Die No More – The Brickyard, Carlisle 27/9/14
Support: Motherload and Seek Solace In Ruin
In aid of Die No More’s debut album launch (titled Elected Evil and released on October 6th), the band went back to their roots to do a one-of-a-kind gig at the venue that the lads have grown up with.
Kicking off the night was Motherload. The London based quartet travelled up to Carlisle especially to play, and these guys seemed to have found the perfect balance between metal and classic rock. They had one clear aim for the night and that was to warm the crowd up and they weren’t leaving until they had achieved just that. As their 40 minute set progressed you could see the growing numbers of headbangers join in with their impressive music, but don’t be fooled, Motherload were an ‘easy listening’ band compared to what was coming later that night.
Next to hit the stage was a metalcore band first formed in 2009, Seek Solace In Ruin – this was where it all went a bit mental, they opened up with Arterial Failure and that’s when the mosh pits started- pretty much all the way through their set… Sadly, about 35 minutes in, SSIR’s set took a bad turn as lead singer, Joseph, had a mild epileptic fit and collapsed, fortunately he got straight back up again and insisted that he was fine and that they could finish the song he just, ‘sometimes forgets he has epilepsy’ – he definitely took stage diving to the next level. And although the lead guitarist seemed to have a little too much to say for himself between each song it only added to their onstage charisma.
Finally, at 10:30 Die No More came on stage opening up with Dark Knight and Blood In The Veins – the band are heavily influenced by Metallica and Marc (Lead singer/guitarist) is influenced massively by James Hetfield in his stage presence. Kev, Steve and Martyn showed off with impressive solos and lengthy instrumentals in each song. Now, there’s nothing better than hearing your favourite metal band singing about things that really annoy you, in Die No More’s case, this means they’ve dedicated a song to those ‘lying, deceiving, corrupt politicians that we all know’, titled Connection Lost, it was a great addition in their set and everyone seemed to really appreciate it.
Personally, the highlight of my night was their final encore song, Council Of War, it was released in 2013 and it guaranteed that the night ended on a high, I think all of the crowd got involved with singing the lyrics back and the atmosphere was enthralling.
Overall, the night as a whole was a really great example of how well us Brits do thrash metal and each set was unique as they each created a different feel within the crowd.