It’s a soggy Wednesday evening and those that have gathered inside the O2 Islington Academy 2 appear tired and uninterested. Clearly the only way to fix that is to witness three of the best upcoming UK hardcore bands completely blow the ears off everyone in attendance.
First up are Create To Inspire, a band that come at you like a bullet. Barely into the first note and 50% of the members are throwing themselves and their instruments around the floor whilst vocalist Sean Midson gets up close and personal with everyone in the audience, even the bar staff got some attention as he bellows out his words from the bar top surface. From start to finish they don’t dwindle, the energy is consistent and though the performance isn’t faultless, they make it a memorable one.
Next up it’s South coast melodic hardcore outfit Acres’ turn to take to the miniature stage and give everything they’ve got. With curdling riffs and crushing vocals, your attention is drawn to this band in an instant. Frontman Morgan is wolf-like in bearing his soul, his anger and his passion and delivering it all in bursts through the microphone. Encouraging each member of the small crowd to feel what they feel and though out of the three bands tonight they are the least raucous, you can see how they work together like a close-knit family to create a powerful atmosphere surrounding their music. Acres are certainly one of the better hardcore bands that this country has to offer.
Celebrating the release of recent album ‘Body Clocks’ Climates take to the stage in a flamboyant fashion and all of a sudden the crowd that started off thin has grown and are forcing themselves against the stage edge, screaming the words back at vocalist Wes Thompson, who cannot hide the grin that spreads as this happens. It’s undeniable that the performance Climates gave was a magnificent one; the joy of intimate shows such as this is that the band can really get up close and personal with the people that have faced the harsh weathers just to see them. They perform each track with pride, pricking up the ears of those who at first seemed a little uninterested. The crowd is firmly in the palm of their hand and they’re whisked into a thirty-minute frenzy of furious guitars and pounding drums, proving that head banging is certainly not a thing of the past.
Each of the performances proved just how much talent is harbouring within the hardcore scene at the moment and the passion that oozes out of each band is admirable. Though tonight wasn’t the most inspiring of shows, it won’t be long before all three acts are shouting in the faces of fans from much larger stages in the future.
TAMSYN WILCE