Chelsea Grin/Carnifex w. The Convalescence, Varials & Bodysnatcher – Manchester Rebellion.

It’s the roll up to Christmas, and what better way to make use of the festive season than attending Chelsea Grin and Carnifex’s co-headlining tour, with their sold out Manchester shows?. Its freezing in Manchester, but Rebellion is so packed out you’re not going to freeze tonight! With this co-headlining tour, we have three incredible supporting bands, The Convalescence, Varials & Bodysnatcher, it’s not a surprise that both Manchester dates were completely sold out.

The Convalescence

Up first to kick off this insane collab tour, is The Convalescence, a death metal band from Ohio doing their first run of the UK. Every member covered head to toe in face paint, each member having their own unique look.

If you want heavy you’re going to get it here. The growls coming from these guys is out of control. It’s insane, first out of 5 and a pit is forming, two steps are happening and the breakdowns are making the building shake!

Varials

Varials take to the stage next, a hardcore band based out in Philadelphia. And they 100% know how to get the crowd moving! This is part of the show where everyone wakes up even more and is moving like mad to the music. Playing songs from their latest album Scars For You To Remember the crowd was blown away, at the energy, the stage presence and every single song they played was just incredible. There were people in this crowd who hadn’t heard of these guys and its obvious they’re now hooked! Get listening to these guys then go to a show, because its without a doubt worth it!

Bodysnatcher

Bodysnatcher are the final support of the night before the two main events! They get onto the stage with a plethora of aggro that just oozes out into the crowd. With their latest album Bleed being released in April 2022, they were ready to most likely make the crowd bleed with these mosh pits taking place tonight! Bodysnatcher are a product of early 2010’s metal, where it was just edge, heavy breakdowns and intense riffs like no other, all together as part of a mix of not caring. And that was the stage presence i saw tonight with these guys, from the front to the back there was no escaping the chaos going on, on that floor, if you want to avoid it stay to the sides or at the top of the stairs because you’re not getting away from anything. A blend of bouncy, bright and quick percussion against murky and dreary guitars, that run the oppressive chugs to groovy, ear-catching riffs, these guys can put on a show alright!

Chelsea Grin

What a way to end the year, with this insane deathcore gig and now it’s time to see the one the only Chelsea Grin take to the stage. Here to support the release of their brand new album Suffer In Hell. On this tour, while playing a bunch of songs from the new album, as to be expected, you have to go back to the debut for the fans.

The band is still producing incredible music, and Tom Barber goes above and beyond with his vocals, being able to sing the previous vocalist Alex Koehler’s era of songs. Hearing songs like Hostage, Crewcabanger & Lifeless was a way to bring everyone back to the OG era perfectly, the most pit was open wide, and everyone was running around like they didn’t have a care in the world. Shirts were off and being thrown around, you would honestly think it wasn’t -7 outside in that moment, no one had a care in the world, everyone in this venue was having the time of their lives!

Vocalist Tom Barber never takes himself too seriously on stage, which is always good to see bands still able to have fun with what they’re doing, as he was most of the time dancing humorously to the heavy instruments, keeping the serious performance the way it should be but also making the entire atmosphere more relaxed.

Set list:

Crewcabanger
Anathema of Sick
Cheyne Stokes
Disgrace
Lifeless
Recreant
My Damnation
Playing With Fire
Dead Rose
Origin of Sin
Flood Lungs
The Isnis
Suffer in Hell, Suffer in Heaven
Hostage

Carnifex

And finally, Carnifex is ready to finish up this insane night! Touring to promote their 2021 album Graveside Confessions, and their recently released 2022 edition of their song, Lie To My Face, it’s time to close the night in style.

The band kicks things off perfectly, to this hyped up crowd. With the deathcore demographic, the fans are as loyal as they come, they stick around for the little guys and make sure they give a full amount of support each and every time. And the loyalty doesn’t go away tonight, with a packed out room of fans from the front to back, screaming at the top of their lungs, and moshing as if their lives depended on it. The shout ‘what the fuck’ during Lie To My Face as well as Hell Chose Me seeing this in person was a next level feeling; you can see the pride on the band’s face as they look out into this room of people.