Live review from Heavy 18
1. Diamond Maze
2. Life & Death
3. Signal of Silence
4. Exile
5. Imperfection
Some Heavy bands act as a buffer to break the crowd slowly into progressively angrier music. Not Sensation Circle, who decided the best way to kick off The Underground’s last Heavy of the year was to get punters moshing from the off. Opening song Diamond Maze drew upon the metalcore dynamism of bands like Chiodos, The Haunted and Architects as lead singer Marco crowed like an irate rooster.
The vocalist channeled Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes’s glottal velociraptor-style yells on Life & Death, which saw drummer KaYiu exert himself over some rolling death rhythms. Lister’s bass was tuned so low that the strings bobbled sinisterly, giving the song a sludgy feel. But that was just them getting started: on rager Signal of Silence, the band hit its stride with hoarse, indecipherable vocals evoking the sound of fellow HK metallers Black Night Red Sky. Marco’s yelps blended with guitarists Yen and Kin as they moved from low staccato riffing to melodic chords.
On Exile, barked lyrics and a rat-a-tat snare recalled While She Sleeps, as the guitarists reared up a venomous, two-headed onslaught. Lister embellished his bobbles with hair flicks and neat licks, bringing to mind, elements of Slayer in his rapid, aggressive style. Final song Imperfection was a metal melee of Slipknot’s pinch harmonic squeals from Ken and simple yet punchy metal playing from Yin. Lister almost burned through his E-string as he delivered a pummeling bassline, while fighting fans became fevered as they foamed in the pit below.
– El Jay
