Killswitch Engage and Trivium w/ Miss May I and Battlecross at the O2 Academy Glasgow, 4/2/2014

Package tours are becoming more and more common, but few this year are likely to elicit the response that the announcement of Trivium and Killswitch Engage taking to the road together did.  These two metal titans have been on redemptive paths in the last few years.  Killswitch reuniting with Jesse Leach and remembering how to kick ass (although I was actually a Howard fan) and Trivium slowly rebuilding their damaged reputation and fighting back up to the top of the metal ladder (which they should have been on top of a long time ago.)

Before all that however we have Battlecross, who I have to be honest I only caught the end of.  Which I think I deserve credit for actually, seeing as I had class until five in Edinburgh and the gig started at half six in Glasgow.  No?  Oh well.  What I catch seems interesting enough.  Some impressive beards on show at least.  I didn’t really see enough to feel qualified to comment on them however, but you can check them out here.

Up next are Miss May I who appear to have been picked up by the hype machine lately.  You can kind of see why on this performance.  They are a metalcore band who, like a hell of a lot of metalcore bands, take a bit too much influence from tonight’s headliners.  However there is enough in the few songs we hear to suggest that there might be a future to these guys if they can define a sound for themselves.  The crowd certainly seemed to enjoy them so they can’t be doing too much wrong.

Next up is the start of the main events and as Trivium’s stage set is put together, the excitement in the room noticeably rises.  With a bit of a Seventh Son of a Seventh Son era Maiden vibe going on, with chunks of ice flanked by two giant T’s, it’s a cool looking get up.  Throw in copious amounts of dry ice when the band hit the stage and Trivium certainly look the part.  Therefore it’s a shame that they just don’t sound the part, with the whole set just feeling a bit flat.  “Brave This Storm” doesn’t crackle and snap in the way you hope it would, instead it just is.  There is nothing dangerous about this new style Trivium.  That’s not to say all the new songs fail to stand up.  “Strife” being the perfect example, which is as big live as it is on record.  However, when placed next to the old stuff there is an obvious gulf in class.  When they launch into “A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation” the mood in the room noticeably rises and the closing two punch of “In Waves” and “Pull Harder…” is by far the highlight of the set.  Sadly the reliance on the new songs makes the show as a whole feel flat, Trivium can be so much better than this and everyone knows it.

In saying all that I don’t think it actually matters by the end of the night, because to put it simply Trivium could have played the best show they’ve ever done and they wouldn’t have been able to touch the headliners.  Since Jesse Leach came back Killswitch seem determined to remind everyone just what made this band so brilliant in the first place.  There is a reason you can walk into any metal club in the world and hear 50 songs that sound exactly like Killswitch.  They are just that damn good.

Opening with “A Bid Farewell”, right from the start this feels urgent and vital.  There’s no theatrics or flashy stage show.  There’s just Jesse Leach and co kicking the arse out of it.  Yes Adam D. is still hilariously unfunny when he decides it’s time to do his shtick.  However no one really cares, because when they slip into a song everything just seems right in the world.  Jesse sounds as good as he ever did on his own tracks like “Last Serenade” (which they almost forgot to play) and he has taken admirably to the task of filling Howard’s shoes on the more vocal heavy numbers like “The End of Heartache”.  He may not be able to sing quite to the level of Jones, but he is doing a damn good job of giving it a try.  While the latest material already feels like old favourites, with the likes of “The New Awakening” not seeming at all out of place in amongst the classics.

If you haven’t seen Killswitch Engage since Leach returned to the fore, then you are seriously doing something wrong with your life.  They are currently one of the best live experiences on the planet.  These are the kinds of shows people will be talking about for years to come and you don’t want to be the one that missed them.