Whilst Sheffield favourites While She Sleeps were away, the rock and metal community waited patiently for the ferocious five-piece to come back. And come back they did, in glorious style with their long-awaited album ‘You Are We’, a visceral and raw punch. In the three days that it was released, it had sold more copies than their 2015 effort ‘Brainwashed’ and looked to continue with brilliant sales. But what everyone really wanted was for Loz and co. to come back and tear up stages like they once did; their patience was rewarded with tonight’s second sold-out show at The Dome.
But before While She Sleeps can have a chance to destroy the stage, Leeds quintet Fizzy Blood are given the task of warming up tonight’s eager crowd. Their quirky guitar work and melodic hooks, combined with fantastic vocals, makes for a great opener.
They’re quickly followed by Australian metalcore outfit In Heart’s Wake, who really up the ante. Great slabs of power and doses of fun sees the group dish out huge riffs and thunderous drumwork; ending their set with vocalist Jake Taylor crowd-surfing on top of their inflatable crocodile Chester is always a great laugh.
Throughout both the sets, both the temperature and excitement has been mounting as the clock ticks ever closer to tonight’s headliners. And when While She Sleeps take to the stage, it all becomes a beautiful and sweaty chaos.
Speed and aggression are crushed together, creating absolute anthems in the form of ‘Civil Isolation’ and ‘Wide Awake’ – such tracks whip the crowd up into a frenzy, with circle pits constantly opening and closing, and people climbing on top of one another to reach the stage and bellow the lyrics back to the band. The harmonies are huge, the guitar licks are fast and furious, and the vocals… the vocals are something else entirely. It’s during the likes of ‘This Is the Six’ and ‘Four Walls’ that you see just how much Loz Taylor has allowed his vocal range to grow; they’re frenetic and drip with power and vitriol.
Single ‘Silence Speaks’ simply smashes through the crowd – it’s powerful and colossal and, when Bring Me the Horizon’s Oli Sykes jumps on stage for his part, it becomes a layered beauty. The difference in vocals between Loz and Oli adds depth, as well as giving the crowd another shot of energy.
While She Sleeps sign off with ‘Hurricane’, a track that unites the crowd during the massive chorus of “It’ll take a hurricane / To clean up all the mess we made”. Looking around and seeing sweaty, smiling faces across the length of The Dome, it’s clear to see that the return of While She Sleeps has been very, very well-received. And, going based on tonight’s success, something will be very, very wrong if ‘You Are We’ isn’t the band’s ticket to something far bigger and better.
JESS TAGLIANI
