DevilDriver + Behemoth + Suicide Silence + Trigger the Bloodshed + Malefice @ Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall – 23rd October 2009

Walking through the doors of the Wulfrun I heard Malefice kick off with their opening song a little ahead of the scheduled start time posted on the internet. I was eager to catch the whole set as I had been mightily impressed with them at another gig earlier in the year…..and I am glad to say they did not disappoint this evening.

Malefice have an incisor sharp sound and a great equilibrium of melodically yet weighty songs which pack such a powerful punch you cannot help feeling great tracks the likes of ‘Sickened’ and particularly ‘An Architect of Your Demise’ will be imprinted on your psyche for all eternity….

…Which meant Trigger the Bloodshed had a harsh slot with their predecessors being a truly tough act to follow. The boys from Bath seemed to exert enormous effort throughout their set with vocalist Jonny Burgan perpetually pounding his fists in the air whilst hollering through ‘The Dead World’ and ‘The Great Depression’ to name but two.

It wasn’t until much later in the evening it occurred to me that if there were a slight chink in the armour of tonight’s proceedings then this would be it. It is fantastic for a young and talented group to be gaining great exposure to the live environment; however, for me there has to be a continuous harmonious groove at a gig and it just seemed that Trigger the Bloodshed did not sit as comfortably within this evening’s line-up as they would on a more straight forward hardcore death metal bill.

Suicide Silence on the other hand proved a much more palatable link in the chain of events, opening with the energetic ‘Wake Up’ and front-man Mitch Lucker bounding around with enough vigor to infect half the punters with a pogoing virus by the time they were pumping out ‘No Time to Bleed’.

The odd thing was the crowds mixed reaction to Suicide Silence, in my opinion they had sailed through a spectacular and striking set and yet it was quite clear there were people jeering at the end of it! I am guessing there must be a touch of the old marmite adage going on here — it seems you either love them or hate them with absolutely nothing in-between.

After what seemed a lengthy interlude Behemoth finally graced the stage with Adam Darski or “Nergal” as he is more commonly known, emerging from behind a mike stand moulded into an emblem befitting of any pagan ritual. The painted faced Polish quartet set the walls of the Wulfrun wavering with a synthy intro worthy of invoking thoughts of great Viking ships drifting along to Valhalla (basically an ethereal overture but hopefully you get the idea) before shattering the peaceful illusion and thrusting forth with their own variety of deathly dark metal.

Despite my misgivings about their theatrical appearance and props, I found myself warming up to them and even head-bobbing along to ‘At the Left Hand of God’ and ‘Slaves Shall Serve’ before completely submitting to the fabulous finale of ‘Chant for Ezkaton 2000 e.v.’ – thus supporting the notion to never judge a book by its cover.

When DevilDriver materialise from the wings they are met with cheers from the masses. They illustrate exactly how they earned their headlining band status by relentlessly building up through a blinding catalogue of classics which included ‘Fate Stepped In’, ‘Pray for Villains’, ‘Before the Hangman’s Noose’, crowd favourite ‘I Could Care Less’ and the cataclysmic ‘Clouds over California’.

With distinguished demented drumming from John Boecklin, some astoundingly awe-inspiring guitar work and vocalist Dez Fafara seemingly in a chatty mood due to him ‘feeling very fucking comfortable tonight’ constantly geeing up the crowd and getting them moving, you are left with no doubt that DevilDriver stand head and shoulders above the rest as they carve their way through the evening and eventually depart dangerously close to defying the curtailing curfew, signing off with ‘I Dreamed I Died’ and ‘These Fighting Words’. An absolutely awesome night quite obviously enjoyed by all!!

Review – Amanda Jones
Photos – Steve Gerrard

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