Live Review: Allegaeon – Rebellion, Manchester
10th September 2026
Support: Gorod, Defects, BruteAllies
Words: Matthew Williams
Photos: Rich Price
Due to some small football team in Stretford playing on a Thursday night, the roads around the M56 and into Manchester city centre were busier than usual, so I arrived late at Rebellion and missed opening act BruteAllies. I hope to catch them again, as I’ve heard good things.
Next up were rising metal stars Defects. With Tony Maue at the helm, they play a blend of heavier, alternative metalcore with soaring melodies packed alongside aggressive rhythms. Playing a few songs from their soon to be released album, they launch into the title song “Artificial Icons” followed by “Signs”, as their flashing sign lights up the venue. They have a mighty drum sound and plenty of deep, throaty screams and the two guitarists offer an expansive range of riffs.
With phones held aloft, the torches are out for “Dream Awake” and the double bass kicks in with solos fired off from both sides of the stage. There’s a throwback to the snappy snare sound of Therapy’s “Teethgrinder” on “End of Days” before the thunderous “Critic” is performed. Maue introduces their latest single “Where Did I Go Wrong” which showcases his vocal range perfectly, as they end with another good song “All For Nothing”.
I don’t profess to being an expert of French technical metal, but with their latest album, “The Ember Gone”, Gorod have me very intrigued. There’s a haze across the stage, but it was clear enough for me to witness the guitar wizardry on display from both Mathieu Pascal and Nicola Alberny during “Signs” as they have fret tapping battles galore amidst a flurry of fast drumbeats and bruising bass lines. They delve into their older songs with “We Are the Sun Gods” which is crazily fast, yet composed and controlled, with a drum solo sandwiched in the middle of it.
After playing what feels like an X-Files inspired song called “The Orb”, vocalist Julien Deyres talks about the release of their 8th studio album and introduces “Forgiveness” as one of the guitarists plays a weird twin necked vertical guitar. It’s eerie and sinister in the sound, but technically excellent and enjoyable. “We always end on the same song, and it’s dedicated to all of you” as the frontman screams out “Disavow Your God” which is a cacophony of fast and furious noise leaving the crowd very happy.
What American death metal band Allegaeon played during their set is anyone’s guess, but from the smiles of joy on the faces in the crowd, I’m going to say that the masses thoroughly enjoyed it. As the intro plays “Refraction” the band walk on and they explode into “Chaos Theory” as the animated Ezra Haynes appears and completely dominates the stage. Their huge sound is enhanced by the guitarists playing 8 or even 9 string guitars from what I saw, as well as the monstrous pounding of a 6-string bass from Brandon Michael.
Heads start to bang rapidly as they play a mightily impressive version of “The Swarm” as it has an insane amount of speed and jet-propelled drumming from Jeff Saltzman. “Manchester, you have brought your smiles tonight” says the beaming frontman, as they play the flamenco influenced “Gray Matters Mechanics – Apassionata Ex Machina” which is quite something to witness live. The solos are brilliantly bonkers, and they rhythm is tight as anything, and they really get to showcase their wide skillset.
From watching back my videos, I think they finished with the following 3 songs, the more melodic musings of “Our Cosmic Casket” which detonates like a bomb such is the ferocity of the music, before they go onto the incendiary “1.618” which is heavy and fast as hell. Haynes comments on having “a great time” and leads into “one more” song which appears to be “Biomech – Vals No. 666” and again demonstrates their technical playing skills, with lots of vocal switches between the frontman and Michael Stancel on guitar, who displays his accomplished guitar playing for all to see. Overall, an intriguing evening of technical death metal and for me to go back and listen to more of these bands.
Photo credits: Rich Price
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