Feed the Rhino – Birmingham, The Asylum – 19/10/14 | Live Review

Source: Martyna Wisniewska

Reading like a who’s who of inmates that have escaped from Arkham Asylum, tonight’s crowd has every reason to be anxious as once you release caged animals – that are Baby Godzilla, Night Verses and Feed the Rhino – into their natural habitat, there’s no going back.

Wild eyed and putting the danger in dangerous, Nottingham quartet, Baby Godzilla, thrash about uncontrollably. Becoming more of a spectacle than the noise they spew. Blink and you’ll miss both guitarists as they storm into the crowd, screaming in the faces of those trespassing on their turf, bar surfing and bashing out their angular attack on speaker stacks during ‘A Great Idea Bastardised‘ and sounding like a rabies ridden wolf on the mighty ‘The Three Legged Race.’

Source: Martyna Wisniewska

Night Verses on the other hand are a more balanced beast. A largely unknown band from across the pond the 4-piece deliver a dose of post hardcore that sprawls and hammers in equal measures. ‘Rage‘ sees frontman Douglas Robinson at the flip of a coin go from mild mannered frontman to a volatile figure, shredding his vocal chords with a feral bark. It’s an intoxicating performance which sees the pack give a barnstorming rendition of ‘Celestial Fires.’ Intense would be an understatement.

Feed The Rhino are in a confident and rabble rousing mood, and why shouldn’t they be? With the release of this years The Sorrow And The Sound being their most accomplished record to date, the more refined but nevertheless ballsy tracks on record sound gigantic live, cue the rifftastic ‘Deny And Offend,‘ which they blast through like there’s no tomorrow. In fact the rhinos are in fine form with Lee Tobin leading the crash from the middle of the crowd.

Source: Martyna Wisniewska

It’s not just the new cuts that the venue is feeding off, older track ‘Burning Sons’ punk ‘n’ roll attitude and the furious groove of ‘Nothing Lost‘ incite the pit, while the fist-in-the-air-anthem ‘Give Up‘ is custom made for bigger, packed out venues.

Clearly enjoying every minute of the charge, if the quintet carry on in the same vein, they will be a force to be reckoned with.

Review in Birmingham by: Antoine Omisore 
Photos in Southampton by: Martyna Wisniewska