LIVE REVIEW: Alien Weaponry @ Fuel Rock Club, Cardiff
Just occasionally, the notion that ‘metal is dead’ rears its ugly head. Some famous musician in an interview with a prominent magazine will moan about there being nobody doing anything new. Fortunately, they are always wrong. Metal is always reinventing itself. Metal is always doing something different. Metal is always new. It’s just that the old guard have to make way for the young. Proving this point, ALIEN WEAPONRY, New Zealand’s most popular export outside the Lord of the Ring movies, absolutely blew apart Cardiff’s Fuel Rock Club on the start of a UK tour.
The night was, on practically every level, a showcase of youthful talent and hunger made good. Opening a show is always a thankless task, but local lads EXCURSIA didn’t let this get in the way. Despite none of the five musicians looking older than 23, with a bassist who looked no older than 15, they made their way through a set of decent thrash metal, rounding it off with a solid cover of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE’s calling card Killing In The Name. They were a tad let down by some sound issues that seemed to prioritise the drums over everything else, especially at the expense of vocalist Lewis Maguire. But beyond that, lead guitarist Sam Hill’s shredding skills were on excellent display. Given time, some sharpening of their compositions and a reduction in the amount of swearing in the audience banter (something a lot of musicians could do with), Hill and his band have the talent to go far.
Rating: 6/10
Sadly, Cardiff will have to wait until September for support act SODOMIZED CADAVER to turn Fuel Rock Club into just that, as they were absent from the night’s proceedings. Fortunately, EXCURSIA had done a sufficient job in warming up the crowd that there was a palpable sense of excitement for the headliners.
Their music sounds like early LAMB OF GOD with flourishes from TRIVIUM and all the potent rage of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. Their performance lasted slightly over an hour. Their setlist contained every song that they have written to date, including a new one: Blinded. It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that ALIEN WEAPONRY absolutely tore the venue apart. Fuel Rock Club is not a big venue, and the mosh pit almost swamped the entire floor space, so visceral and potent was the music on display. Everyone at their early shows was blown away when METALLICA were starting out, and ALIEN WEAPONRY demonstrate the exact same electrifying power. The tight chemistry exhibited by the trio was tangible. If you didn’t know they were two brothers and their best mate (Henry and Lewis de Jong on drums and guitar/vocals with Ethan Trembath on bass), that’s how it would appear. Those audience members that managed to avoid the mosh pit were absolutely enthralled. Lewis and Ethan commanded the stage as if they’ve been doing this since they were kids. Which they have. The de Jong brothers were 8 and 10 years old when ALIEN WEAPONRY came together in 2010. This makes the oldest band member (Henry) a practically wizened 19. Let’s just take a moment to think about that. The oldest member of ALIEN WEAPONRY is 19. At nineteen, this reviewer was just starting at university. This lot are out conquering the world. Again, some sharpening of the song-writing wouldn’t hurt – but that’s nothing to do with the show they put on.
Let there be no more sweeping generalisations from the old guard about how metal is dead. Metal is alive and kicking, and the new kids on the block are just getting started. ALIEN WEAPONRY are taking the world by storm, and we should all be paying attention.
Rating: 9/10
Check out our photo gallery from the carnage in Cardiff from Steph Evans here:
