Good friends of mine in Exist Immortal hit up Bristol for the fourth date of their album release tour. ed by When Our Time Comes on the road, and local s Awakening Hyperia and Bearpit the night looked to be a damn good one! However it’s not often that you turn up to a venue nice and early to catch the bands load in and get an insight to how things were going for them, only to find out that the venue had no clue about the show…
The venue originally planned to host, The Mother’s Ruin, had undergone recent development which had resulted in the venue not being able to facilitate the gig… and had done so without informing the band. As vocalist Meyrick and the promoter furiously called around looking for a solution to keep the show running, they luckily managed to move the show to the upstairs room at ‘The Stag and Hounds’. So I jumped in the van with the band as we made our short trip to the venue. Bristol’s winding one way streets and road works everywhere made this 5 minute take quite a while, and the lack of parking near the venue meant that we had to shepherd the van on the pavement round to the front of the venue. However the venue change was the least of their problems…
Upon inspecting the upstairs room, its lack of PA equipment, slanting floor covered in loose floorboards and the lack of decent lighting it definitely did look like we’d been set up for a grim Halloween night. After doors being pushed back a considerable amount of time and the bands finally managing to achieve a decent sound in the room the show began!
First on were Bearpit. Primed and ready in slutty Halloween costume attire but missing a drummer! But the show must go on, and backing tracked drums did not sound the best in the room but the band showed great potential bringing forth an interesting taking on metalcore – with a tonne of techy riffage. Great way to start the night!
The second of our two local s was Awakening Hyperia. Another young band with tonnes of potential: very firm and aggressive vocals over tight hard rock/metal instrumentals. It was clear to see influences of bands such as Avenged Sevenfold and Trivium. Catchy hooks in places and irable song writing to summarise.
Hailing from London, touring s for Exist Immortal were When Our Time Comes, and boy was I in for a treat. Displaying insanely catchy melodic hooks and soaring vocals, I was taken in by the vocalist from the first track. The five-piece band showed off some intense riffs, layered fantastically by accompanying synths and electronics in their backing track. Stand out songs for me were “Home Truths” and “50 Years From Now” both off their self titled album. Despite the PA limiting the band’s full potential sound, it was very clear to see the impressive musicianship and complex song writing that this band had to offer. As soon as I awoke the next morning I just had to check them out!
It was just after 11 o’clock when Exist Immortal took to the stage and despite the timing pushbacks everyone in the room had only once place to be that Halloween night – and that was watching en mass the spectacle that was displayed in front of them. They opened with “Saviour” – the first track on their newly released album – which had the crowd pumped. A fine balance between meaty harsh vocals contrasted by mesmerising cleans is a recipe that vocalist Meyrick had implemented in most of their new songs, and it certainly kept the listener engaged.
It was a shame to not fully be able to hear the various strings, synths and backing vocals due to the venue situation and the bass drops that the band have been known for were sorely missed. However the band kept the energy at 100% the whole way through and engaged well with the audience, making up for the night’s situation.
The complex and intertwining riffs such as the opening riff of ‘Breathe’ was a delight to be heard live and the huge choruses of “Follow Alone” had me singing my lungs out. A favourite of mine, “Edge of Infinity”, off their previous release made its way into the set and was (excuse my language) heavy as fuck! This band always put on a musically tight and thoroughly enjoyable set and it was my pleasure to be able to see them again.
You can pick up their latest album Breathe from all major online music outlets, but if you [amazon text=grab it from Amazon&asin=B01M8GXXKX] you help our website!
