The latest Skeletor-sponsored night of metal opened with the ingeniously named Caravan of Whores, a late addition after an injury forced The Crushing to pull out of the gig. Although crowd turnout for the opening band was a little disappointing, the band played a great set, tearing through the room with their distinctive brand of doom metal, which was a welcome variation from the other bands playing on the night. Having said this, Caravan of Whores have perhaps not fully thought through their stage personae – they seemed to toe the line between whipping the crowd into a frenzy and creating an aura of mystique in the vein of other doom bands like Ghost or Electric Wizard.
Empire Divided shrugged off all semblance of subtlety the evening’s entertainment previously withheld, barrelling on stage with an aggression and energy unmatched by any other band on the evening’s lineup. Frontman Josh Day’s glare as he marched across the stage could have derailed a train, while the rest of the band hammered down their death metal riffery with impressive accuracy, especially from drummer Hayden Wheable, whose rapid-fire double bass playing reverberated through the chests of the crowd in a suitably brutal manner!
Next on was Risen in Black, who, despite playing an enjoyable set, struggled to follow up Empire Divided with a similar level of energy and enthusiasm. The band were tight as they delivered their brand of melodic metal to the crowd, but in places I felt their clean vocals could have been improved, and lead guitarist Marc Ellsworth could do with taking notes from frontman Ross Carson, who filled the stage with his vigour, especially during the few brief moments in the set when he was able to stray a little from the mic.
As a fan of Red Seas Fire already, I was very excited to see what their live show had to offer, and suffice to say it impressed me! Any previous criticisms of the band’s live vocals were moot tonight – vocalist Robin Adams performed fantastically atop a solid base of progressive, ‘djenty’ riffs. Although many of Red Seas Fire’s songs, with complicated tempo/time signature changes and machine-gun fast riffs, present a real challenge in live performances, the band not only remained tight but managed to inject a certain level of energy into their performance, especially guitarist Peter ‘PeteyG’ Graves.
Prospekt offered a well-rounded set to the crowd to wind up the night, using the extra 15 minutes afforded them by their ‘headliner’ status to include a blisteringly technical improvised guitar/keyboard duel, and piano-based ballad ‘Visions’ alongside their distinctive brand of technical, melodic metal. I would have preferred a greater level of crowd interaction to really perfect the band’s live set, but frankly, with such a phenomenal group of musicians, who cares?