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Impericon Never Say Die Tour

Impericon Never Say Die Tour London Gallery FeatureThe Impericon Never Say Die Tour (INSD) has been tearing its way across Europe since 2007. The mini-touring festival -comparable to Vans Warped Tour- showcases exciting upcoming and established acts in the world of Metalcore, Metal, Hardcore, Punk and Deathcore with previous bands on the bill including Emmure, Architects, Suicide Silence, Bleeding Through and Parkway Drive.

2012 sees the tour feature an all-American line up with headliners We Came As Romans joined by blessthefall, Stick To Your Guns, For The Fallen Dreams, Obey The Brave, At The Skylines, The Browning and At Dawn We Rage. The tour stops off at 20 dates across Europe including 3 in the UK.

On 18th October the 8 band bill tore apart Camden’s Electric Ballroom with headliners We Came As Romans showing how dynamic the genre of metalcore can be. However it was reported that Obey The Brave (who took our ‘Album of the Week’ spot with ‘Young Blood‘ back in early August) stole the show. As ever Stick To Your Guns impressed with their uplifting brand of hardcore whilst blessthefall and For The Fallen Dreams were widely appreciated due to impressive performances from their charismatic front men. We sent talented photographer Jake Owens to capture the annual jaunt through his lens, here are his results…

The Browning
Obey The Brave
For The Fallen Dreams
Stick To Your Guns
Stick To Your Guns
Blessthefall
Blessthefall
We Came As Romans
We Came As Romans
We Came As Romans
We Came As Romans
Impericon Never Say Die Tour Crowd
Impericon Never Say Die Tour

Words: Emma Wallace
Photos: Jake Owens

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Of Mice and Men

OF MICE & MEN
The Flood (Deluxe 2 Disc Re-Issue)
(Rise Records)
http://www.facebook.com/ofmice

Southern California’s Of Mice & Men are constantly growing in popularity. The band -who are currently on the Vans Warped Tour- have quenched fans’ thirst for new material with a 2 disc deluxe re-issue of their critically acclaimed album ‘The Flood’ featuring 4 new tracks.

The bonus tracks start with a tantalizing instrumental piece ‘The Calm’. The reverberating clean guitars are a beautiful yet eerie experience to behold, clearly implying the saying ‘The calm before the storm’…

As ‘The Storm’ picks up tempo, Austin Carlile’s strained and emotional screams kick start a typical ballsy Of Mice & Men riff. On the original release of ‘The Flood’, ‘Ben Threw’ and ‘Ohioisonfire’ showed Of Mice & Men’s capability to produce intense riffs and rhythms whilst maintaining an underlying bounce, but they are nothing in comparison to the punishing assault of third bonus track, ‘The Flood’ and final new number, ‘The Depths’. It seems that after the departure of Shayley Bourget, clean vocals have been left to one side with the band focusing on a new level of heaviness.

Presented with flowing continuity, the bonus tracks are an impeccable addition to ‘The Flood’. The production of the tracks is highly commendable in its own right, the magnitude of the atmospherics are on the same level as Bring Me The Horizon’s ‘There Is a Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let’s Keep it a Secret’. With its new additions, the re-issue can be appreciated by fans from across the metal spectrum with influential elements of artists such as The Devil Wears Prada, We Came As Romans, Pierce The Veil & even Slipknot shining through.

If first time around, ‘The Flood’ begged to differ that metalcore was a dying art, the re-issue demolishes any ideas that the genre is dated and builds a platform from which Of Mice & Men can dominate the current scene. The flood is coming again.

Words: Emma Wallace