LIVE REVIEW: Holding Absence + Loathe @ The Star and Garter, Manchester
Following the release of their new split EP on Sharptone Records, This Is As One, Cardiff melodic hardcore band HOLDING ABSENCE and Liverpudlian metalcore bruisers LOATHE set out on a handful of dates across Europe and the UK with a smorgasbord of support. We caught them at their Manchester date at the infamous Star and Garter with the mysterious SLEEP TOKEN opening for them.
SLEEP TOKEN took to the stage with silence and a sinister air. The room was buzzing with anticipation to see the third ever live performance of one of the most talked about bands in the metal underground right now. Hooded and masked, with vocalist Vessel sporting a black cloak and his trademark mask, and the band similarly garbed with white hoods on, sporting the SLEEP TOKEN rune in red, they looked quite the piece to fulfil their mysterious and creepy brand. Powering straight into beautiful and haunting renditions of Thread The Needle, Calcutta and Nazareth, Vessel showed that their vocal prowess stretched far further than that demonstrated in the studio. Adding passionate refrains and vocal riffs that elevated the atmosphere of their performance to something entirely immersive and spiritual. Two new songs were performed also, of which the names and details are yet unknown. A real treat for those who have been waiting for them, and a very exciting taste of what’s to come.
Rating: 9/10
The double headliner was kicked off by Cardiff crew HOLDING ABSENCE, who have garnered a strong fanbase across the UK despite having only released a few songs before the split EP. Fans filled the cramped upstairs of the Star and Garter, and they seemed ecstatic to welcome the charismatic Lucas Woodland and his peers onstage. They delivered an energetic and powerful performance, blasting out Heaven Knows, Penance, Everything and more, to rapturous response from their fans. Whilst they certainly don’t challenge genre-labels or push any boundaries musically like their contemporaries on the bill, they gave a masterclass on what’s to come in terms of the state of melodic hardcore. Their youth and exuberance filled the room, and even for the more heavily-inclined LOATHE fans in the room, it was exceptionally well received.
Rating: 7/10
The entire front-crowd changed in anticipation for LOATHE. Die-hard fans emblazoned with the band’s name dominated the front half of the room with what can only be described as ecstatic aggression in their eyes. Frontman Kadeem France took to the stage to roars from the room, wearing his trademark, scary-as-hell mask from the first EP. They immediately charged into Servant and Master from the new EP, and the fans followed suit, bludgeoning The Star and Garter into dust in testament to LOATHE‘s raw brutality. Despite earlier worries of the integrity of his vocal chords, France’s vocals were incredibly powerful and faithful to the studio recordings. Erik Bickerstaffe consistently nailed the clean vocals in addition to this. Their set spanned their discography shamelessly, bringing the animalistic rhythm with Dance on my Skin, and then the dirty metalcore brutality with older songs like Rest; In Violence from their first EP. New single White Hot was revolutionary in a live setting, and really set the scene for the future of the band, as did the passionate response from the fans for a band only just cutting their teeth in the scene. Fresh from touring the US with WAGE WAR, their newfound experience was obvious in the precision and effortless characterisation shown in their performance. A long break before the encore due to technical difficulties left space for some stage banter from Bickerstaffe and the crew before a rendition of Sheol / In Death featuring guest vocals from HOLDING ABSENCE‘s Lucas Woodland. As ever, LOATHE are on the up and up and show no signs of putting on the brakes. A true demonstration of their domination of the UK hardcore underground right now.
Rating: 9/10
Check out our photo gallery from all the action of the Bristol show from Normandy Photography here:
