A View From The Back Of The Room: Fury & King Kraken (Debby Myatt & Tony Gaskin)

Fury, King Kraken & Rites To Ruin, KK's Steelmill Wolverhampton, 24.04.26

After a short hiatus with gigs, we’re back at KK’s tonight for the first of three gigs in quick succession.

Tonight's entertainment is courtesy of a Fury and King Kraken double header and they’ve bought Welsh metal outfit Rites To Ruin (9) who are promoting their debut album Daughter Of Hatred.

The Anglo-Welsh quintet take to the stage as the early crowd start to fill the smaller room here at the Steel Mill, but it doesn’t take long for them to impress those present with their brand of British Heavy Metal with a Power/Symphonic twist. 

Vocalist Krissie Kirby is well known through her tenure as front woman for Bloodstock veterans Triaxis, a link she’s continued with her current bands appearance there as well. Her powerful voice dominates the room as the band showcases songs from the new album. Stand out songs include the title track plus In Memoriam, For The Love Of Gold and the utterly brilliant Prevail. 

The twin guitar assault of Matt and Lee provides a multi layered epicness to each song. Paul on bass gives the tunes the depth, whilst the drums of Zak drive it all along at pace. By the end of their set the room is packed and an enthusiastic crowd gives you the sense that this band is going on to bigger stages. 

For tonight's show, it’s King Kraken (9) who takes to the stage first and they kick off their 60 minutes with the anthemic Call To War, a rallying cry to the masses, and those masses have surely grown off the back of their triumphant appearances at Stonedead Festival and Bloodstock Winter Gathering.

Front man Mark Donoghue is in fine fettle, orchestrating the crowd. The big hitters are all bought out tonight, El Giganto, Berserker and Man-Made Monster the pick of the bunch, but they’ve taken it up a notch with the killer (no pun intended) new song, Second Skin. An ode to Buffalo Bill, the infamous serial killer from Silence Of The Lambs. The groove is infectious and sits nicely in the bands repertoire.

And before you know it, Donoghue announces the final track, March Of The Gods, the title track off that brilliant album. The Kraken is well and truly awake and ready for world domination in 2026! 

What can we say about Fury (10) that we haven’t already said? The bands on stage chemistry, the fun, the sheer joy of watching a band create something special with consummate ease? Yeah, we’ve said it all before, but we never get tired of saying it.

 JJ is a superb musician, vocalist, song writer etc and years of hard work and bloody mindedness have resulted in this boss level of Fury. Everything just gels, from JJ’s wit and banter, Nyah’s infectious fun through to the incredible skills of Becky and Matt and the man at the back Tom, you don't see many bands these days who work so hard but just love doing it.

They open up with the title track of last years 10/10 album, Interceptor followed by the epic Prince Of Darkness and the rock n roll anthem “It’s Rock “n” Roll three punches from the top drawer. Dipping into their extensive back catalogue, this headline set enables them to play some great tunes like Star Trippin , Burnout and Road Warrior but as fun as they can be, JJ can bring it down a notch when required and tonight he was visibly emotional as he paid tribute to the late Phil Campbell and dedicated the song Walk Away to him, a real goose bump moment.

 They end their set with the epic If You Get To Hell First and once again we are sat there with a big grin on our faces. If you’ve never seen Fury live, then I encourage you to do so as soon as possible, surely one of the finest live bands on the UK circuit at the moment, and definitely one of the hardest working. Proper rock “n” roll by a band that loves what they do.