LIVE REVIEW: Of Mice & Men @ Rebellion, Manchester

Supporting independent venues is vital for the music industry, as without grassroots venues to nurture artists we wouldn’t have any of the monumental acts we all want to see. Longstanding metalcore troupe OF MICE & MEN are valiantly doing their part by rocking up to Manchester’s Rebellion for a sold-out night, with the queue snaking all the way round the dark backstreets under the Deansgate train station. With this being their first headline UK tour since 2018, it is sure to be a night many fans have been counting down the days for.

First to the plate are London’s DEFECTS, bringing their modern metal with bucketloads of energy, bursting onto the stage and getting into the crowds’ faces to get everyone amped up from the off. Their beefy chugging riffs hit you right in the face with technicality and girth, accompanied aptly by vocalist Tony Maue with his powerful screams and arena ready hooks. They look to incite the room at frequent intervals, with phone lights up, clap alongs and headbanging. Although the room may be a bit cold in reception to start, they soon warm up to the act. Guitarist Luke Genders drops mind bending solos throughout the set, including one in the middle of a mosh pit for set closer Recurring, with Maue also coming down to the barrier to sing the closing lines up close and personal. The pace has well and truly been set by DEFECTS.

Rating: 7/10

In terms of bands on the rise, you can’t look much further than Leeds-based metalcore quintet CASKETS who’s seemingly unstoppable ascent continued with the release of their album Reflections this year. The impressive melodies and icy screams of vocalist Matt Flood capture the room with singalongs from the off with the crowd taking over the chorus of Guiding Light. Flood’s words seem to cut him up as he performs with yearning motions, singing straight at the first few rows. Guitarists Benji Wilson and Craig Robinson look ever excited with little interactions between the two making each other laugh throughout in an endearing display while bassist Chris McIntosh sings along with the room between emphatic spins. Bringing out Oli Duncanson from THECITYISOURS for a screaming feature during the breakdown in More Than Misery is a highlight only topped by the cheer for set ender Glass Heart, with the whole room taking the final chorus as their own, a response most headline bands would be satisfied by. If this interaction is anything to go by, CASKETS’ ceiling is by no means anywhere near.

Rating: 9/10

With barely space to breathe left in the packed-out room, it’s finally time for the wait for OF MICE & MEN to end. Drummer Valentino Arteaga is the first of the group out, behind what is now his synonymously sprawling kit, playing a sequence of fills and screaming at the crowd in the pauses encouraging a well met response. As the rest of the band arrive, they erupt into Bones Exposed with everyone in attendance elatedly choral during the main hooks, followed by Would You Still Be There to keep the singalong atmosphere at full elevation. Not that frontman Aaron Pauley needs helps on the vocal front, his exceptional clean vocals sound pristine accompanied by powerful throaty screams. He’s dropped his bass duties for live purposes, but his record-ready performance is well worth it allowing him to swing his long locks unabetted during the breakdowns.

We were informed on arrival that the group opted for a barrier to be setup, and this is quickly justified as a flurry of crowd surfer’s get the security to work during Castaway. Despite recently releasing their album Tether we are treated to a setlist diverse with tracks through their tenure as a band which notably delights the fans in the room. Not just that though, they are a group who emit a joy for what they are doing, with guitarist Phil Manansala beaming throughout most of the songs amid his crushing chugging riffs, while Pauley spends the time between tracks constantly checking everyone’s okay in an endearingly wholesome manner, ever grateful for everybody in the room. It is blankly apparent why these fans have stuck with the group throughout their time by the reciprocal nature of this care.

Throwback bangers like O.G. Loko open up fierce mosh pits, whereas more recent tracks like Bloom display Pauley’s exquisite vocal work with wrenching melodic fried screams in the final choruses. They close the show with The Depths, with one fan getting up on someone’s shoulders for the belting onslaught before joining the flood of crowd surfers sailing over the barrier toward Pauley and co. They briefly depart to the usual calls of one more song and cheers, and expectedly return for one last song.

Fan favourite Second & Sebring is the track that got so many people into this band back in 2010, and feels as though from a different outfit than the one we see today, but despite this a sea of phones rise for the anthemic banger followed thankfully by a tide of crowd surfers. The ending refrain is sung in full voice by everyone in the room with the band leaving space for the room to take over from Pauley briefly. With that, they depart a room ever grateful for a band who notably care a great deal about every single one still endeared to them through their full career.

RATING: 9/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Manchester from K4tiephotogr4phy here: 

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