Artists: Trivium, Inflames, Ghost, Rise To Remain & Insense

Venue: 02 Academy, Newcastle   

Date: 7 December 2011   

On a freezing cold night the 02 Academy was treated to a fantastic gig.  A good hour before opening, a healthy crowd of young, and old metal heads had gathered outside the venue in anticipation of the 'Defenders of The Faith Tour'.

Five bands, just waiting to entertain ... and they did just that!

Once inside, the front rows were packed, as hard hitting Norwegian Metallers Insense took to the stage with all the venom of an angry rattlesnake.  This band is a heady mix of magnificent proportions playing everything from Grind core, Thrash, Death Metal and Hard-core they certainly set the proceedings off  to a fine start and would recommend you catching these guys live as soon as possible, and checking out their album 'Burn In a Beautiful Fire'.

Having heard a lot of good stuff about Rise to Remain I was not at all disappointed with their set, these guys have already got quite a following, and this  was clearly evident tonight.  Austin Dickinson is already an accomplished frontman, confident and assured, prowling the stage with such intensity.   From the opening bars of 'The Serpent' you knew you were in for a Metal core treat.

Playing six songs these guys defiantly got everyone's attention, I would love to see them play a longer set, standout songs were 'Power Through Fear', and 'Bridges Will Burn', the band got a great response from the crowd.

Next up was Ghost, who I'd heard a lot about.  I did think they were a strange addition to the Defenders of The Faith line-up..  Having said that, my doubts were soon quashed as the band, all resplendent in Monks habits were really out of this world and the lead singer  “Papa Emeritus “ was dressed as a Satanic Bishop.  This was pure theatre with heavy satanic overtones .  Ghost  played ' Con Clavi Con Dio' , 'Elizabeth', 'Stand By Him' ( My personal favourite Ghost song, being about the Horned one of course !!), ' Ritual' and a few others, they did not disappoint at all.  

They are another band I will be eager to see play a full set in the near future, although they are very retro.  Yeah for entertainment value I will be at the front again!  

The 02 has filled up near to capacity as Inflames take to the stage opening with 'Sounds Of A Playground' starting off slow, then into a full metal frenzy.  Anders Fridens and the band were immense tonight playing a really good repertoire from their ten album history.

These guys scorched the 02 with ' Deliver Us', 'All For Me' off the new album and stepped backwards and forwards through time with their set.

A Mosh-pit had begun and heads are banging to these Swedish masters of metal.  'The Mirrors Truth', 'The Quiet Place', Fear Is the Weakness', 'Ropes', 'Where the Dead Ships Dwell', 'Cloud Connected' and the set ended with 'Take This Life', the audience loved these guys .  

I waited in anticipation to see the mighty Trivium tonight and knew they would have to step up a lot of notches to better Inflames. The intro started into latest album 'In Waves' Trivium storm the stage to a raucous North Eastern roar.  The setlist was very much geared to the 'In Waves' and 'Ascendancy' albums, with a slight nod to 'Shogun'.  I was very disappointed that there was nothing from the great 'Crusader' album.  'Drowned', 'Torn Asunder' and 'A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation' from the aforementioned 'Ascendancy' album were played with a blinding ferocity, then it was back to 'In Waves' with 'Dusk Dismantled'.  Throughout the set Matt Heafy encouraged the fans to mosh and the 02 crowd did not disappoint.  

The newer tracks were very well received by the Trivium faithful and sat comfortably alongside the older songs.  Trivium go for the throat and don’t let up.  The sheer energy from the band bounced around the 02 tonight.  Highlights for me tonight from the Trivium set had to be 'Like Light to the Flies' and ' Built to Fall', the whole academy rocked as these Florida rockers pummeled the audience with their intense magic.  Austin Dickinson from Rise to Remain joined Trivium onstage too and let rip.

' Dying in Your Arms' and ' Pull Harder on the Strings of your Martyr' were delivered with such force it sent a shiver down my spine.

' Kirsute Gomen' and 'Throes of Perdition' from 'Shogun' finished this amazing night of metal off and I hope it's not long un til all the bands featured tonight return to the North East.  

After an intense metal night I would say Trivium were awesome but Inflames stole the show tonight, they were really on fire!

Review by: Seb Di Gatto  

 

 

All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated.