LIVE REVIEW: Cellar Darling @ The Deaf Institute, Manchester

There is something one has to appreciate about The Deaf Institute. It’s definitely one of the visually pleasing venues among the city’s wealth for live music. In particular fashion, the Swiss outfit CELLAR DARLING return to the UK with their blend of progressive folk rock that continues to impress and finally put all momentum back into their two releases This Is The Sound and The Spell.

Making waves with their newest offering rEvolve, fellow Swiss progressive death metal quartet KASSOGTHA screamed through the walls bolder with a more ambitious slice of brutality and finely craftsmanship that any Mancunian listener will appreciate. Starting things with the heavy duality Eclipse and Drown, the two have sounds that GOJIRA and JINJER listeners would favour. Venom crept through the audio exploration into a more accelerating space in equal measure, the tingles of black metal blasted through the speakers as The Infinite blended in with raucous and harmonious arrangements, which in place ended their 30 minute set with Complacency displaying in full view more of their world of metal diversity to their Manchester crowd.

Rating: 8/10

The second band to hit the platform were UK’s BLACK ORCHID EMPIRE. Despite of the trio not being the heaviest band on the bill and not familiar with their spectators, the troupe knew how to pack a wallop and still engage the crowd with their take on alternative and melodic rock. While attacking the ears with Singularity, that slammed through the atoms, the trio delivered a confidently refined set of well composed alternative songs. The tracks Natural Selection and Evergreen further revealed more of their progressive sound and as the band let loose, they kept rocking through their anthem of the evening; Winter Keeps Us Warm. Their finishing tracks My Favourite Stranger and Death From Above made an impressive display that further proved they’re the band to look out for when they next hits the stage.

Rating: 7/10

For CELLAR DARLING to perform in The Deaf Institute, the chance to see the quartet live was an unmissable experience for those who were able to see the troupe post-pandemic. Bringing a certain level of darkness and beauty that both fit well to the evening, the Swiss powerhouse kicked things off with Pain, which allowed the hurdy-gurdy to come straight into recognisable action. Going straight into the haunting progressive duo Death and Insomnia, this showed the spectators how multi-talented and alluring frontwoman Anna Murphy was, and how far the evolution flourished from being a backing performer to now the centrepiece of a growing force. Although it was not particularly visually intriguing, it sounded colossal whether the soundscapes came from hurdy-gurdy, a piano or even through a flute solo.

The overall talent the band possessed was apparent through the instrumentally haunting Freeze, as sticksman Merlin Sutter, guitarist Ivo Henzi and bassist Nicolas Winter gave the perfect platform to demonstrate Anna‘s talents even further. The audience’s firm favourite Dance revealed more expansion into the folky progressive soundscapes being on display. Continuing into the evening, the tracks Black Moon, Hullaballoo and The Hermit was a great triple threat that brought the heaviness back into the venue in pleasing unison. With the song Fire, Wind & Earth finding its way with the crowd like a flowing river, the thunderous Redemption and fan favourite Avalanche drew the night to a successful close, which met the horde’s much-awaited expectations and undoubtedly created numerous new fans.

Rating: 8/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Manchester from Sabrina Ramdoyal Photography here: 

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