Last week, we had a trio of bands that graced us on stage for a wonderful performance; Silent Screams who have been becoming more and more popular locally in the metal scene and throughout the UK, Gideon who are States born from Alabama Texas dominating the mic and the headline band of the tour which was In Hearts Wake, all the way from the other side of the world in Australia who really gave us an Aussie take over down south – By Zoe Marchment.
The night was held at The Joiners, a small local venue which has seen many bands play there – the likes of Bury Tomorrow, Our Hollow Our Home, Devil you know, Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, Oasis, Coldplay and Muse. As the room filled up and the audience crowded around the stage in anticipation of tonight’s destruction.
Silent Screams opened up the set that evening warming up the crowd with hardcore vocals and heavy breakdowns. They did not disappoint, playing songs such as A New Normal, Everything Overcome, LOVE//LESS and Everything Ends from their Albums Hope For Now and When It Rains.
They included newly released this week, Low which encompasses some beautiful and personal lyrics to that feels like they really spent some time and put their heart and soul into this baby. Talking about depression with a mixture of anxiety and battling addiction, many of us there that night can relate to this song in our lives, one time or another. This band is not one to missed and if you haven’t heard of them check the new video Low on YouTube below. They ended on The Way We Were which is an amazing song with good flowing riffs to tie up the set.
Gideon were second to embrace the stage, with the crowd pumped from the first band it gave so much more energy to the set and frontman Daniel McWhorter truly owned the stage. His hardcore, angry yet demanding vocals with a mix of low gutturals, made this a very exhilarating and exciting performance to watch. Mosh pits galore the audience welcomed our States brothers with open arms and stage dives. The band played songs such as Cursed, Bad Blood and Freedom from their albums Milestone and Cold. At one point during the set, a crowd surfer jumped into the crowd as they finished one of their songs and it went pitch black, onlookers not knowing whether he had been caught made this timing impeccable and definitely something I’ll remember. The mosh pits were like no other. I’ve not seen a heavier one yet, however, as I’m writing this I am on the coach for Thy Art Is Murder, so they could be a close running. I really enjoyed these boys and would definitely see them again next time they play another tour.
Finally, In Hearts Wake started their first song Passage after having Bon Jovi Living On A Prayer blasting out through the speakers and the crowd singing along. The audience went mental, bouncing up and down literally a sea of headbangers. There were so many mosh pits and it was literally circle pit city as the band played a selection of songs such as, Nomad, Badlands, Survival (The Chariot), Warcry, Breakaway and ending on Refuge. I cannot fault this band they completely engaged the audience with the spectacular catchy lyrics as they sung it back to the frontman Jake Taylor. One of my favourites was Frequency which we were told he wrote when he wondered what it would be like to be a whale in the ocean, talking about loneliness and how hard it was to connect to another. The song has beautiful lyrics and made me feel quite sombre. Crowd surfing coming from all around the room gave such an exciting atmosphere. When bands and venues encourage and allow it, it’s an amazing sight to see. Showing that the bands don’t mind sharing the stage with random jumpers, giving testament to the band and showing that they’re easy going and willing to engage with their fans all throughout their performance.
The best and most unexpected thing that evening was the game they called Capture the flag whilst the band played the song Survival (The Chariot). Frontman Jake Taylor got into a rubber dinghy and crowd surfed all the way to the back to grab a flag which was inscribed SS HUMANITY and just two foot in front of me, he did it in true Aussie style. The last time I saw something like that, was at Reading Festival with Alexis On Fire, however, with In Hearts Wake doing this in such a small venue, it was simply amazing to watch. Check out the video below and see what you think of the game.
Overall the night was brilliant, good music, good atmosphere and an amazing tour line up which entertained me thoroughly. If you haven’t heard many of the bands I’ve discussed in my article, it’s time you do so now and see if you can catch them on tour in the future.