Live Review: Atreyu – Wolverhampton

Local trio Leave No Witness get the party started in style at one of their biggest ever gigs to date. Having been in Subside myself for their set in Birmingham earlier this week, it's certainly a change of pace! With big choruses and nasty breakdowns they impress a good portion of the crowd, and get a few jumping for the bouncy 'Malice'. They're a solid live unit, with their singer impressing with measured cleans and powerful screams. Both he and their guitarist make full use of the big space onstage in an energetic half hour. They end their performance with the catchy '2 Years On', their latest single, showing their gratitude and leaving to big cheers and presumably with plenty of new fans.

Scotland's North Atlas follow with a catchy brand of industrial-tinged alternative. They look the part with dark stage wear, a mass of windmilling hair, and all four contributing to vocals. With elements of Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails and Korn in their sound, there's definitely an element of familiarity to what they do, but with their strong melodic sensibilities and impassioned performance, it doesn't sound dated. Towards the end of the set, they bring out some extra percussion for a dramatic finale to one of their songs, as the band hammer a rhythmic pulse to create an unexpectedly tribal, ritualistic atmosphere. It's definitely a memorable talking point and something different from the rest of the performance. They seem to have caught the attention of several in the crowd tonight and their singer is quick to greet audience members after coming offstage.

Now in their 25th year of existence - with a short hiatus a decade ago - Californian metalcore quintet Atreyu show no signs of slowing down a couple of weeks after the release of their third (!) EP this year, and a couple more before the release of the full-length 'The Beautiful Dark of Life', bringing all three EPs, and a couple more surprises, into one. Having supported Bullet For My Valentine in the spring, my lasting overarching impression of that performance was simply 'fun', though this time the night is theirs. Lighting up the room with Darude's 'Sandstorm' before they come on, this evening will be more of the same!

Opening with a powerful 'Drowning', they command the stage from the word go, with several members getting involved in the vocal harmonies, creating powerful choruses and hooks. They get the crowd clapping and singing along seemingly with ease over 'Becoming the Bull'. Compared to some of their peers in metalcore and the New Wave of American Heavy Metal, they focus more on big songwriting with a rock feel, rather than playing faster or harder than anyone else. Judging by tonight's energy in the crowd, it's a way of doing things that's succeeded for them. They still show, though, that they can work the crowd into a circle pit for a blistering 'When Two Are One'. Home to some excellent drumming and lead guitar work, it's proof there's plenty of heaviness to go around.

I've seen very few bands put on a show like Atreyu. Members swapping instruments for 'Bleeding Mascara' is a cool touch, notably with frontman Brandon jumping back behind the drum stool, his old role in the band. However, it eventually descends into several in the band chugging beers given to them from the crowd, laugh out loud stage banter and even doughnuts being thrown out into the audience towards the end.

Guitarist Dan unexpectedly pulls out a saxophone for the encore, playing 'Careless Whisper', 'Never Gonna Give You Up' and 'Tequila' to rile the gig-goers into a party mood, before chugging a pint. It's utterly ridiculous, in a pure rock and roll way. Atreyu then top this with an unmissable full band performance of Whitney Houston's 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' to close the night. They'd asked their crowd on the Bullet For My Valentine tour earlier this year if they should come back to the UK with a full cover of it, after jokingly starting their encore with a singalong of it that time around. Turns out they were only half kidding!

Yet there's plenty to remind us why they're one of the greats of their scene. The one-two of the relatively recent 'The Time Is Now' and old-school favourite 'Ex's and Oh's' really gets the crowd singing along, a true musical high point of the evening. 'Gone', a new song, also goes down very well, with bassist Porter showing his appreciation for the crowd singing along even to their newer material after having been playing as long as Atreyu have. 'Battle Drums' breaks up the set nicely with its heavy industrial-tinged sonic power and light show. Despite having battled a cold for a week, vocalist Brandon is on good form today, and you wouldn't have guessed he'd been suffering based on the merits of tonight's performance.