LIVE REVIEW: Archspire @ The Dome, London

The Tech Trek Tour has made it’s wave across the pond and tonight its home is in London; a place where music is most loved more so when it involves small venues where you can literally touch the stage, a barrier-less parade, a chance to let loose, drink a couple of beers (or Krakens) and get stupid in the mosh pits (providing you pick it your fallen soldiers). And tonight has been a long time coming, the return of the tech kings themselves, ARCHSPIRE. So we hear you ask: what went down on this magnificent evening? To that we say; indulge at your own pleasure.

Our first taster for this evening is ENTHEOS; the duo of creativity that is Chaney Crabb and Navene Koperweis who bring a sense of groove to tech death. Though arguably their moments of groove-induced slaughter end far too abruptly but it fuses nicely with the technical and fast paced aspects of their riffs. Though the charisma between Chaney and Navene was infectious; the latter absolutely lost himself in the music to the point where he was lying on the floor playing, with a fat smile plastered on his face in a state of euphoria. Chaney destroyed the stage with her vocals and it is really jarring when you see her smile and show appreciation for playing that stage alongside some of tech deaths’ greatest displays of brutality. All in all; ENTHEOS are not ones to sleep on and show massive amounts of potential to grow and blossom among the best.

Rating: 8/10

Next up we have BENIGHTED; the France quartet who are here to bring levels of brutality with their sound and if you’re a fan of the dark and heavy aspects of deathgrind with slight technical features sprinkled in then this band is something of a treasure. 

The brutalistic nature of Julian Truchan‘s high end and low end screams capture the gnarly sound this band is aiming for; bringing out the voices of swamp demons and clickers alike with the occasional pterodactyl. The guitar riffs have that old school death metal quality with consistent tempo changes between the more thrashier riff style to the crazy tremolo section and lasting on the techno speed of death metal riffs and insane double bass patterns. A set full of abrupt stops and surprising starts, they know how to get you jumping out of your skin and into those pits! It does need to be mentioned that this collective is leaning more towards the extreme style, and not for the faintest of hearts (or those of whom aren’t acquired to ridiculous nature of this genre).

Rating: 7/10

Our final support for this evening is PSYCROPTIC; these Aussies seem to bring a thrashier side to the genre. It brings an odd comparison but the vocals of Jason Peppiatt sounds like a heavier version of Randy Blythe, if that were even possible, with gutturals. The guitar riffs have moments of a melodic-thrash sensibility and other moments following Jeff Loomis-esque riff structures and the drums are chaotic as expected but have moments of groove; of all the supports this band has definitely caught the middle ground between technical fashion and death metal callbacks. 

As the night continued Jason however, wasn’t satisfied with the crowds involvement and stated, “what is this? A BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE concert?” Ironically, they happened to playing The Roundhouse on the same night; metal fans were scattered all over London for one of these enigmatic shows that’s for certain. In retrospect though this brings back the age old fued, ‘metalcore isn’t metal’, though in this instance it’s a death metal show and there is no room for lighthearted bumps or friendly shoves, we want chaos whether in the form of crowdsurfers, moshpits, wall of deaths or even, circle pits. Perhaps even all at once! It was at this moment the crowd gave it their all before the set swiftly ended; setting the stage ablaze for the moment we’ve all been waiting for.

Rating: 8/10

Unfortunately it appears ARCHSPIRE had to drop out of the show last minute and instead were replaced with a bunch of “old and bald dudes” save for Jared Smith. It would be quite disappointing if they weren’t as good as they were; launching straight into the firery pits of hell with Remote Tumour Seeker. The level of intricacy and detail in the guitar work alone show how technically insane this band is, and that’s without touching on the vocals. 

It must be said no matter how intense and absurd they sound on record, they can pull it off live; Dean Lamb and Toby Morelli are locked in with one another, intertwined as one, rarely – if ever – missing a beat. The bass lines provided by the one and only Jared  are mesmerising and stupidly good; with how technical they are, there’s not a chance you could get away with simplicity in this band without sticking out like a sore thumb. Of course we can’t talk about ARCHSPIRE without mentioning Oli Peters; the man, the myth, the legend of the shotgun vocals; shooting one after the other with his vocals. It’s ridiculous at best how this man can pull it off but he does albeit he has moments where he needs a breather and with all things considered we’re willing to let this slide because it just shows; he is human and not some AI clone. 

As the night draws on the crown for best performer has to go to Spencer Prewett who busted his bass drum halfway through Human Murmuration which resulted in a rather abrupt finish. The crowd cheered and it’s set in motion that this band is running off pure adrenaline from start to finish, thankfully though the set was able to continue after the drum tech swiftly changed the bass drum over. Now hopefully we can avoid anymore injuries to equipment. However, much can’t be said for the two fellas who were subjected to a nice little game of Twister, courtesy of Oli.

Some 90s hip hop beat starts playing in the background, taking you away from this metal goodness and instead providing you with some classy entertainment for this evening. Alas, out comes the Twister board as Oli gives clear indication what colour each limb is set to be placed on before announcing the wall of death and it becomes every man for himself. We can’t forget the infamous fish and chips chant either as Oli went into grave detail about his experiences in the countryside of London with Toby involving a brisk picnic and some goats. We’ll leave your imagination to figure the rest out. 

The night lays to rest the final chapter of this show as they launch into Involuntary Doppelgänger; another technical display of downright madness and by this point you’ve got to feel a little empathy for the security who are having to step on the stage, mindful of the musicians and their instruments – nobody wants severe head trauma – to rescue these crowd surfers. Occasionally turning away the odd few who wants to crowd surf from the stage to the back of the room and escorting them down the steps. Even Oli stepped in to help some of these crowd surfers step on the stage safely whilst spewing out those gutturals like nothing. 

ARCHSPIRE are then called for an encore by the raging crowd who aren’t quite satisfied with the night ending. However, not one to disappoint the fans they did indeed bring out the big gun to end this glorious night; Drone Corpse Aviator and one last bout of chaos ensued, soaking in this moment in full force before parting ways because who knows when ARCHSPIRE will return. 

They provided a wondrous night for fans of tech death; pushing past the barrier of expectations, truly giving it their all and more. It’s not a surprise they were able to sell out this venue when they are a true sight to witness. Even for those of you who aren’t particularly swayed by tech death should give ARCHSPIRE a chance; a chance to show you this wacky self-indulgence is a true reflection of their live capabilities. A band that encapsulates all the sounds throughout the tech death genre as a whole and makes it work; with a little flare. 

Rating: 10/10 

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Anne Pfalzgraf here:

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