Live Review

While She Sleeps – The Electric Ballroom, London

• 9th Oct 2012

A rainy, early evening outside THE ELECTRIC BALLROOM and another first for me at this London venue. Obviously from the name I was expecting a ballroom type set up and it was just that. Even in the dark and flashing strobe lights, I could see an elegant London from the day it opened, 70 odd years ago. A hundred tickets were left on the morning of and by mid-afternoon the gig had become sold out. In such a big venue I was looking forward to the night ahead.

POLAR are a band I’ve heard great things about. They seem to be one of these bands that are always on tour and with plenty word of mouth reviews from friends, I had high hopes. The Surrey based band appeared to have a following already. Constant circle pits, deafening vocals and heavy riffs from song one, it was indistinct this was going to be a performance that would really set the mood for night. The whole band had the stage presence of a band that are going to big, constantly trying to get the audience more involved and it’s nice to see that attitude from a band fresh off the scene. If you like aggressive music, Polar are the band for you, however this being the first time I’d heard the band, I’d liked to of seen them in a smaller venue first as I feel they might have been more suited to limited space.

All the way from Japan, CROSSFAITH were next. This was the first time I’d ever heard of this band and I had no idea who they were or what type of music I was going to expect. Hearing electronica music for an intro, I was expecting an Enter Shikari Type of band, but they were so much more. With each song, more of the crowd gathered to get involved and I even found myself moving more towards the front. For such a little guy, main vocalist Kenta Koie had a scream soon to not be forgotten. This band had such timing and charisma that you couldn’t help but go wild, I mean from the moment I saw electronic sound/programmer Tamano Terufumi in just a leather and no shirt, I was expecting a unique performance. Ending with their cover of The Prodigy’s ‘Omen’, the Japanese band had converted the whole room into new fans. I can definitely call myself a fan. Catch the new EP ‘ZION’, available now!

BLEED FROM WITHIN are a band that have been around for a while, since 2005 in fact. After Japanese rockers left the stage, the crowd were already becoming restless awaiting the Glasgow band. Calling themselves ‘Scottish Metal’, they were just that; Accents and brutal screams, the five piece were destroying the stage and creating more circle pits and transforming the crowd into head banging metal heads They might have been a bit different to the previous acts, nevertheless I could tell they were perfectly suited to this tour from the fantastic reaction. Remarkable energy and leaving my ears raw, this is a band who continues to impress audiences over and over again. It might be taking them a while, but the Glaswegians are still making a name for themselves.

A band that has such buzz at the moment, it’s hard to not know who they are. I am of course talking about WHILE SHE SLEEPS. If you looked at members of the audience and the merch stand, the vast majority were sporting t-shirts, jumpers, anything that was available. The entire night was about WSS. Dimmed lights, a screaming crowd and the roar of vocalist Lawrence Taylor, it had begun, the last date of the band’s biggest headline tour. Integrating tracks from previous album ‘The North Stands For Nothing’ and new album ‘This Is Six’, the Sheffield band really knows how to give its fans what they want. Front to back, with every last breath, the crowd were forcing a vocal scream as if to compete with the band on stage. With it being the last date of the tour, the band were really going wild, letting off steam and giving it their all. Once again circle pits were taking over the room to the sound a Steel City band. It was hard to tell who was enjoying the performance more, from WSS flying around the stage with such excitement you’d expect of a crowd. Vacating the stage, the room became filled with chants begging for the band to come back on, which of course they did, once again proving what effect they leave on a room once they’ve played. I left covered in sweat, sore legs and a sore throat. All in all, I will be very shocked if While She Sleeps aren’t dominating the biggest stages in the UK in the same way they did tonight.