Great discoveries happen when you go out of your comfort zone and experience things you wouldn’t normally – like seeing bands unfamiliar to you from genres you don’t normally like, keeping an open mind. For someone who is not a particular fan of alternative and nu metal, if such a concert leaves you buzzing for days, it must have been a fantastic night.
The gig in question is the one on 28th April at the Fleece in Bristol kicking off the UK leg of the European tour of Swedish electronic metal band Solence with Written By Wolves and Dream State as support acts.
Due to travel arrangements, no comments can be provided on the first act, so to us, it started with Dream State who set the atmosphere nicely, not just warming up for Solence, but making it red hot. As lead singer Jessie shouted out, they wanted weekend vibes on this weekday gig, and the crowd had no trouble rising up to the occasion. It did kind of feel like a Friday night, with the venue comfortably full (close to capacity) with a dedicated, responsive crowd, and a particularly active effort on the frontgirl’s part to interact with them.
Jessie demonstrated some seriously impressive pipes and a range of vocal skills: from clear singing to mighty growls, at a standard that could give pros like Lzzy Hale (Halestorm) or Adrienne Cowan (Seven Spires) run for their money. This human spring bursting with endless energy and her band ramped things up nicely, setting the bar fairly high from here onwards.
Just as you might have thought that Dream State had stolen the main act’s thunder, out came Solence with a theatrical blast, cheered and headbanged at by their colleagues at the merch stand. It feels pretty special when this happens: bands not just sharing the stage, but rooting for each other, showing comradeship and (one would hope) friendship.
One of the advantages of small venues is the intimacy and closeness to the bands; some fans got lucky to mingle with them and take selfies. The usual applies: metal guys are actually very nice and cool people in real life.
With Solence, it was full-on from start to finish. The crowd was on fire with the upbeat music, a fairly interesting mix of genres that you could both dance or headbang to, whichever takes your fancy. The entire band was fairly entertaining: from the frontman, with the confident demeanour of someone well experienced who clearly knew what he was doing, through the attractive guitar player giving out Slash/Lenny Kravitz vibes, to the quirky keyboards, they relentlessly delivered techno/industrial hardcore metal with a prominent electronics presence.
The quartet played some of their most popular tracks from their back catalogue and also with a focus on their latest album, Angels Calling, which the crowd clearly appreciated, and the fairly relatable lyrics were loudly sung along. Clearly the fans have had time to get accustomed to the new songs and the likes of ‘Monster In My Head’ and ‘All Of The Pain Must Go’ are enthusiatically received.
It’s all about energy with these bands. Both singers stated they needed the crowd’s energy to feed off, but they equally radiated plenty of that themselves: the key to a good concert. It did help that the sound and lighting engineers had done a great job, to make this a mighty little gig.
This explosive, high energy event will probably keep its aftertaste for some time. Both bands have the potential to take the roofs off much bigger venues, so it’s worth watching this space. For young groups like them, embarking upon a headline tour is a massive benchmark. So, if they haven’t been on your radar so far, next time you need something to listen to while driving or working out at the gym, check these guys out: you may end up adding them to your playlist. Or if you are a fan already: thank you for supporting them; that is, after all, why they have taken it to this tour.
Review by Angelina Pelova
Photos by Phil Piskor (from Manchester show)
