“I alone am the honored one to take your life.”
Words by Joe Edwards, photography by Angelina Emmanuel – contact Ange prior to any image use.
While the initial announcement of Malevolence‘s Where Only The Truth Is Spoke tour would have built excitement for their ever-growing and ardent fan base, the inclusion of supports SPEED, Dying Wish, and PSYCHO-FRAME made it one of the strongest tour line-ups this year. One that drove aggression from top to bottom in all different stylings, and one that would pull different fanbases into joining the Malevolence tour. The final date saw Malevolence in the country’s capital at one of its most well-known venues – the O2 Brixton – for what would be a barnstormer of a night.
PSYCHO-FRAME
Since their inception around two and a half years ago, many on this side of the Atlantic have been watching with envy as those in America have had a plethora of PSYCHO-FRAME shows on their shores. An envy that only increased after the release of SALVATION LAUGHS IN THE FACE OF A GRIEVING MOTHER, one that saw PSYCHO-FRAME elevate themselves to the top of deathcore, and showcased Colter Cuthbertson and Michael Sugars as the strongest vocal pairing across the genre.
For those who made it inside on time, given the 6:30 pm doors and 7 pm start, PSYCHO-FRAME made certain it was worth getting in early. As the Resident Evil sample of “Do I have your attention, boy? You’re about to see something wonderful” kicked in on “BLUEPRINTS FOR IDOL GENOCIDE“, PSYCHO-FRAME showed their prowess. Cuthbertson and Sugars filled the stage with their growls, snarls, and squeals as the crowd bayed in, with “DRAGGING NAZARENE” resulting in the crowd succumbing to the wrath of FRAME‘s sound. With limbs starting to fly and spin kicks starting to commence, the FRAME began to enter full swing.
The crowd responded to the “PSYCHO-FRAME” call-outs in “NO REVIVES” and a raise of hands after Sugars asked who had heard of the unit. This further illustrated the rise of PSYCHO-FRAME over the past few years, and their presence upon one of the largest stages in London is more than deserved. The brutal mid-section of “BEATEN BEYOND IDENTIFICATION” and “RAINING GLASS” brought out the hellscape of FRAME, even if the pit did break out into a push pit for a brief moment. A vocal feature from former PSYCHO-FRAME and current Dying Wish bassist Jon Mackey during “BEATEN BEYOND IDENTIFICATION” was a highlight, showing that the legend himself has a set of lungs on him.
Closing out on “THE PORTAL” and “24 HOURS LEFT“, there is a sheer amazement at how PSYCHO-FRAME pull off their deathcore sound with such precision here. Flowers have to go to Leo McClain on drums, who was tight in his playing and provided the spine for PSYCHO-FRAME to elevate from. As they entered the closing moments of their set, a look around showed that the room had more than filled up to a strong capacity. For those who were witnessing PSYCHO-FRAME for the first time, there will be plenty of converts to now what must be considered one of the best bands going across both sides of the Atlantic.
Dying Wish
Given such a lineup, even following up the opener is one hell of a task, yet Dying Wish are arguably the finest band going now to do such a task. Opening with “I Don’t Belong Anywhere“, off the recently released Flesh Stays Together, Emma Boster’s cleans drew in the crowd and commanded their attention. As the track dove headfirst into the harshness that Dying Wish have perfected, the London crowd was fully captivated by what Dying Wish had to offer.
With one hell of a discography to pick from, filled with incredible tracks top to bottom, Dying Wish now have the ability to piece together a sublime set list. It’s one that, in their usual environment, seems ideal for larger venues, a setting that Dying Wish are now becoming more familiar with, especially after their tour stateside with Spiritbox. Tracks such as “Symptoms of Survival” see the crowd chant along to “I will take your life or you take mine” or singing along to the chorus of the gem of a track in “I Brought You My Soul (Your World Brought Me Despair)“.
What is noticeable here is how much Boster‘s vocals have improved over the years, on both cleans and harsh. Having seen them on both sides of the Atlantic, Boster has learnt how to command and control their harsh vocals, especially with stronger enunciation. On the clean side, Boster has the ability to fill a room the size of the O2 Brixton with an angelic presence.
