Live Review

Born Of Osiris – NQ Live, Manchester

• 5th Mar 2013

NQ Live, (formerly Moho Live) is a tiny underground venue in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Despite its recent overhaul and change of name, it’s probably still best described as ‘that little dive in the NQ’. As a venue, though, it has played host to some of the greatest names in alternative music. And tonight, NQ Live is the home of progressive metal legends.

The HAARP Machine are a band known for their eccentricity, but for the most part, unheard of. With a short, four-song set, they have little time to win over a crowd unfamiliar with their eerie form of prog metal, but that doesn’t put them off. Vocalist Michael Semesky launches into ‘Esoteric Agenda’ with a will, urging the crowd to move, to respond, to wake up and hear the music. And slowly, they do. At the end of the set, as the last notes of ‘The Escapist Notion’ resonate through the speakers, distorted slightly, he launches himself into the crowd, and is triumphantly held aloft. This is a victory of sorts.

Monuments have come a long way; countless line-up changes have put their progress on hold time and time again, but the band have finally found their stability as a five-piece and their live set showcases this. They play as a unit; fast, furious riffs, the bass and drums reverberate through the crowd, catching in throats sore from screaming lyrics right back at vocalist Matt Rose. Crowd favourites ‘Doxa’ and ‘Degenerate’ are met with furious pitting; the barrier creaks under the weight of the mass of people pressing against it; its hard for anyone in the venue to believe that Monuments haven’t headlined the venue themselves, especially as their merch table is practically cleared by the end of the night.

It’s been a while since Manchester has seen After The Burial, but the band are heartily forgiven for their absence during their set; the crushing barrage of riffs, the unique and dynamic sound that won the fans all over the world, is spellbinding. Songs like the impossibly heavy ‘Beserker’ are met with boundless pit enthusiasm, and no one escapes bruise-free. Despite minor problems with the microphone, their set is the best in terms of sound. A promise to return to these shores more often is cemented as the audience are treated to a performance of After The Burial’s new song ‘A Wolf Among Ravens’. “I can promise you you’re gonna bang your heads, Manchester,” Anthony calls, and that’s exactly what Manchester does. Sweaty and shaking,’Your Troubles Will Cease and Fortune Will Smile Upon You’ carries with it a note of sadness; the set has been far too short for all involved.

Born Of Osiris can’t seem to live up to their status as the headlining band; the crowd has thinned by the time they take the stage, and though their distinctive technical deathcore has fists pumping from the off and hair flying back and forth through furious headbanging, it seems that After The Burial stole the show tonight. In comparison, Born Of Osiris are a little…anticlimactic. Still, ‘Open Arms To Damnation’ turns the venue into one massive mosh pit, and ‘Recreate’ redeems them in the eyes of their beholders. The encore, ‘Now Arise’ seems like a fitting ending to the night, and for the show that’s been put on tonight, no one can say they didn’t get their money’s worth in that little dive.

Venue: NQ Live, Manchester
Support Band: After The Burial, Monuments, The HAARP Machine