It’s Tuesday night. The weather’s kind of miserable. And we’re in a converted industrial unit (The Asylum). You know what that means. MMH is reviewing more live music.
So who did we see this time? I know you asked, otherwise you wouldn’t have clicked the link to this review in the first place. Well for this gig we had the joy of seeing Catalonia’s Ankor, supported by the phenomenal Conquer Divide, and newcomers Seven Blood. I’d argue that at pretty much no point did I know what to expect from this show, as I hadn’t heard of Seven Blood at all, and had not yet got round to listening to Ankor at any point. Meaning my only knowledge of what to expect was from the fact I am a pretty big fan of Conquer Divides music. But with that said, the show was pretty awesome from start to finish.
Seven Blood were our opener for the night, with the German quartet throwing down a pretty meaty set despite setbacks from technology that just wasn’t willing to play ball for the night. While crowd interaction may have needed a little bit of improvement, they were a surprisingly polished band. It’s pretty clear to see why Ankor brought them along, and it’s a true shame that the flow of their set was interrupted by technical hitches the way it was.
Our second band of the night was Conquer Divide. I have been aware of this band for a number of years, with their first album being one I listened to a lot when it released almost 10 years ago. So, in short, we’ve now reached the primary reason I came out on a damp Tuesday night. Conquer Divide displayed awesome musicianship and crowd interaction throughout, in spite of a crowd that may be best described as resistant. It’s pretty much impossible to find fault with their set, and Conquer Divide’s love for the music they’re playing and singing is evident in every moment. These guys deserved a much bigger and more mosh ready crowd. The only real thing I’d have liked would have been one or 2 more older songs, but really we can’t have everything, and I’ll be honest, their entire set list has been on repeat since coming away from the show. If you do find yourself after new music, Slow Burn is one mega album.
I would also like to add that coming away from this show, both myself and my colleague, MMH veteran, Rachel, agreed that Conquer Divide’s vocalist, Kiarely Taylor, is criminally under-recognised in the scene, and easily has some of the strongest clean vocals going right now.
Anyway, Conquer Divide was my personal reason for going, however, this was still Ankor’s show. Prior to this particular gig, I had absolutely zero idea what to expect from Ankor. A band who, at least for me, kinda just appeared on Instagram one day. So if we’re being entirely truthful, I went in with no real inkling of what they were like. They put on an epic show. Ankor bust out the heavy tunes really early on, and while initially I thought this was a bold move, it was very evident soon after that it was the correct move. Throwing in the heavier tunes early on really made way for the last half of the show, which at one point had me wondering if I was at a metal show or a rave. Ankor blended both brilliantly and provided one of the most fun sets I’ve seen in quite some time. They were phenomenally tight as a band and front woman Jessie Williams’ screaming was impressive to say the least. Now, I’ve already said it once, so twice in one review might seem a bit repetitive, but much like Conquer Divide, Ankor were deserving of a much bigger show and crowd than they got. The lighting, the sound, the performers, and the song writing behind Ankor were enough to rival a lot of the more established bands that are working the British Metal and Alternative scene.
As a general summary, I’d be hard pressed to advise anyone against going to see this tour. The calibre of the bands involved was through the roof, and especially with the more than reasonable ticket prices, it would be foolish not to go.
