectified
and ‘Go to Hell for Heaven’s Sake’ gets the mosh pit erupting once more.
Towards the end of the set, singer Oli
Sykes gets the crowd up on each other’s shoulders for angry ballad, ‘Blessed with
a Curse’. The set list tonight shows that Oli Sykes can still provide both the
screaming vocals and a melodic voice without the help of ex-guitarist Jona’s
backing vocals.
The encore brought a wall of death whilst finishing with
single from new album ‘Antivist’ Not the usual song to finish with but played live it creates aggression in the
room. No feet are on the ground and middle fingers are up in dedication to the
lyrics.
Despite the slight technical difficulties, Bmth put on a
faultless performance. To say they are no longer playing with ex-guitarist
Jona Weinhofen they still play a tight and detailed set with replacement Jordan Fish. At
previous gigs and festivals, Aussie born Weinhofen was known to climb scaffolding and
speakers. This time there is less craziness but the adrenaline still pumps
around the room. Proof from their live set still
remains that they are, at this moment in time one of the most influential
modern metal bands in the UK.
