Shvpes
It’s always a tough job being the first band in the day, especially one with a name that not many people will have heard of. SHVPES, formally Cytota took their task by the balls and went all out with track after track. You can’t expect there to be a packed stage for a set like this, but with tracks like Hit The Floor (I wonder if they’re fans?), Between Jokers And Jesters and State of Mine, they won a fair amount of the crowd by the end. The real event came during the close of their set when lead vocalist Griffin Dickinson jumped out into the crowd in order to create a rather sizable pit for the start of the day, he himself go involved while impressively continuing the track right at the heart of the action. Keep an eye on this band as I’m sure you’ll be hearing more from them soon. 3.5/5 CT
Beartooth
There is one thing that hampered Beartooth’s set at Slam Dunk Festival 2015, and that was the sound quality. It’s unsure as to whether it was purely the left hand side of the stage, and whether or not that created problems, but if that was the only problem then it’s unlikely that people would be overly disappointed. Beartooth are slowly becoming a fan favourite, and thanks to word of mouth from everyone raving about how good they are live, they’re always going to draw a crowd.
Drawing on their latest album, Disgusting, the band played hit after hit, with the likes of ‘Body Bag’, ‘Beaten In Lips’ and ‘In Between’ getting a rousing reception from the vast majority of the people that had turned up (the other half as of yet didn’t know the full extent on what they were witnessing). Caleb Shomo is a barrel of energy every time he gets up on the stage, and very shortly is drenched in sweat, as are those really getting stuck into the large mosh pit being formed in front of the Monster Energy Stage.
If it wasn’t for the sound quality Beartooth would instantly be one of the highlights of the day, and as we already stated, it could purely have been where we were standing. Regardless of this, Beartooth gave their all and put on a stellar performance, and more than likely added a raft of new fans to their ever growing family. 4/5 CT
Thy Art Is Murder
If brutal death core is your thing then Australian’s Thy Art Is Murder should be well up your street. Their aggression is so high that the crowd don’t even seem offended when they’re called Yorkshire or Southern c*nts (we can only assume Wolverhampton’s show got Midlands c*nts!) This band manage to single handedly bring every riff and every ferocious roar that we could ever wish for. Opener ‘Defective Breed’ shows the crowd exactly what they’re in for as pits rip open across the crowd and everyone is sent into a frenzy of flailing arms, stomping kicks and head banging. The band are incredibly tight but the only negative was frontman CJ McMahon’s vocals were just not quite as loud as we would have liked, some of his growls are a little lost in the middle of thumping rhythm sections and ripping riffs. A set like Thy Art Is Murder’s will leave you worn out and drenched in the sweat of every deathcore kid there. But it’s worth every minute. 3.5/5 RW
Bury Tomorrow
With the announcement that UK metallers Bury Tomorrow would be joining this year’s Slam Dunk Festival as special guests, we are all positively chomping at the beer soaked bit to see what they had to give at the Monster Energy stage. Let’s just say we were everything but disappointed.
Completely filling out the stage, Bury Tomorrow’s set had everything. The dingy lighting, hundreds of sweaty sticky bodies and enough mosh pit fuel to level a small country. Opening with ‘Royal Blood’ from their 2012 smash album The Union of Crowns, Bury Tomorrow immediately had every intoxicated soul in the room beating seven shades of shit out of each other! Well come on guys, it’s a metal show, what do you expect right?
Feeding off the throat stripping shouts and screams of the Slam Dunk crowd, Bury Tomorrow were relentless and just kept coming back with bigger, badder, angrier anthems. ‘Knight Life’, ‘Lionheart’ and ‘Garden Of Thorns’ were just a few that kept those limbs flailing and ensured the energy in the room remained as higher than a Rastafarian astronaut.
Closing with one of last year’s most cherished metal numbers, ‘Man On Fire’, vocalist Dani Winter-Bates appeared humbled, and sweaty in front of a desecrated audience before wishing the best of luck to his friends and fellow performers. All in all then Bury Tomorrow didn’t put a foot wrong at Slam Dunk 2015. A longer set would’ve been incredible, but the performance they gave given the time limitations was absolutely biblical. This is a band that LOVES what they do, and they want you all to fucking know it! 5/5 LS
Crossfaith
As Crossfaith’s popularity grows, so does their live show. The amount of crowd participation, as with every other band to be fair, directly contributes to how the live show goes, but this seems to be a more important factor for a band like Crossfaith. Their mixture of electronic beats and full on metalcore screams creates one massive party atmosphere, and everyone at the Monster Energy stage was feeling it. As with every one of their sets, the dials get whacked up to 11 when ‘Omen’ is played, but that shouldn’t take away anything from their show in general. Everyone was having a good time, and tracks like ‘Jaegerbomb’ and ‘Leviathan’ garnered massive reactions. Certainly a highlight of the day, and in the end created one hell of an atmosphere. 4.5/5 CT
Finch
Finch are one of those bands who are either an anthem to your teenage year or you don’t really know much about them ,and fortunately in both Leeds and Hatfield (yes, we did see them twice) it was the former. In the past people have spoken about the inconsistency in frontman Nate Barcalow’s voice but across both shows (one being on an inside stage, and one being outside) his voice is spot on. The band know after all these years how to keep a crowd interested, especially when they’re only really fussed on that one album.
