There were two reasons for opting to cover this sold out show in Manchester, firstly I wanted to see Ghosts of Atlantis again on the back of their exceptional new album ‘Riddles Of The Sycophant’ and secondly whether this tour was dubbed as an anniversary or not, Fear Factory’s ‘Obsolete’ album is on its 25 year anniversary which when you look at the set list more or less confirms my assumption. As usual the journey to Manchester was ridiculous, nearly two hours to cover a journey of about 45 miles from the Leeds area is fast becoming untenable and painful to endure.

It wasn’t helped by the driving rain either so I set off insanely early to get there and chill in the University bar for an hour before heading off to get my pass from the exceedingly polite and pleasant University staff member on the box office desk. It also appeared that Butcher Babies were doing a meet and greet as I briefly saw Heidi Shepherd with a throng of enthusiastic, but nervous looking punters, getting some sort of speech from her.

Onto the evening itself and for some reason the door time was scheduled as 7pm but didn’t open until about 7.07 which was senseless because Ghosts of Atlantis were due on 7.10 which meant they only had about 20 people watching them for the first song or so as their intro led into ‘The Curse Of Man’ from the debut release ‘3/6/2/4’.

With a dual vocal performance from frontman Phil Primmer and assisted by clean vocals from stage right guitarist Colin Parks the band had some similarities to Countless Skies but with added backing track symphonics to increase the depth of the sound. The band was a whirl of activity on stage, each member poised to engage with the crowd for their short 30 minute set which had a sound far too loaded with kick drum and bass unfortunately.

However, it didn’t dull the spirits of the crowd as they launched into ‘Sacramental’ from the said new album. On album the band is rich in dynamics, tempo variations adorned with impacting guitar work and excellent vocal arrangements as here they translated their material very well to an appreciative and now much bigger audience.

Chat was minimal as the sound seemed to improve for ‘The Lycaon King’ or my ears had adjusted to it so I could hear the guitar work far better. They ended their set with ‘Lands of Snow’ as again the dual vocal arrangements made a huge difference to how memorable the band was on the night, especially the clean vocal lines which was no mean feat considering he was playing guitar as well and was practically note perfect for their entire set.

I had no idea as to the style that Ukrainian act Ignea was about to deliver in their set, their front woman was a blaze of activity and if I’m honest it did come across as a little forced and scripted. The four piece abounded with confidence as the members skipped around the stage more or less having to choreograph their movements due to the drum kit being near the front.

Noticeably one of the members was sporting a keytar which initially I couldn’t hear at all, though clearly the band uses it as a focus for being unique much like Epica utilise, though musically this was very different. Utilising a modern metal stance the band kicked their set off with ‘Dunes’ from their latest album ‘Dreams of Lands Unseen’ from which all the songs were pulled from for their set.

Musically this wasn’t quite my thing but I could appreciate the enthusiasm as vocalist Helle Bogdanova performed deep growls along with a fine clean tone and switching with ease between them much like acts such as Jinjer, Infected Rain and Vexed. ‘Camera Obscura’ followed and had a fine riff I really liked as the band danced enjoying every moment, along with the crowd who seemed very knowledgeable of their material.

Helle thanked us for coming out and supporting her country during the current ongoing conflict and said the next song was about a spirit living in the Carpathian mountains which she urged us to come and visit once it was safe to do so and aired ‘Bosorkun’ to a now very full venue. I did appreciate the background explanations to the songs, something bands don’t seem to do that often these days as she stated the next was about a woman who travelled the world and documented her journey.

Surprisingly the song began with what I’d deem as an acapella start by Helle singing alone, though there was a light backing track before the modernised metal started the song properly. The crowd loved Ignea from start to finish and even though I was left a little indifferent they clearly garnered a whole new host of fans who I hope picked up some merch from downstairs to support them.

By the time Butcher Babies were due to start their set the venue was rammed solid to the point of being too full. For some reason venues these days seem far more packed, as though they are being oversold making it very uncomfortable to even stand and watch bands without being seemingly constantly jostled and bumped by people passing by.

I saw the Butcher Babies at Bloodstock in 2022 and was fairly impressed with what they had to offer. Unfortunately they were down to one singer, namely Heidi, as Carla has had recent eye surgery which mean she couldn’t make the European leg of the tour. Be that as it may Heidi took full opportunity to become centre stage as the band started with ‘Backstreets Of Tennessee’ when they all arrived on stage at the same time as opposed to the blokes coming on first before the front woman.

With an immediate windmill headbanging the band was frenetic and bouncy from the start and it seemed to me that a great number of people had purely come out just to see Butcher Babies. ‘Red Thunder’ followed as noticeably the number of people using phones to video or take shots was ridiculous and was not seen for the other bands except Fear Factory, especially when you see the phones all moving in unison to video Heidi which came across as creepy to be honest.

Be that as it may, ‘Monsters Ball’ was linked with ‘King Pin’ which was preceded by Heidi saying this song was written to see the crowd move which was a cliché but sufficient to get the crowd indeed moving despite the lack of space and ably joined by said front woman leaping from various locations into the air gymnastically at every available opportunity.

Cynically speaking I could say this band isn’t anything much without their two front women, but plainly the crowd love what they have to offer and were in some respects the heaviest band of the night as by now I was becoming increasingly frustrated at not being able to see anything no matter where I stood so vacated to the Uni bar to catch up with my shooter Andy to dissect the evening so far where we both in agreement with our summations.

There is no denying that, well to me anyway, Fear Factory spearheaded what is now called the groove metal subgenre even though back in the early 90s they were primarily a death metal band where I was lucky enough to see the band support Brutal Truth in 1993 at Bradford Rios where they completely blew the grinders off the stage. This was my seventh time seeing the band and whilst I lost touch with the band in their intervening new millennium years and tours I have back-tracked and bought all their back catalogue as they continue to release decent albums some 30 years in. As I said earlier ‘Obsolete’ is on its 25 year anniversary and judging by the crowd I don’t think a great many of them were even born when it was released but they knew the material of the entire set back to front and from start to finish.

Noticeably there was a Thin Lizzy playlist being aired before they came on which was followed by the Terminator 2 film theme starting as the lights dimmed and a roar of approval emanated from the crowd. Thankfully I managed to find a spot down the right side against the wall as the band gave us the opening doublet from said ‘Obsolete’ release of ‘Shock’ and ‘Edgecrusher’. For those of us who have seen Burton C. Bell through the years Milo Silvestro was a fine replacement duplicating the style founded by Burton and emphasised continually over the course of their albums. I thought he did a good job of mixing the deep vocals with the soaring clean tones and whilst depth wise he wasn’t as defined as Burton the crowd loved his approach as the band frenziedly stalked the stage at every opportunity.

Indeed the only original member in the band is the inimitable Dino, who was an absolute riff monster alongside the exceptional drumming talent of Pete Webber who replicated every kick drum pattern to perfection. The crowd was chanting Dino as he announced ‘Recharger’ where every band member engaged in headbanging never allowing a moment to pause as they crashed into ‘Dielectric’ with its very cool riff indeed. The pit was in full flow by now and watching its action it almost looked polite unlike some I’ve seen over the years which are pure carnage as the band played ‘Powershifter’ which the crowd knew instantly. Every time a chorus break appeared the crowd bellowed in unison and at times they were louder than the band themselves which gives you an indication as to how loud they were on the night. A huge change in pace followed when ‘Freedom Or Fire’ was linked with ‘Descent’ both from the ‘Obsolete’ album.

Possibly the loudest cheer was heard when the riff to ‘Linchpin’ started up and is possibly the song that singlehandedly broke the band globally in the early 2000s. I love this song and like every single person in the venue did my best to remember the lyrics as the pit went apeshit and people sang their hearts out. Chats were minimal but pointed as ‘What Will Become’ was preceded by a short pause for the band to get its breath alongside the crowd. The bounce that ensued when the song kicked in was huge as Dino said he would never play the next song live and promptly played ‘Archetype’ to a crowd who knew every lyric and sang it boisterously.

Clearly Dino was the spokesperson for the band and those of you who saw the band many years back know he was often greeted with chants of “you fat bastard” which he mentioned after they played ‘Martyr’ from the band’s ground-breaking debut opus ‘Soul Of A New Machine’. The crowd knew this song too singing the section of “suffer, bastard” extremely loudly. Sticking with old school stuff the band stayed in the mid-90s and played ‘Demanufacture’, yet another unique tune in Fear Factory’s armoury as the pit seemed to expand with ever increasing diameter.

The stage set up was minimal which I really liked, blazing monochromatic lights with a simple band logo, which all the bands had I should add, meant you focused on the music completely as I did expect the band to play ‘Self Bias Resistor’ next but instead Dino said the next song is the last one, then changed his mind and said the next two will be last and played ‘Zero Signal’. At this point I wanted to get out before the melee of people heading off to the toilets as they ended their fine show with set favourite ‘Replica’ to rapturous approval.

This was a fine night of modern metal from bands old and new as I’m sure all the bands will continue to garner appeal in the future as I headed off into the damp night of Manchester to drive home.

Review: Martin Harris

Photos: Andy Pountney (@shot_in_the_dark_photography2)