Feed The Rhino + Night Verses + Baby Godzilla @ The Asylum 2 – 19th October 2014

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With a line-up that included some of the best live bands around right now, tonight was never going to be boring. Having seen both Baby Godzilla & Feed The Rhino put on two of the most energetic and tenacious sets at this year’s Download Festival and considering Night Verses are easily one of the most exciting bands around right now, to say I was excited would be an understatement. Add all this to the fact that there was no barrier and the upstairs room in the Asylum is absolutely minute. Then if everything went as expected tonight, the whole crowd would be in for a treat.

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I get to the venue just in time to catch the last few Baby Godzilla songs, let’s just say timekeeping isn’t my forte. By the time I walk in there are amps strewn across the floor of the venue, both guitarists are jumping off them, their microphones are in the middle of the pit and it’s fair to say they’re having a pretty good time. Baby Godzilla are the kind of band that everyone wants to be in, along with having a brilliant name, they seem to tear apart every place they play. The music they play is far from generic as well, with definite influences from bands like The Chariot and Dillinger Escape plan. Their music is dirty, noisy and filled with the kind of riffs that’ll cause your skull to implode.

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Night Verses have slowly been gathering attention since their mammoth 2013 debut album ‘Lift Your Existence’. ‘Introducing: The Rot Under The Sun’ opens their set in a similarly explosive fashion, as it does opening up the album. The track already shows why Night Verses are such an exciting prospect right now, with the band providing such flare and forward thinking musical ideas all held together by Douglas Robinson’s on stage exuberance and a seriously good set of lungs. This is one band, if any, that you must see; I think they’re easily one of the best bands around right now. Within such a short set, the staggering talent that all of the members of Night Verses hold is something that resides throughout.

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For a band who has built a career on making riff heavy, fun music and then perfectly translating their music into a ball-busting live show, tonight’s venue was perfectly fitting. From the start frontman Lee Tobin was pacing the room growling at the audience, urging them to get forward and have a good time. Starting off with ‘Behind The Pride’ a slow intro suddenly bursts into life when Tobin starts to scream, and it’s suddenly chaos within the Asylum. Heading straight into a ridiculously catchy riff of ‘Deny And Offend’ with barely a breath taken between songs, it’s a constant onslaught of ferocity. The sound fills the tiny room and sounds magnificent, the drums sound heavy as hell and the guitars sound brutal.

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Despite the bands third and most recent album ‘The Sorrow And The Sound’ being released in June, the band have waited till October to do the so-called album cycle. It’s a wise decision as it gives the fans a chance to get to know the album, which was definitely a solid addition to their catalogue so far. In fact, I’d say FTR are getting better with each album. Though it’s fair to say, the songs that get the crowd going the most this evening are tracks from their second LP ‘The Burning Sons’ such as the huge ‘Tides’ which is like a kick in the gut when the screams kick in and the set closer ‘Flood The System’  leaves everyone going home completely satisfied.

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Tonight is just another reminder by Feed The Rhino, that in a live setting there is few who can match them. If things keep going this way for them, there is no reason they won’t be selling out bigger venues in the future and so they should.

 

Photography: Steve Kilmister

Words: Francis Sebestjanowicz

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