A grand moment was seeing PSYCHO-FRAME join Dying Wish for “Cowards Feed, Cowards Bleed“, with both Cuthbertson and Sugars giving a memorable moment to a track that has become a staple of the Dying Wish set list. Seeing sing-along favourites “Lost In The Fall” and recent “I’ll Know You’re Not Around” performed, this was another show-stealing set, and once again cements Dying Wish‘s place on the bigger stages.
SPEED
The only way to follow up two show-stealing acts is with another regular show stealer, in SPEED. The cult following around SPEED is one that is difficult not to admire; the far reach of the Australian act and how they’ve managed to do it should be a note-taking exercise for every hardcore-adjacent band. With extended chants of “Speeeeeeed” throughout the set and chatter amongst the surrounding crowd, you could be mistaken that they were the headliner.
While the SPEED set didn’t start in the manner many would have expected, with a good three-fourths of the first ten minutes spent with Jem Siow talking on stage, any late-comers could think they’d walked into a stand-up comedy set. While many of the values and topics espoused are commendable, a hot crowd was waiting for the trigger to begin the chaos that SPEED bring to their live shows. Once the full flow of “REAL LIFE LOVE” and “KILL CAP” began, SPEED and their fans began to truly show the O2 how it was done.
With the O2 Brixton‘s crush barriers being used as stage-diving platforms for crowd surfers, it ensured that the chaos of the set wouldn’t be stifled by the presence of the apparatus. Shoutouts to bands such as Pest Control and Dynamite from Siow encourage UKHC-style moshing, which at times showed itself in the pit.
The mix of SPEED, Dying Wish, and PSYCHO-FRAME brought three different energies to the opening of the Malevolence headliner. And while it will remain as one of the strongest sets of opening acts, next to each other and on a Malevolence headliner, it feels like a real pick-and-mix set of a line-up. From the chatter and reaction, portions of the crowd were there for PSYCHO-FRAME and Dying With, with others for SPEED and Malevolence, or just for one of the respective acts. While mixed bill line-ups are welcome, this one, touching on too many of the different metal dichotomies, led to a real “split” feeling in the crowd for the supports, rather than a full embrace for each, which was seen on the Knocked Loose tour earlier this year.
Malevolence
Onto the headliner in Malevolence themselves. As is now well-noted, Alan Ford, who played Brick Top in Snatch and featured in a recent Malevolence music video, introduced the Sheffield unit. While a nice moment, it did feel a gear shift away from a “Peaky Blinders” moment that are often satirised online. Heading straight into their material off Where Only The Truth Is Spoken, which, while their new arena-focused “A/B/C” style hasn’t given us much excitement on record, it only took two songs in with “Trenches” for the crowd to come alight in full force, with the chant along to “Everybody’s always looking for a handout, Who the fuck are you?…..” blistering across the O2 Brixton from the crowd.
The classic in “Self Supremacy” saw a deserved performance on the big stage and is a track that has been a mark of Malevolence sets over the year. What was evident throughout the night is that the quartet had the crowd in the palm of their hand, with crowdsurfers and circle pits bringing the same energy they had with SPEED, but on an extra level. While the O2 Brixton setup with its crash barriers doesn’t allow for the giant circle pits Malevolence summon at their shows, they ensured that several were all active at once, like a wall of oncoming tornadoes.
While Malevolence sets do not scratch the same itch of sheer chaos of before, their ability to play to these larger crowds and still lift them into a frenzy is impressive, like the moments of a crowd chanting along with passion, which “Keep Your Distance” once again showed later on. That chaos of old, which saw Malevolence turn small rooms into a battlezone, does act as a reminder of how far they’ve come as a band, and mostly acting as an independent one. There will be those who remember them playing the New Cross Inn down the road at the likes of Upsurge Festival, moving from a three-hundred-cap venue to one just shy of five thousand. As Siow of SPEED noted earlier during their set, each band on that line-up, if anything, should act as a reminder that any band in the scene can make it with sheer hard work and determination.