Band: Karnivool
Support: TesseracT
Venue: Academy 2, Manchester
Date: 19/11/2013
If you have not yet heard, or experienced the incredible sound that is Karnivool, you are certainly missing out. The night was a showcase as to why they are slowly becoming one of the best live shows around. Touring in support of their new record, ‘Asymmetry’, they brought their A game. As did the support for the evening, the simply sublime TesseracT, who as a supporting act put on a show to rival their headlining friends.
TesseracT’s fantastic progressive metal sound came out clear and equally as brutal. They sounded fantastic, even with their lead singer claiming he was suffering from the effects of a bad cold (you couldn’t really tell). It certainly got the room moving and jumping. With a good mix of tunes from their 2010 critically acclaimed album ‘One’, and their latest outing ‘Altered State’, they clearly had a number of fans already in the crowd, as well as a good number of new ones being created. TesseracT are one of the founding bands in the djent movement, but they deserve so much more praise than just that creation. Live they are fantastic, and incredibly technical. Their closing song ‘Acceptance – Concealing Fate Part One’, is certainly their most well known, and it certainly went down a treat, and got absolutely everyone pumped for the upcoming sensation.
As I have said already, Karnivool are one of the best live bands around already. It’s not exactly the show they put on, as there are no theatrics, but the tracks themselves create their own atmosphere which no one can stay still from. This tour was to help promote their brand new album ‘Asymmetry’, with each and every track from it coming over fantastically. Opening with the fantastic new track ‘The Last Few’, it was clear that even though the new album took the band in a different direction, it is still one which fans of the band are still able to get their bodies moving to. One title I am going to bestow upon Karnivool here and now is the title of ‘Heroes of Bass’. They are clearly showing how bass is not a forgotten instrument within a band, and showcase their bass guitarist (Jon Stockman’s) ability to put every ounce of his energy into a performance. Even though the likes of ‘The Refusal’ and ‘Eidolon’ came over fantastically, and received an incredible reception from the crowd, nothing was going to beat the classics. The likes of ‘New Day’, ‘Set Fire to the Hive’ and ‘Themata’ were always going to bring with them the best reactions of the night. Each and every one of the memorable tracks garnered a fantastic energy from the crowd, getting absolutely everyone in the room jumping moving, and on occasions making me think that the entire building was about to collapse. If you have not yet seen this fantastic example of progressive metal, then you are sorely missing out.
Score: 9/10
Review by: Callum Thomson
