Devil Sold His Soul

Digital

Wed 16^th Feb

Support From:

This Is Massacre

Feed The Rhino

It's not often that gigs are held in the Sea Front night club that is Digital and what a shame. Although it smells like a cross between a gym and a sun fried poo, the sound is astounding through what has been called one of “the best sound systems in Europe”. This coupled with the club lights offers something different than what you can find anywhere else in Brighton.

First band on of the night were This Is Massacre supporting release of their new EP 'We cannot be saved'. With a legion of excited fans showing their support a mosh pit opens up within seconds of them storming the stage.

Their sound is clear and distinct, with kick pedals sounding extra beefy through the above head height speakers. 

The band come across in the medium ground between new age mainstream Thrash and Hardcore by the likes of Bullet For My Valentine and Bring Me The Horizon with their fresh post-emo look. However this falls with the bass player, who was so overcome with his alternativeness that the useless scarf he was wearing was actually deadening his strings on his bass, perhaps he should concentrate more on substance than style.

Their set however is very entertaining and the music is well balanced between Metal and Melody as to leave a lasting impression and makes me want to further check out their EP.

The last song they played was the title track to their new EP 'We Cannot Be saved' which saw them shooting a video. Although a few mistakes it is bound to look visually impressive with the mosh pits and screaming fans singing the lyrics back. This Is Massacre have come a long way in the year since I last saw them and it would appear that not much is going to slow this down.

Rochester's Feed The Rhino were up next, fresh from a tour with Gallows the band were shrouded in mystery for their first Brighton. The elusive t-shirt that read; Feed The Fucking Rhino, is also bound to confuse older generations who cannot understand why a shirt would so aggressively command you to feed a 2 ton African plained Mammal.

Their stage presence showed more confidence than the previous band ripping through track after track to the ultimate in audience participation: mosh/circle pits and a brutal wall of death. With a dual Telecaster assault their sound was predominantly Hardcore based, with small influences from Math and Class Rock. The energetic front man squeezed every ounce of energy out of the crowd, climbing on top of speakers and even joining the mosh pit himself.

Feed The Rhino are quickly picking up a name for themselves with fans and bands alike and can be next seen at Hammerfest III.

Headlining the gig were underground Post-Hardcore Rockers Devil Sold His Soul. Having not know what to expect, they walked out to an eerie ambient and classically inspired backing track waiting for the drop. The sound that came out of the speakers next was nothing short of insane. Making full use of the in house sound system and the six double 21' subs. Standing next to the speakers actually caused my eyes to shake and made it difficult to breathe.

What Devil Sold His Soul do is very original using the guitars and synth to create textured sound scapes that are almost trancing in effect. These all build up to dramatic climaxes with the release of tension through groove and screamed vocals.

Not being very aware of the bands music I listened to them on CD back at home, and was very disappointed, having not transferred that live sound into the recordings, making the epic-ness of the night at Digital seem like a very privileged event.

With so many venues closing last year in Brighton, it was very concerning for the live scene. But now with The Green Door Store opening this trend seems to have changed. Lets just hope that Digital can do the same.

Underground