The Altamont Never Say Die! Tour has a lot of gumption putting seven bands – and good bands at that - onto a single bill. It’s almost too much to take in, a full five-solid hours of murderous intent, spat out from the stage with all the ferocity of a rutting rhino.
Support bands have wet dreams about crowds like tonight’s– rather than barging each other out the way at the bar, they’re packing the floor with a whirling-dervish hardcore pit. Carnifex and Whitechapel both respond by dropping breakdown after bloody breakdown.
Knocking everyone off-balance is Protest The Hero, whose technical flair actually sounds tepid and lukewarm against the rest of the bill. Luckily, rising Brighton stars, Architects, pull off one of the shows of their lives to set The Forum sizzling again.
The punch-bag deathcore of Canada’s Despised Icon provides a final bout of bruises to the tireless crowd, before the dual-headliners get set to unleash a metalcore knockout. Unearth’s decade on the road has given them the experience to set the bar high, but Parkway Drive have put in some solid gig-graft of their own over the last two years. The Australians show why they’ve earned the top slot with 45 minutes of brain-damaging riffs and vocals that bark like the Devil’s drill instructor. Simply vicious.
Altamont Never Say Die! Tour @ London Forum photo gallery by Danielle Kelly
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- Carnifex: doing the crab
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- Carnifex: he's very upset
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- Carnifex: and hungry for microphones
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- Whitechapel: One With The Dead
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- Whitechape: this is my....guitar?
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- Whitechapel: angry at the ceiling
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- Protest The Hero: what we need is a bass solo
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- Protest The Hero: our kind of hoodies
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- Protest The Hero: more complicated than it looks
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- Architects: from Brighton, didn't you know?
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- Architects: shirt on....
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- Architects: ....shirt off.
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- Despised Icon: choice sideburns
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- Despised Icon: touching me....
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- Despised Icon: ....touching YOU.
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- Unearth: under-chin
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- Unearth: don't like the taste of that
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- Unearth: have a whiff
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- Parkway Drive: deep in concentration
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- Parkway Drive: more drumming, less shirts
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- Parkway Drive: pulling shapes
6 responses so far ↓
1 This week has been Stupid Busy « Hugh Platt . Com // Nov 21, 2008 at 7:46 pm
[...] Altamont Never Say Die! Tour, and reviewed it for ThrashHits.com. In short: [...]
2 2008 into 2009: As I Lay Dying // Dec 8, 2008 at 9:00 am
[...] I Lay Dying are headlining a US tour in January/February with Protest The Hero, The Human Abstract and My Children My [...]
3 2008 into 2009: Unearth // Dec 11, 2008 at 2:30 pm
[...] mighty Derek Kerswill, drummer of the equally mighty Unearth seems to have had a fantastic year of playing lots of music and is looking forward to even more of [...]
4 2008 into 2009: Xfm Rock Show // Dec 14, 2008 at 1:41 pm
[...] was your highlight of 2008? Probably the Never Say Die Tour - as it’s pretty fresh in my mind still - seeing Parkway Drive, Unearth and Architects on the [...]
5 2008 into 2009: Architects // Dec 22, 2008 at 3:03 pm
[...] your highlight of 2008? Signing to Century Media, finishing our new album and touring Europe on the Never Say Die tour - especially the London date at the Forum, which was the best show we’ve ever played as a [...]
6 2008 into 2009: Ephel Duath // Dec 22, 2008 at 7:05 pm
[...] What band should everyone find out about in 2009? Protest the Hero. [...]
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