Just recently I went to one of the concerts which are organised by ‘Camden Rocks Festival’ as a series of ‘presents’ shows giving some of the best new metal, rock, indie and alternative bands the chance to present themselves in front of a new audience. The main band of the show at the Night Club Kolis which I attended was Confessions Of A Traitor.
Formed in 2013 in London, the quintet comprising vocalist Stephen MacConville, drummer Seb Olrog, guitarist Jack Darnell, bassist Tony Nagel and guitarist Dominic Pool have created a unique raw metallic hardcore sound. So far, they released two EP’s which are ‘Seasons’ (2014, self-released) and ‘Illuminate’ (2016, self-released), mixing heavy guitar riffs and breakdowns with motivational lyrics. The songs are energetic and sometimes hectic in the verses, contrasting the more melodic choruses which helps engaging the audience to engage with the band’s performance at their live shows.
At around 6pm, the doors of the Nightclub Kolis opened up to for s quite mixed audience which consisted of a very small amount of people and seemed to be mainly family and friend of the bands. The first group on the stage was the British post-metalcore band Centuries from London. Formed in 2015, the quintet comprising Sam (vocals), Nathan (guitar), Matthew (drums), Sam (bass) and James (guitar) creates modern heavy music, mixing metalcore with lots of influences while sowing heavy and atmospheric elements. So far they released one single officially in 2017 which is ‘Reset:Rebuilt’.
The second band bas the British post-hardcore quintet You Win Again Gravity, from Windsor. Jack Jennings (vocals, guitar), Daniel Dreelan (guitar), James Mackenzie (drums), Johnny Bastable (guitar) and Andy Janson (bass) mix heavy music with melodic sections and soft, ambient touches. So far they released the two EP’s ‘Let Go Lightly’ (2015, self-released) and ‘What’s Left of the Distance’ (2016, self-released), as well as one debut album ‘Anyonymity’ in 2017 (self-released). Musically they show influences of bands such as Oceansize and Deaftones, creating metal combined with, technical prog-rock and melodic indie.
Next were the Indian prog-rock band The Multitude. Formed 2008 in Bangalore, Ashvin Devasundaram (guitars), Rajeev Ethiraj (drums), Tekin Irengun (vocals), Sukhbir Kalsi (vocals), Fabio Ramirez (bass) and Bret Sinclair (guitars) mix lyrically driven and melodic metal sound with hints of neo-classical elements layered onto progressive rock soundscapes to create a synergy between different audiences. So far, they released one EP in 2016 titled ‘The Globalisation Trilogy’ and plan to release their debut album in 2018.
The fourth band on the stage was Cohesion, an upcoming industrial-rock project that is spearheaded by founder, writer, arranger, performer and producer Stuart Cooney. To explore the limits of their music the open project uses a blend of contributing musicians which allows the listeners to experience the different personalities of each musician involved and gives each individual song a more unique flavour. Musically, the mix industrial sounding guitars with partly sung, spoken and roughly screamed vocals.
Finally, the last band of the evening was Confessions Of A Traitor. Luckily, there were a few more people arriving and lining themselves up in front of the stage. There was more energy around and the crowd seam to warm up a little bit. However, Stephen MacConville joined the crowd singing in front of the stage surrounded by the audience, jumping and running between them as well as animating them to engage. The audience was really hard to convince, in my opinion, but did get more involved during Confessions Of A Traitors show which shows how energetic their music and show was. In the end the fans even shouted for one more song which the band would happily have played when the venue wouldn’t have had such a tight time plan. Nonetheless, it shows once more how much the audience enjoyed the band’s performance and music.
The lights were kept simple for all of the bands keeping the focus on the actual music. Therefore, it was important to have a good sound with a decent mix of the vocals and instruments which luckily was offered.
Hence, in conclusion, it was a nice evening with well talented new and upcoming bands within the metal scene. Unfortunately, the crowd was very small and hard to motivate but got their energy back when Confessions Of A Traitor started their set. Both the bands and the crowd seamed to have a lot of fun and a special time 🙂
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A Special Time 