A View From The Back Of The Room: The Hero Dies First

The Hero Dies First, Callista, We Come From Ashes, Blind Divide & Beyond Sorrow, Fuel Rock Club

A Thursday night in Fuel rock club and a lot of groove based noises presented by 12AX7 Promotions. Now I'm not the world's biggest metalcore fan but variety is the spice of life so it was down to Fuel I go for a night of big breakdowns and heavy riffs.

Despite it being thirsty Thursday, or perhaps because of it, there was reasonable crowd for opening act Beyond Sorrow (7) who ploughed through their breakdown infused metalcore with vigour despite being first on the bill. John up front is a vocal powerhouse and the band behind him are as heavy they can be bringing snarling riffs that impressed enough in M2TM to get them a semi final slot. Here they were constructed by time but gave it their all drawing a pretty decent crowd and even getting the action down the front going

The evening was on an upward curve as next up were Bloodstock M2TM 2019 winners Blind Divide (8) who showed that even when faced with adversity, a strong breaking in this case, you shouldn't give up on the set. Delivering their set with the usual aggression James prowled the stage as the James and Adam riffed like hell (until Adam's broken string) with the brain rattling rhythm section of Declan and Anthony brought the guts. One a again tracks such as Betrayer ripped Fuel a new one with a professionalism and vitality that saw them win a slot at BOA this year.

Following on from the Cardiff beasts were We Come From Ashes (6) again featuring John from Beyond Sorrow roaring down the mic and Max from M2TM Bristol finalists Trep behind the kit. To be honest they are a little by-the-numbers metalcore with much of their set blurring into one one long quiet/loud dynamic. Still the crowd seemed to like it and they have enough there to keep you entertained.

Next up were the more hardcore influenced Callista (7) who brought a ferocity only bettered by Blind Divide, they had something to say and they said it with a set that flew past in a whirlwind of punk attitude and abrasive riffs. Probably the one band on the bill that were the angriest it bleed out of every pore as the were about as in your face as you can get. An ideal set up for what was to come.

The evenings final band were The Hero Dies First (8), billed as a melodic metal band they mixed metalcore with the emotional power and their use of dual vocals works brilliantly as they have a dedicated singer who, growls like an angry bear grunting over the intricate leads and groove drenched riffs but their guitarist gives a clean lead to build the chorus to shout along with. Spending most of the gig on the floor singer their singer patrolled the crowd with passion backed by a talented band whose take on the metalcore sound brought in some more technical aspects, classifying them as a melodic metal band.

For a Thursday night it was a pretty good crowd rewarded by some great music metcore is still not my favourite thing but live it does the job.