Tonight was to be a busy night. Four bands on the bill and the traffic from a Rangers gig that’s just kicked out to contend with meant that I didn’t make it to The Garage as early as I’d hoped. Fortunately I made it there to see about half of Ghost of Atlantis‘ set. Unfortunately, the sound was shit so I could really only make out some of the vocals and a bit of the rhythm.
What I could make out was good, though, and I have listened to them since I got home – partly at the urging of of Moshville Radio’s Ricky. They certainly looked the part and had a large number of the audience very much wrapped up in their set. The fact that the venue was pushing 75% full at an early hour, and that most of them were crushed to the front rather than milling near the bar, says that Ghosts of Atlantis already have a decent fan base.
Talking to the band after their set (their merch is very reasonably priced, folks!), it’s great to see them being given a whopping 42 dates on this tour to increase those fan numbers. Definitely a band that it’s worth getting to the venue early for.
Ignea were up next, all the way from Ukraine, and the venue was now packed. Sadly the increase in numbers didn’t come with an increase in sound quality and I struggled to enjoy their set as much as I would otherwise. Again, the bass/rhythm mushily overrode everything else, though I could hear some of the keytar, and the vocals pretty much. Guitar? What guitar? Cracking my earplugs a bit did help, but still it was a bit of a letdown given how much effort the band were putting into their show.
While the music, as much as I could hear, sounded pretty good I have to highlight Helle’s vocals. Her clean, melodic vocals are absolutely beautiful, but her growls come as a shock from a woman who looks more like she’d suit a ballet costume than leather and spikes. Her range, and ability to flick between them, was incredible. Very much an example of a small surprise package!
They certainly rocked the crowd, many of whom I’m sure will have had the benefit of hearing the music before. For myself, an Ignea virgin, I saw a band who definitely knew how to entertain… enough for me to stream some of their stuff when I got home to find out what they actually sounded like with decent audio quality.
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Main support was from Butcher Babies (minus Carla who is apparently having to miss the whole tour due to illness), a band I wasn’t sure I’d caught before. A song or so in and I’m pretty sure I haven’t, as they’re so good I’m sure I’d have remembered. The sound had definitely improved to the point where I could actually hear all the instruments, and Heidi’s vocals – another incredible singer – shone through.
All four of the available members threw so much energy into their set that I was almost sweating in sympathy despite being stood underneath an aircon unit (the three t-shirts I was wearing courtesy of a trip to the merch stand probably had something to do with it as well). They ploughed through eight or nine songs, with some good patter between them, but with otherwise no letup. You’d have thought they had the full stage to work with, they moved around so much. How they managed with half a stage and not tripping or bashing into each other I’ll never know. Butcher Babies are very much on my radar now, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for them hitting the UK again.
The band we were all waiting for didn’t take long to come on stage. Fear Factory weren’t going to pass us off with a short set tonight, not with this being their first UK tour since 2015 (not counting their 2016 Bloodstock appearance). The not uncommon rotating lineup saw Pete Webber fill the drum stool and Javier Arriaga take up the bass. For the first time, though, we saw a new vocalist – Milo Silvestro – alongside longstanding member Dino Cazares.
With ten albums to pull from, there were always going to be some songs that “should” have been played but weren’t, but I can’t fault the set list we were gifted with. Cazares said that Silvestro nailed every song they threw at him in auditions, and judging by tonight’s performance I can believe it. Again, the sound wasn’t in the band’s favour with the bass overshadowing everything. From what I could make out, though, our new vocalist filled those large shoes very well. This includes the clean vocals where Burton had been struggling in recent years, as evidenced by the likes of “Descent”, “Archetype” and show-closer “Resurrection”. As well as the vocals, he knows what to do in front of a crowd and engaged well. It can’t be easy taking the place of someone who’s pretty much synonymous with a band’s sound, but he absolutely nailed it.
Of those ten albums, we heard at least one song from all of them. Only Transgression missed out, though it’s hard to complain when the set was stuffed with classics such as “Self Bias Resistor”, “Martyr”, “Dielectric” and “Powershifter”. The crowd was up for it, the band very much so as well. A nice pit kicked off, and there was plenty of crowdsurfing. Could I pick out a highlight? No. There simply wasn’t a bad track played all night and I’m sure everyone heard at least one favourite.
A shame the sound was shit, but bearable. The Garage can be so much better in terms of audio quality so I just don’t know what the issue was tonight. Still, a show that was well worth the eight year wait. I only hope that we don’t have to wait the thick end of a decade to see them again. And that next time the sound is better.
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Photos by Topher Maher
