Brussels, September 30. We went for a new heavy round!

1st band : Gore. The Texan metalcore/shoegaze newcomers are still early enough in their run that much of the room was meeting them for the first time, and they played accordingly, a little guarded and without much feedback from the floor. But they did deliver. Their gorgeous melodic writing, with lead lines that sat clearly above the drop-tuned riffing carried the whole set. Haley Roughton skilfully oscillates between feather-soft cleans and surprisingly intense growls. I’d like to hear them again in front of a crowd that knows the material.

2nd band : Polaris. The reception was warmer, though the room stayed more restrained than their standing among metalcore’s top five would suggest. Their strength is in the hooks, with choruses that open up over tight, syncopated low-end work and lodge themselves quickly, even for someone hearing them live for the first time. The entire set was an explosion of heaviness filled with heartfelt emotions conveyed by a cathartic mix of vulnerable and furious lyricism.

3rd band : I Prevail. The headliners favour rawness over polish, and the emotion stays exposed in both the vocal delivery and the heavier passages. “Violent Nature” saw the evening’s largest circle pit, after the lead singer Brian Burkheiser singled out one man in the crowd to lead the moshers in. “Paradise” (I Prevail’s latest single) written with Amira Elfeky, who had to leave the tour entirely for technical/health reasons, was a very nice surprise ; Gore.‘s Hayley took Amira’s part and delivered it flawlessly as though she had always been part of the song. Her restrained clean vocals balanced his harsh register without either one crowding the other. The only tell was the lyrics printed on the stage floor, legible only to a photographer up on the balcony, like myself. They wrapped up the song with a big hug in a more emotionally contagious instant.
The show is worth catching if you ever happen to find yourself in I Prevail’s vicinity.