Now, for long time readers here at Overtone, it is no secret that I am a huge fan of Trivium (and by extension Matt Heafy). Their 2021 album Court of the Dragon landed in the top five of our albums of the year list. And Matt’s solo work, Ibaraki, landed in the top 10 last year, too. So, I’m sure it’s as insane to y’all as it is to me that it’s been 11 years since I’ve seen a full set from them. Outside of a couple of songs at Download the other year, I haven’t seen them since that same festival back in 2012. And I’ve never seen them at their own show. So, to say that I was excited was an understatement.
Supporting them were also Scotland’s own Bleed from Within, and Swedish death metallers Orbit Culture. To put them into perspective; the former put out one of the best metal albums of last year, and the latter currently sit at #3 on my best albums of this year. So yes, this was one hell of a line-up.
Right from the offset my first comment has to be… fuck was it loud! Like, I’m writing this a couple of days after the gig and I’m surprised I have my full hearing back, loud. I swear at times my clothes were vibrating even from the bass of it all. It’s what a rock gig should be like!
Now, I am a newcomer to the opening band. I’d seen the name about but hadn’t truly listened to their music until Decent (review here). Goddamn though, they are one of the best new metal bands out there today, and looked right at home up there with the other two bands. Their talent and playing ability is off the charts, sitting somewhere between Gojira and In Flames in terms of sound. All of them put on an energetic show, headbanging nearly constantly, and we even got that smoke pyro stuff! Niklas Karlsson’s vocals hold up amazingly, both clean and harsh.
My only slight issue is that the band didn’t have nearly enough time. At half an hour, they could only squeeze in six tracks. However, they gave it their all throughout, playing a host of new great tracks alongside older favourites ‘North Star of Nija’ and ‘Strangler’. The crowd weren’t too familiar with the band, it seemed, but they have definitely come away with some new fans, I’m sure!
Next up were Glasgow’s metal heroes Bleed From Within. Suddenly the crowd was a lot more packed as they took the stage, and everyone seemed a lot more receptive. Heck, a HUGE pit opened up across most of the front of the floor, and they got a couple of great wall of deaths. It made me feel slightly bad for Orbit Culture, however, BFW are the bigger band and the slightly more local band.
Bleed From Within killed it, too. They didn’t really have much more time than the opener, but with everyone going nuts throughout it felt like they were on for longer. Much like OC, too, they played a new-songs-heavy set. We still got ‘Pathfinder’ and the epic ‘End of All we Know’ from Fracture. However, they didn’t touch on their earlier albums at all. As much as I love Shrine and Fracture, it would have been nice to have had just one cheeky track from Empire or something! Still, the crowd loved every second and there is no doubting the band put on one hell of a performance for us. Scott Kennedy had everyone in the palm of his hands from the first note until the last!
And then, how could we forget about the mighty Trivium. 10 studio albums, nearly 200 UK shows and huge tours with some of the biggest bands on the planet. And with Matt openly stating this is the last time the band are touring together for a little while, this was set to be big.
And big it was. It felt like a celebration of their music, touching on just about every album they’ve released. However, not only that, but this year marks 15 years since the release of Shogun. An album many would argue isn’t just Trivium’s best, but one of the best metal albums of this millennium. An album that, alongside BFMV’s The Poison, got me into the heavier side of metal and into metalcore in 2009. So, for them to play nearly half the album in celebration, was truly fucking special for me. Tracks like ‘Kirisute Gomen’ and ‘Insurrection’ were outstanding. And clearly the crowd were all for it as each of the five tracks whipped them into a frenzy.
Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of excellent songs from other albums, too. Opening on recent album opener ‘In the Court of the Dragon’, and slotting in crowd favourites like ‘Strife’, ‘Heart from Your Hate’ and forever-set-closer ‘In Waves’. We even got tracks like ‘Becoming the Dragon’ and ‘Entrance of the Conflagration’ from The Crusade. It was one of the most varied and interesting sets I’ve seen them playing in a while, on this tour. Heck, my only issue is that we didn’t hear more newer stuff. I love the last three albums they’ve done, so to only hear one track off each was a bit of a bummer. Clearly, they need to do a three-hour, evening with tour when they’re back!
I still cannot get over just how good a frontman Matt Heafy is these days, too. He’s always being good, but this was on another level. I had the crowd eating out of his hand and doing whatever he asked of them throughout the entire set. Be it moshing, headbanging, jumping, singing along or even one of the better Jumpthefuckup’s I’ve seen not done by Slipknot. I’d put him up there with some of the greats at this point; Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, even Ozzy!
And there we have it folks. Three bands who are leading the charge for metal music and doing a tremendous job of it. Orbit Culture are going to be huge, as are Bleed from Within. And honestly, Trivium should be headlining festivals worldwide with their show and back catalogue. Hopefully when they return from their absence, they’ll get the love they truly deserve!