The opening slot is always a tough one, especially when supporting hard rock giants Papa Roach. Satisfying fans of the older nu-metal of early Papa Roach, The One Hundred’s fresh style of rapcore verses, heavy breakdowns and metalcore screams is a winning combination.
The crowd are a little slow at first, shuffling from one foot to the other, not really sure how to take The One Hundred. Of course, an opener is never going to whip up a full-on frenzy, but as the band continue to belt out song after song with unrelenting drive, people start to loosen up and they manage a pretty decent reaction by the end of their set.
This is, in part, thanks to the palpable energy that oozes from lead singer Jacob Field, who throws himself from one side of the stage to the other with such vigour it’s a wonder his arms don’t pop out of their sockets. His passion, and the fact that he obviously believes in what he and his bandmates are doing, is endearing, attractive and captivating.
The band also help rouse the crowd by encouraging them, again and again, to get off their feet and get involved. Using the sympathy vote by saying that they’ve not had a single pit during the whole tour so far, they manage to get a small circle pit mid-way through their set. This just raises the band’s spirits even higher, with the line from Field “You give us energy, we give it back,” proving to be absolutely true.
The One Hundred jump between deep growls and piercing screams during their unclean vocals, with low riffs setting a darker, heavier tone for the night. However, as they break into their verses, we hear strangely catchy rapcore with electronic synths thrown in here and there. Their sound, with influences drawn from both the metal and hip-hop worlds, is unusual, yet appealing.
Being a relatively new, unknown band, playing to a sold-out Roundhouse must seem a pretty daunting task. However, they do the best they can and there’s no doubt that many more people leave the venue knowing The One Hundred than when they walked in.
