Parkway Drive
Unearth
Despised Icon
Architects
Protest The Hero
Whitechapel
Carnifex
The Forum, London
15.11.08
5pm is a little too early for Metal in my eyes, so I headed to the venue just in time for Protest The Hero. Their technical riffs and intricate alterations of tempo were somewhat lost in the ether of The Forum, but they definitely set the stage for the evening through a succession of new album bangers including ‘Bloodmeat‘. Older material was somewhat lacking but a good proportion of the crowd was loving their work.
Architects were up next and they totally dominated proceedings with a barrage of gritty breakdowns and a stage presence so fearsome that everyone in the venue was rapt. They may not be as accomplished in the beard stakes as some of the metal aficionados present tonight but they know how to put on a gripping performance and the feeling was one of excitement as the only British band on the bill commanded one of the best receptions of the night.
Despised Icon were not such a brilliant prospect with their emphasis being on a churning out of pummeling bass drum excess as the meatheads in the crowd took up residence at the front of the venue. It seemed that this is a band being heavy for the sake of it and having little in the way of riff-based content, or any melodic interest at all for that matter.
Unearth whack things back up a gear with a performance that ripped through the venue like a hurricane and that was most certainly not void of musicality as was the case with the band before.
Australians Parkway Drive‘s metallic hardcore has won them many an admirer on UK shores and they are, in fact, no strangers to this very tour having been main support to Comeback Kid on last year’s edition. They certainly deserved their spot at the top of the bill this year with a hefty crowd in the palm of their collective hand. Parkway Drive culminated proceedings in the best of style with riffs aplenty, brutally intense vocals and insanely speedy rhythms pelting out from behind the drum-kit.
The Altamont Never Say Die! Tour was a must for metal fans across Europe and will go down as one of the best tours of the year in its genre. No doubt.
Winey G.