Live Review : Eye of Solitude/Marche Funebre/Betraeus/Reign of Perdition, Satans Hollow, Manchester, UK, 30.01.2014

Seeing a band at Satans Hollow is something I had never done. The circular dance floor that is usually reserved for the immensely popular club nights was transformed into the stage, and helped provide a intimate surrounding in the middle of the clubs hellish decor.

Reign of Perdition kicked off proceeding's to the gathering crowd. The three piece played a short but devastating set that had a good mix of styles with some tremendously harsh vocals throughout.

Manchester's Betraeus ploughed through their set with great swagger and a sound which tested the limits of the foundations of Satan's Hollow. The onslaught of their set was punctuated by much more harmonic and melodic moments which provided some respite amongst a mass of buzz saw riffs. This mixed with some great soloing, made for a great set.

Belgium's Marche Funebre took things to a far deeper level than the opening duo of bands. The riffs altered between tempos that were slow and crushing, to more death metal style territory. The vocals strayed between an exultant shriek and a guttural roar. Unfortunately the band were a member down for the evening but this did not detract from the power of the band.

Eye of Solitude took the stage dressed the part; another notch on the rack for the grandeur that the band possesses. Throughout their set, in support of their latest record, Canto III, the band treat the audience to an emotional journey through dense riffs, slow tempos and earth shudderingly deep vocals. Whilst the louder/heavier parts of the bands compositions are utterly devastating, the band has a knack for using more harmonic tones to create an uncomfortable mood. The cover mount sticker on the bands latest release lauds them as the finest UK intense orchestral doom/death metal band. It's hard to disagree with this statement based on the show that the band put on.

The only downside of the evening was the size of the crowd. On a night when there were several other metal shows on in Manchester, it seemed this one got pushed to the side. That being said, the privileged crowd got treated to four bands who gave their all for the show.

Finally, thank you to Andy at Deathwave for being a thoroughly nice chap and for putting together a great bill.

Words by : Dominic Walsh

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