Live Review: Infected Rain - Rebellion, Manchester
30th August 2023
Support: Skarlett Riot
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Tim Finch
Returning to Blighty soon after their Bloodstock appearance, Moldovan Metal crew, Infected Rain have set up a couple of dates before their headline show tomorrow night at Swindon’s Depravation Festival, alongside Raging Speedhorn, Evile, Discharge, and many more.
Before Swindon - not Sweden - we get to see Infected Rain in London and Manchester, so I popped along to the Rebellion Bar to see the band in their own show. Sadly, due to work commitments and nightmare traffic, I miss support act, Skarlett Riot, which is a real shame as I enjoyed them when they stepped up to play the Bloodstock main stage a couple of years ago and, with them being buoyed by the very recent memory of their Stonedead Friday night slot with Di’Anno and The Quireboys last week, I imagine them to have used those twenty-four months wisely. Hopefully, I’ll get to catch them again on the road before too long.
A swift return to Manchester, after their support slot with Amaranthe and Dragonforce back in March, finds Infected Rain in fine form and playing in front of a packed Friday crowd; without giving too much away, I personally found the band’s performance tonight superior to their show at Catton Park a few weeks ago. Maybe it was aching feet, or the mission impossible of having to follow Carcass that day, but the more intimate setting of the Rebellion Bar seems to bring out the band’s more menacing qualities.
It's obvious that Infected Rain would focus on Time, the band’s most recent album, and almost the whole of that record gets played at some point tonight. From the opening ambience of A Second or a Thousand Years to the first encore of Enmity, ten of Time’s tracks have found their way into the show.
Vivarium is made around another ambient opening before dropping into hard-hitting, and Eastern-flavoured riffs; Lighthouse tracks more closely to the female-fronted Gothic Metal that was all the rage a couple of decades ago; while the closing set duo Never to Return and Because I Let You fire along with the most modern of sounding progressions.
Away from Time, the opening version of The Realm of Chaos sets Infected Rain’s intention perfectly. Although this Ecdysis track was originally a duet with Butcher Baby Heidi Shepherd, Lena doesn’t let that stop her stamping her authority early on Manchester tonight. Whether singing clean or screaming guttural aches, Lena – or Elena Cataraga – has the voice to match Infected Rain’s musical direction.
Having formed a partnership with guitarist Vadim – Vadick- Ojog at the very inception of the band has allowed these two to demonstrate an almost psychic understanding of how they work together. It might be due to the Moldovan origin of Infected Rain that they do not seem bound by any prevailing trends, leaving them free to explore whatever musical avenue they choose.
The grooving nu influences come to the fore on Orphan Soul, from 2017’s 86 album, which has the room singing the song back to the stage, word-perfect, hands raised aloft.
Dying Light had Lena and Vadick swirling dreads at the lip of Rebellion’s stage, as rhythm section, Eugen Voluta and bassist Alice Lane lay down some twisted and hard-hitting grooves. A couple of hopeful stage invaders chance their arm, before Lena has the whole of the venue crouch, ready for a jump-da-fuck-up moment. As she has the crowd eating out of the palm of her hands by this point, we duly oblige, and Manchester shows Infected Rain what it’s all about.
The oldest of Infected Rain’s tunes on offer tonight is the show closer, Sweet, Sweet Lies from the 2014 album, Embrace Eternity, which Lena insists come with the tradition of a circle pit involving everybody in the place. At one point, even Vadick is rotating as he plays, such is the power of Lena’s insistence.
In many ways Sweet, Sweet Lies is the perfect set closer as it shows all Infected Rain’s skills: whether going for a raucous scream or a delicate vocal line, they’re all here; and there are more calls to jump which, on a Friday evening is more than this fifty-four-year-old can muster. Next time, I’m bringing a note from my mum.
Cards on the table: I wasn’t expecting more than a thoroughly competent show from Infected Rain tonight. At Bloodstock they were good, but in a setting like the Rebellion Bar, which is small and suited to bringing out the best and most intense aspects of bands, the Moldovan’s were supreme. Catch them if you can, you’ll be glad you did!
Photo credits: Tim Finch Photography
