Motionless In White // Fit For A King // Brand Of Sacrafice // Live Review // The 02 Academy – Birmingham
Motionless in White has been unstoppable in recent years, especially after their most recent album, Scoring The End of The World, so when I saw they were heading the Academy in Birmingham, I jumped at the opportunity to cover the show. Motionless in
White was the first show that I covered with Rock ‘n’ Load, so being able to essentially go back to where I started was an additionally great feeling. On my way to the venue, I was also pleasantly surprised to see Brand of Sacrifice and Fit For a King as the night’s support, so to say I was excited for the night would be an understatement.
After a short wait in the venue, Brand of Sacrifice hit the stage. Brand of Sacrifice is a band that I’ve been following for a few years now, anything inspired by Berserk is worth checking out, and they do not disappoint live. Every aspect of the performance was tight, aggressive and as in-your-face as you want a deathcore band to be. Eclipse was my highlight, alongside seeing an endless wave of crowd surfers from pretty much the start of their set, which set the tone of the night moving forward perfectly. A damn great set, and I’m excited to see them again as soon as I get a chance.
Photography:
Dan Stapleton
Fit For a King were the next band up after an incredibly short changeover, and my god I’m so happy to of finally seen them live. The set was practically flawless in both sound and performance, with some absolutely disgusting breakdowns and vocals that truly show the band’s sheer talent. Ryan Kirby may be the best metalcore vocalist in the scene at this moment in time, and it’s hard to find a bass player as fun to watch as Ryan O’Leary, spinning around endlessly like a jet fuel-propelled Beyblade. An Absolutely phenomenal performance and one I’m glad I got to see.
Photography:
Dan Stapleton
Finally, we had the night’s main event, Motionless in White. MIW have been consistently going from strength to strength since I first found the band back in my teenage years, and it’s such a great sightseeing a band that has worked as hard as they have headlined the bigger venues now, and in doing so too, they’ve brought in some damn good production value. Backing dancers, performers throwing sparks across the stage, poi dancers, you name it, they brought it, and it added an extra element of performance into what was also an outrageously tight set. The crowd was absolutely feral for the show, and the energy was some of the best I’ve ever felt at a gig this size, and the setlist was just incredible, with my personal highlights being Meltdown, Abigail and Voices.
Genuinely, this show left me speechless. Each band was on top form, the crowd were absolutely lovely and despite selling out before a single support act was announced, the crowd also devoured the sets from both supports. Motionless in white is showing no signs of slowing down, and if this is anything to go by, I can’t wait to see how the band step it up next when they’re looking at the arena circuit instead.
Photography:
Dan Stapleton
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