It’s Friday night at Rebellion in Manchester for what’s billed as a co-headline tour between Voivod and Midnight – with the French-Canadian stalwarts topping the bill. Doors were listed as 6pm but it’s gone by 7 by the time we’re moving, and a healthy-looking queue has built up behind us.
Cryptosis
Support comes from Cryptosis – a progressive thrash act from the Netherlands which should fit into tonight nicely. Progressive they certainly are and demonstrate readily; with elements from many different metal styles helping to create a dense technical soundscape. There’s blackened thrash with blast beats and rasping vocals, spooky industrial vibes, and elements of more traditional metal with carefully picked melodic solos. There’s even an aspect of power metal – I think from extensive use of synth pads and modulation effects – creating a fuller, symphonic sound that rings distinctly European, evoking bands such as Blind Guardian as well as the more obvious comparisons to Vektor (whom they’ve previously toured with).
Above all it is unrelentingly quick, and guitarist and vocalist Laurens Houvast is feeling the heat saying he’s “sweating balls” on stage. I’m not surprised given he’s wearing a thick leather shirt during summertime inside a small metal club! Whilst respectful, the crowd haven’t really gone wild for this, and they clearly don’t know much of the material. For me the synth effects have become just a bit too dominating. They seem at their best on lean, blackened thrash numbers, and song ‘Death Technology’ stands out from the pack – resembling old school Voivod in sound as well as song title. It’s a good end to things and maybe it’s just the crowd who are slow starters as that was certainly not slow!
Midnight
It’s absolutely rammed now ahead of Midnight’s set, with quite an age range across the audience. For those unaware, Midnight is largely the work of one-man army Jamie Walters – known as ‘Athenar’. He handles all writing and recording duties whilst performing live with various tour musicians (currently featuring ex Exciter guitarist Daniel Dekay). The project still feels in its relative infancy overall but tonight is a celebration of 15 years of the album ‘Satanic Royalty’.
They hit the stage with their trademark hooded faces, and the crowd seem on tenterhooks, ready for a party. “Are you up for some ‘Black Rock ‘n’ Roll’?” Athenar yells, and they tear into the song of the same name. It’s a good representation of their sound but with extra lashings of speed metal and punk thrown in. Next song ‘Evil Like a Knife’ pushes the pace further and a raucous, near euphoric mosh pit opens which barely stops for the entirety of the set. It’s not an original sound by any means but that doesn’t matter, and their influences are obvious in what sounds like a vicious melting pot of Motorhead, Discharge, Hellhammer, and Venom. Heck, during ‘Evil…’ I can even hear distinct overtones of ‘Deuce’ by Kiss!
Athenar and Dekay are a blur of constant movement and punk attitude on stage, and the room is totally theirs now with everyone at their beck and call. There are crowd surfers and stage divers galore – sometimes knocking the equipment over – but Midnight clearly love to get involved with their fans, helping people up on stage (and chucking them off) throughout. At one point they even manage to get a chant going for the UK’s Carlsberg Special Brew – as you do.
A full playthrough of ‘Satanic Royalty’ follows with the only let up in pace being ‘Black Damnation’ which is more rock ‘n’ roll than all out death ‘n’ roll. That doesn’t last long though and we’re soon into breakneck versions of ‘Violence on Violence’, ‘Savage Dominance’ and more. They sound absolutely brilliant; tight as a vice, with wailing guitars and howling solos aplenty. They somehow manage to make every song pack a different, individual punch – none moreso than iconic set-closer ‘FOAL’ (Fuck Off And Live) which threatens to become bigger than the band itself. The energy hasn’t dropped from start to finish, with Dekay even allowing some straining fans to strum at his dangling guitar as they exit. A wasteland of empty pint glasses lies in their wake. That was headline worthy.
Voivod
Voivod are going to have to go some to match that but then these guys are masters of their craft with more than one club in the bag. The audience has thinned out a little to begin with and it’s a noticeably older front few rows (me included!), but there’s still plenty of excitement in the air.
In front of a large LED backdrop displaying exemplars of drummer Michel “Away” Langevin’s highly acclaimed artwork, the band hit the stage with singer Denis “Snake” Bélanger loping around methodically, and gurning at people like his face was made from clay. A booming roar from the crowd shows that everyone is still here, swapping in volume for the busy-ness that went before.
‘Experiment’ from 1988’s ‘Dimension Hatross’ album is up first – a great example of their tales of science and a dystopian future where human beings are obsolete, and the world is run by Artificial Intelligence – oh no that’s just reality now! Despite their recent shifts into more prog territory, it’s a very old-school set overall, with only the second song ‘Obsolete Beings’ (from 2018’s terrific ‘The Wake’ album) originating in the 21st century.
Snake is on top form with his sharp, nasal voice piercing out through the room amidst wild grimaces and theatricality. He’s such an expressive performer and just knows how to work a crowd – even when performing has probably become water off a duck’s back to him by now. Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain is equally outstanding. A goofy, maniacal grin barely leaves his face, and at times it looks like he’s not even trying whilst reeling off mind melting solos. The band’s latter year renaissance has been widely credited to him after original guitarist Denis “Piggy” D’Amour’s tragic passing in 2005. What looked to be an impossible act to follow has now taken them into a fresh new dimension.
Current bassist Dominic “Rocky” Laroche looks equally fired up, switching places with Chewy (to avoid the dreaded Rebellion stage pillar), and then joining up to face off in the middle. We saw drummer Away setting up between sets and he’d come across as quite quiet and polite, almost meek. On stage he appears otherworldly and is visibly shuddering – but acting as a precise and laser-focused timekeeper. The band looks to be in real harmony and very settled in this current lineup.
They are promoting a new live album – ‘Symphonique’ – recorded with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, and a good deal of tonight’s set list overlaps with that show. ‘The Unknown Knows’ rings out like an intergalactic warning and is particularly well received amongst the crowd. ‘Nanoman’ is a rare treat to hear live with Snake having to stretch his voice into a rougher bark – this song was on 1995’s ‘Negatron’ album when Eric Forrest briefly stepped in on vocals. It’s a cacophony of noise with low quirky guitar sounds, and honking bass that sounds like a brass section at times.
They’re getting even better as the set continues and manage to squeeze in ‘Condemned to the Gallows’ which wasn’t on the original setlist. “Fuck the clock!” declares Bélanger whilst picking out a young, curly-haired fan to engage with; “It’s Baby Snake!” he jubilantly cries. They wrap things up with their alien-esque cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Astronomy Domine’ and traditional set closer ‘Voivod’ – to rapturous applause and cheering.
After 44 years in the game the band are busier than ever; with the live album, a new studio album in the works (as reported here), and even sorting the final touches for a video game entitled ‘The Nuclear Warrior’. And yet despite all this, here they are on UK shores treating us once again. Encore!
Setlist:
- Experiment
- Obsolete Beings
- Tribal Convictions
- Korgüll the Exterminator
- The Unknown Knows
- Nanoman
- Tornado
- War and Pain
- Condemned to the Gallows
- Astronomy Domine (Pink Floyd cover)
- Voivod
Review By Dave Yarwood
Photos by Rob Lindesay@rock.the.lens
