LIVE REVIEW: Counterparts @ SWX, Bristol

Bristol’s independent music venue SWX tonight plays host to four brutally heavy bands playing metal, hardcore, and just about everything in between. The headliners are Canadian metalcore legends COUNTERPARTS, touring in support of their seventh album A Eulogy For Those Still Here – their most intense and emotionally taxing album to date. It’s also their most melodic and uplifting effort, displaying their talent as songwriters as much as their knack for penning a gnarly breakdown. And the anticipation to hear these anthemic blasts of emotion live is palpable.

But first up are DYING WISH, a Portland five-piece whose furious metalcore harkens back to the heyday of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE. Playing against a backdrop of the Blood Shower scene from Blade playing on loop (if there’s a better visual accompaniment to their music, we’d like to see it), the band burst into their furious Fragments Of A Bitter Memory, a track which is every bit as melodramatic and brutal as the title suggests. Frontwoman Emma Boster commands the stage, showing an impressive mastery of both guttural screams and soaring clean singing. It’s not long before a pit is formed, abound with spin kicks, windmills, and even a spirited circle. While their sound is nothing groundbreaking, it’s an energising performance that gets everyone in attendance – fans or not – banging their heads in unison.

Rating: 8/10

Zurich group PALEFACE SWISS don’t have quite the same universally positive reception, but with their experimental, and at times, utterly perplexing melting pot of sounds, it’s not exactly surprising. Clad in leather and chains, the band draw some side-eye from certain sectors of the audience, but once they kick into their chaotic fusion of nu-metal and, well, just about every other heavy genre under the sun, the vast majority of those in attendance are transfixed. The grab-bag of genres certainly makes for a confusing listen, but one cannot deny the energy and showmanship on display here. 

Rating: 7/10

Then it’s the turn of traditional hardcore outfit KUBLAI KHAN TX to flex their stuff. The stomping four-piece waste no time inciting the pit, opening with the utterly bruising The Hammer. As they transition into Eyes Up, it’s clear what the burly group came here to do – create carnage. Arms swing, kicks fly, and heads bang as the Texan troupe tear through a collection of songs that are so filled with rage, you would think every member of the audience had just insulted their mothers.

There’s a case to be made for KUBLAI KHAN TX being the hardest of the hardcore. As such, there’s not much room for variety among the setlist, with every song machine-tooled to be as crushingly heavy as possible. But that’s not a problem for the throngs in attendance, who throw shapes to every breakdown as if it were their last. You really have to see it live to get it, and Bristol’s gig-goers get it.

Rating: 9/10

Those familiar with COUNTERPARTS frontman Brendan Murphy’s eclectic taste immediately break into grins as the band stride onstage to a pop hit from THE 1975 accompanied by a backdrop of K-Pop group BLACKPINK. The Ontario group are known for their penchant for silliness, and its a good thing too, as their no-holds-barred approach to song-writing leaves little room for levity. Sickness has been present on the tour bus, so the group are a little less animated than on previous visits to the UK, but it certainly doesn’t affect their impeccable musicianship. Whispers Of Your Death takes on whole new life in the live setting. You can hear the anguish as Murphy roars “I choked on the taste of tears, until both of my eyes ran dry” and the refrain of “make your cancer mine” is particularly powerful when screamed by an audience almost 2,000 strong.

The melodic Bound To The Burn also shines in the live setting, with cleanly sung lines “a casket calls my name/my final fleeting flame” igniting a huge response. Clearly, the increased focus on anthemic choruses is working for COUNTERPARTS’ fans. Of course, there are plenty of old hits amongst the setlist as well. Wings Of Nightmares and Monument are well-received, but the biggest reaction of the night so far comes for No Servant Of Mine, one of the heaviest cuts from 2017’s You’re Not You Anymore. The band’s calls for a wall of death are answered with aplomb.

Crowd surfers do what they do best for closer, Mass Of Grave Of Saints, a powerfully melancholic anthem that once again ushers in a huge sing-along. Indeed, it seems impossible to stay still when COUNTERPARTS are firing on all cylinders. Even with reduced energy due to the aforementioned sickness among the troupe, it’s still an electrifying set, and the crowd’s energy is turned up to 11. The expected encore of The Disconnect dares attendees to expel every last bit of energy they have stored up. Apart from one unfortunate incident wherein an overconfident crowd-surfer attempted to fight a bouncer and was promptly ejected (“well, that was a bummer” quips Murphy), it’s another fabulous success for metalcore’s favourite sons.

Rating: 9/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action from Ceece Photography here: 

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