Opening with ‘New Beginnings’ straight into ‘Post Script’ there’s a few songs break before they burst into ‘Letters ToYou’ and ‘Stay With Me’ ,which gives the crowd enough time to rest their vocals between each band. In true Finch fashion they close on ‘What It Is To Burn’ and Slam-dunk turns into the biggest karaoke bar you can find and even Josh Francheshi from You Me At Six joins in the fun by joining the band onstage. Finch are well and truly back! 4/5 RW
While She Sleeps
Fresh off their Co-Headline UK tour with Cancer Bats, Sheffield metal beasts While She Sleeps took to the Monster Energy stage at Slam Dunk Festival 2015 as part of an insane double whammy of top class English metal, REPRESENT!
Sleeps were tasked with opening up for the Monster Stage headline act Architects, not that that fazed them or anything. Vocalist Loz Taylor’s stage presence was practically god like, as they tore through some serious bangers from their debut EP The North Stands For Nothing, 2012’s This Is The Six and this year’s masterpiece Brainwashed.
Immediately treating us all to some new material, ‘Brainwashed’ stoked the pits, with hair, limbs and what we hope was slightly warm beer being flung all over the shop. Sleeps unlocked the primal carnage from inside all the Slam Dunk audience that day, encouraging them to sing till their throat’s bled, it was all very intense.
‘Our Legacy’ was a definite highlight, mainly because it’s more than just a metal song. Come on guys you’ve seen the video, that song just has so much depth and watching those lads belt it out on stage was really inspiring. Sleeps even included a blast from the past. ‘Crows’ was a delightfully heavy number all the way back from 2010, which really let the long time Sleeps fans have their moment to shine.
Closing with the absolute riff monster that is ‘Four Walls’, While She Sleeps demonstrated the sheer power and drive that they have as a band. Having being through so much and to come back with such a solid album and live performances to match, Sleeps want us all to know that they are in it for the long haul. Fly that flag proud for us boys! 4.5/5 LS
Architects
Slam Dunk like any festival is all about those headline announcements. With so many stages, and so many great bands like You Me At Six and Reel Big Fish performing at the same time it can be difficult to choose where you’re going to end the day. Well for us, that decision wasn’t as difficult as you may think. We like things heavy here at MOSH so there was only really one option. ARCHITECTS!
The Monster Energy stage was blessed to have the Brighton metal beasts crush it’s last slot into the ground. Bringing a whole day of carnage to an end with a band responsible for one of last year’s heaviest albums, Lost Together // Lost Forever.
With an impressive ten year career under their belts, Architects have proven their worth time and time again and their appearance at Slam Dunk was no exception. Bringing forward a setlist composed of some of their heaviest work like: ‘Gravedigger’, ‘Broken Cross’, and ‘Alpha Omega’. Vocalist Sam Carter led the charge against the Slam Dunk weekend, showing every single member of that crowd the how honored they were to perform for them by doing what they do best. Going absolutely batshit!
Architects turned a crowd of seemingly ordinary people into a heard of ravenous wolves, who tore into each other like something ripped out of a medieval battle movie. It was absolute magic if you’re into that sort of thing, which we absolutely are! Just hearing the crowd shout the chorus to ‘C.A.N.C.E.R.’ gives you chills and Carter’s trademark “BLERGHS” are the signal to Hulk out in the pits, the chaos was strangely beautiful. Go hard or go home!
Upon leaving the Monster Stage (slightly bruised and with a bit of a limp we might add), it was clear we made the right choice in the headliner battle. Architects tore Leeds a new one in the most brutal of ways, and we’ve only heard good things from the other two days as well. How they do it you might ask, hell if we know but we are so glad we were along for the ride! (Thankfully our team went to see the band headline again in London which meant we got to see Dani from Bury Tomorrow join Sam Carter on stage, and that was the icing on top of the cake! 5/5 LS
