Archspire - Live.
It’s a cold Monday night in Bristol but there is an excitable energy in the air…
We’ve found ourselves in a line of people dripping in unreadable logos and ‘350bpm’ slogans outside the doors of Bristol’s iconic small venue, The Fleece. There was only one explanation, this had to be an Archspire gig which meant we were exactly in the right place…
Entheos
Setting the tone for the night is always an unenviable task but California’s tech duo and friends Entheos took no prisoners in their opening set. Bathed in cosmic blue and amber lights, Entheos put on a clinic of brutality and efficiency, bestowing fan favourites such as ‘White Noise (II)’ and ‘In Purgatory’ and ‘Darkest Day’ from this year's release ‘Time Will Take Us All’.
Vocalist Chaney Crabb delivered a ferocious performance that engaged and pumped up the stoic, beer cradling crowd that quickly earned Entheos smug grins and nodding heads. Chaney’s energetic onslaught saw her accidentally bloodying her own nose, adding an extra level of ‘savage’ to an already very metal delivery. Entheos’ opening was an amazing way to kick off the night with super tight techy riffs, machine like grooves and swirling fusion style leads that would make the ghost of Allan Holdsworth blush. We loved it!
Benighted
Next up were Benighted, the death metal act from Saint-Étienne, France! Benighted hit the ground running with their relentless style, machine gunning who ever dared to make eye contact with the stage. Backlit by an evil slime green light, Benighted fired out recent classics like ‘Nails’ and ‘The Starving Beast’ while shoe-less vocalist Julien Truchan positioned himself centre stage, looming and screaming over the crowd like a patient who had outgrown his room at the asylum.
Riffs and windmills aplenty, Benighted didn’t miss a beat and the crowd ‘pitted to their heart's content trying their best to keep up with the sheer speed of Benighted's manic and brutal setlist. The party was now in full swing!
Psycroptic
From the frying pan and into the fire, Psycroptic take the stage! The Tasmanian tech death legends make it clear that this is not their first rodeo and it certainly won’t be their last either. Psycroptic jumped back and forth in time with their setlist, ripping favourites like 2008’s ‘Ob(Servant)’ and last years ‘Rend Asunder’ and the crowd were eating up what the brutal quintet were serving!
It didn’t take long for the ‘moshers' and ‘bangers’ (lovingly labelled by vocalist Jason Peppiatt) to be gifted with a golden invitation to stage dive. It was as simple as that, and we all became witness to the beautiful carnage as guys and girls alike were pulled onto the stage by Jason only to be set free and soaring seconds later, all backed by a glorious soundtrack of battering drums and brutal high speed riffage. The set was so much fun it was easy for us to forget that there was still more to come!
Archspire
This was it. The final act. After three sets of ruthless death metal, the room was heavy with anticipation. There was a palpable sense of joyous disbelief, we were actually about to see extreme metal royalty in a ‘small’ venue off a cobbled side street in Bristol. How?? Unable to hold back, chants of “Arch-spire! Arch-spire!” filled the dark room with the band shortly answering the call armed with excited smiles and pointed guitars.
Archspire kicked things off with ‘Remote Tumour Seeker’ and it took about 15 seconds for the room to erupt and give birth to a glorious ‘pit (imagine us in the middle of this, pointing a camera, loving every moment). Purple and blue lights danced over the chaos as vocalist Oli Aleron hung one handed from a pillar, barking his trademark lightspeed lyrics over his fans. How does he do that? Honestly, it’s even more impressive live!
Speed kills! Archspire sliced through their time slot with laser guided accuracy performing tracks like ‘Bleed the Future’, ‘Human Murmuration’, ’Involuntary Doppelgänger’ and TH! favourite ‘Golden Mouth of Ruin’. It was so easy to be hypnotised by the band’s level of skill with each member turning up the intensity and making it look effortless, We were brought back down to earth as Oli threw a Twister mat into the crowd asking for participation only to inform them that on turn 3 they had landed on “fucking wall of death!!.” Nice! Oh, and he pulled out a bubble gun too, naturally!
The sound was hefty and clear at The Fleece, they had done a great job and the band were almost out of time. To close out the night, Archspire gave us what we all wanted, ‘Drone Corpse Aviator’. The room broke out in cheers, crowd surfers with horns flying high. What a night. What a set. What a band! Archspire put on an amazing show for a room full of fanatics leaving us exhausted but craving more. Until next time, stay tech mother flippers!
