Up River, Giver, Vultures, Broken Lungs Live at Subside review (22/2/18)

Coming from the ashes of Crime and Punishment 2011, Someone said Fire and various other metal bands Broken Lungs* (7.2/10) played their very first show at Subside supporting Up River. Despite it being their first ever show Broken Lungs sounded tight, heavy and well rehearsed, the result of over a years writing and playing together before taking to the stage. Joe Jones bought the same intensity of his older bands, strutting up the room and screaming, while at some points while rolling on the floor. Broken Lungs are a mix of hard rock riffs and heavy metal vocals, reminding me of metalcore bands such as Every Time I Die. One slower 'love song' showed off their versatility while I was generally pretty impressed by guitarist Nik's riffs and solos. Broken Lung's first show was a confident first step from a band who already seem to have figured out their identity and sound.
Tamworth's Vultures (6.8/10) are a hardcore band who also mix screaming vocals into short sweet hard rock songs. Looking cool as hell and having a touch of desert rock in their sound.
It's a shame that Giver (7.6) didn't have a bigger crowd to play to, considering that they'd travelled all the way from Germany. Giver take cues from 80's thrash metal legends but they've updated and tweaked the sound to make it heavier and darker. With his long hair, vans and 'no macho bullshit' t-shirt their singer embodies the look and feel of 80's trash and crossover, and their crushingly heavy sound gave my ears a battering. Brighton's Up River (7.2)
are more of a melodic metal band, taking cues from both post punk and post hardcore. Yet the softer side of their music was left distorted and warped by Subside's sound-system. Up River are the kind of metal band who make me imagine destruction and chaos, cities collapsing and and being swallowed up. Up River make metal that is doom laden and dark, so heavy that I presume their guitarists neck brace was from head-banging too hard. While their front-man screams into the floor and strikes Jesus Christ poses, whatever demons he is exorcising make for a cathartic experience for anyone watching.
This was a decent way to spend a Thursday night, all bands were heavy as fuck yet all different in their own ways

Links
www.facebook.com/upriverhc/
giverhc.bandcamp.com/
www.facebook.com/vulturespunkband/
www.facebook.com/brokenlungsuk