Live Review: Vower – Manchester

Having reviewed their latest EP, “A Storm Lined with Silver” I was intrigued to see what Brighton’s post-rocker’s Vower would be like live, so I headed up to Manchester, on a very chilly evening, to watch them another great venue in the city, Gorilla.

Due to the early start time, I missed a few songs from support act Giant Walker, but the room was busy enough when I walked in, as the heavy progressive rock band from Newcastle are in full flow, singing “Make Me”. Vocalist Steff Fish has a wonderfully expressive voice, which helps to create a warm and inviting atmosphere on this cold night, as they play a few more progressive songs to get the crowd moving.

They combine simple intro’s, with bluesy type riffs and pleasing bass lines as their soundscapes shift between ambient and melancholy, before Fish says, “We’ve got 2 more songs, so thanks to the crew and for you lot for coming out early to watch us”. They proceed with the excellent “Optophobia” and finish with “The Fact in Fiction” which bounces along seamlessly and sees more heads bopping along, leaving to rich applause.

A rumbling, haunting intro tape tells us that a storm is coming, as four of Vower enter the stage to big cheers and start playing. Singer Josh McKeown arrives and immediately screams “MANCHESTER” as they hit their stride with opener “Stuck”. His voice is good and comes across well in the live environment, and with the big bass sound of Rory McLean coming through, it’s a positive start to the show.

“Let’s fucking go Manchester” as they flow in “Deadweight” with McKeown being a commanding presence on stage. “It’s so pleasing to be stood here” he says with a smile, before one of the songs of the night for me, “False Rituals”. The tempo changes are impressive, with that post-hardcore edge to it, which adds to the energy of the band. There’s a soft piano introduction for the majestic “Moth Becomes The Flame”, as the heavy and dark guitars come over the top, and when combined with the powerful drumming from Liam Kearley, creates a wonderful feeling.

“This is fucking mental, we just write songs and play them, thanks” says a clearly moved frontman to the packed venue, as they move onto “Dawn in Me”. He thanks those who came to their last Manchester show, which he says, “was shit” because he had a chest infection, as a drum solo leads into “In The Wake of Failure” and he blows a kiss to the crowd as they sing the words back to him. “Serpent” is much calmer at the start, before the riff comes along and kicks it into gear but the moment when the singer mouthed “god damn” to energetic drummer McLean, made me smile.

They play the latest song they’ve written for their new album which “has no title, so enjoy” and it follows in a similar vein, with evocative soundscapes over post-metal riffs, before playing “a song you might all know” as the crowd sing along to “Satellites”. He circles his finger ahead of “Shroud” asking “how do you feel about a bit of?” and the crowd kick off a bit of pit before they end the evening with “Eyes of a Nihilist” as the frontman encourages us “to let it all out” before saying that “without you this isn’t possible”. It was an encouraging performance from them, and I doubt I’ll be seeing them at venues of this size again any time soon, as stardom clearly awaits.