Despite a wintry March evening, there is already a large queue forming at the Anarchy Brew in the suburbs of Newcastle. The crowd, including myself, are relieved when the doors open so we can get inside and take respite from the cold.
Not much longer after getting inside, Black Spikes start up, catching a lot of people (me included) off guard. Hailing from Lithuania, Black Spikes bring a very modern progressive sound, fusing different styles together, from crushing blast beats and electronic samples to soft instrumental sections and symphonic undertones. They marry all these parts together through multiple songs without losing the power and strength of each layer. Agnieška Vrubliauskienė leads the charge with a commanding stage presence, with the majority of vocals in their native Lithuanian tongue. In the softer, calmer, more gothic sections of the songs, their native language creates a dark atmosphere akin to a sinister fairytale. Relentlessly firing from fry screams and growls to clean vocals, Agni creates a fantastic balance of calm and chaos. Black Spikes put a lot of time and effort into crafting their visual identity and it shows through the storytelling and theatrics they put into each song throughout their set. Although they may not be appealing to everyone, you cannot deny that Black Spikes are a band on an upward trajectory, and I feel we will be seeing more of them in the future.
Butcher Babies hit the stage like a freight train. With unmatched intensity, they take no prisoners with ‘Backstreets of Tennessee’, continuing the ferocity throughout ‘Red Thunder’ and ‘Monsters Ball’. Butcher Babies take all the best parts from 1990s/2000s metal and mix it all together into a fantastic showcase of what they can do. This is a band having just as much fun on stage as the crowd watching. They feed off the energy of the fans, interacting with them as much as possible. It is clear they love what they do. Moving through their set with the intensity levels through the roof (I’m getting worn out just photographing the band!), ‘Beaver Cage’ hits you like a punch to the face with almost Latin style drumming from Dave Nickles behind the skins that gives the set a nice change of rhythm. Vocalist Heidi Shepherd does not stand still all set, charging up and down the stage like a caged animal that has just been freed, onto the barriers, into the pit, with more high kicks than a taekwondo tournament. The only place she doesn’t get to is behind the bar! ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ and ‘Lost in Your Touch’ really showcase Heidi’s clean singing prowess. ‘Last December’ brings a more intimate and sensitive side to the band, with hard hitting mental health messaging behind the song.
The Butcher Babies put on one hell of a show tonight with a truly impressive set that comes from being a well seasoned live band. They got the crowd going from first song to last, and you could really feel the energy that the band were pumping out and the crowd were feeding off it. Heidi is a natural performer and frontwoman, and the whole band truly excelled tonight, switching moods from pissed off, chip on their shoulders to good time beer drinking songs. The Butcher Babies brought the energy, and it was spectacular.
There isn’t the normal crackle of anticipation just before the headliners, which does feel a little strange. It feels like the room has thinned out a little after Butcher Babies, or everyone has just squeezed forward a bit more. I’m not sure.
As ‘Mutation Phase’ plays and the backing screens flicker to life, Infected Rain make their way into position. Eugene Voluta, perched high at the back of the stage on the drums, Vadim Ojog and Alice Lane flank the stage and start the opening salvo, with the charismatic Lena Scissorhands erupting from the wings with perfect timing, ripping into her signature vocal style for ‘The Answer is You’. Infected Rain, playing in Newcastle for the first time, waste no time slamming straight into ‘Dying Light’. Lena Scissorhands holds the crowd captive with her self-assured dominance on the stage, owning it, commanding it. It’s Scissorhands’ world and we are just living in it. ‘Orphan Soul’ provides a change of style with post metal influences, crushing into the verses, bringing it back down to emotional harmonies in the chorus and ramping it up again before an emotive end. Showcasing one of their new songs, ‘Stranger’ demonstrates the tranquillity and violence that Infected Rain can provide in a live setting, with Scissorhands creating an angel and demon juxtaposition with her voice. ‘The Realm of Chaos’ sees Heidi from Butcher Babies join Infected Rain on stage for a heavy, groove laden song. As with Black Spikes earlier, Infected Rain blend multiple styles together very well, with ‘Pandemonium’ excelling in incorporating nu metal styles with their own sound. Finishing out the set with more hits from their latest album Time, ‘Never To Return’ and ‘Because I Let You’ both bring differing sounds that show the level of depth to their songwriting. Finishing with an encore of the classic ‘Judgemental Trap’ from their first album is the perfect rabid ending to the night. Infected Rain put on a show tonight; hopefully they will be back in Newcastle in the not too distant future.
