Glasgow Based Celtic inspired Metal band, North Atlas, took to the stage at the iconic Cathouse night club on Saturday for their largest headlining show so far. Hailing from Dumfries, the quartet were joined by fellow Glasgow-based, self-proclaimed “post-apocalyptic pop” band Lo Rays and London-based alt-rock trio, Paradise Fell for an extravagant night of some of the most exciting new up and coming bands in the UK’s alternative scene.
Kicking off the night was Lo Rays. Having supported North Atlas in the past during a performance at Classic Grand in September of 2023, there were evidently a fair few fans of both bands there that night. As the lights dimmed, and Lo Rays took to the stage, the crowd erupted with cheers and whoops of excitement. A backing track featuring a sort of artificial intelligence style voice, akin to GLaDOS from the Portal game series started playing. The band then burst into their opening track, featuring a mix of very melodic clean singing and impressive harsh vocals. This blend of clean singing and incredibly powerful screams would continue throughout the night. The band played a mix of recently released singles, such as the very anthemic “27 Club” which got many people in the crowd singing along. They also played some very synth heavy tracks from their debut EP “Algorithm Gods”. For an opening band, they definitely got the crowd nicely warmed up for the rest of the night.
Up next were alt-rock band, Paradise Fell. Stepping up to the stag, the band wasted no time making themselves be heard by the audience, kicking things off with a very catchy, headbanger of a track, followed by a more relaxed but still hype inducing second song. The band’s charismatic front man, Matty Bankhurst remarked at the energy of the crowd, stating “Fuck me, Scots, they do it better don’t they?”.
The chemistry between the crowd and the band was electric, with everyone having a very good time during the band’s short, but punchy set. The track “honest.” really got the crowd moving, with a decent sized mosh pit forming in the middle of the audience. This was improved upon later with the song “Vices” which brought out even more moshers from the crowd. The climax of the set came and Bankhurst pulled out a gorgeous bass guitar that was so powerful, you could feel your ribcage rattle in the best way possible. The final track “NADIYA” was probably the most energetic track from the whole set, with everyone in the crowd either headbanging, dancing or moshing.
Finally, North Atlas was up next. With a unique stage design consisting of Celtic inspired effigies and pagan imagery that made it clear who was about to perform. The atmosphere was also set immediately as “If I Had A Heart” from the TV show Vikings began playing. The band then made their way on stage accompanied by a handful of stage extras dressed in ominous balaclavas.
The ever iconic “HERE WE, HERE WE, HERE WE FUCKING GO” chant started up as the band launched into their first song of the set. The crowd’s energy was infectious, with everyone moving in some form or another.
What makes North Atlas such an engaging band is their use of genre bending, the songs I heard ranged from classic metalcore to almost synthwave in terms of genre, something bands have been doing more and more recently and something that frankly, I am all for, as it allows for so much creativity and musical freedom. North Atlas take advantage of this freedom and they absolutely do their own thing with it.
A definite highlight of the night was during fan favourite track “Seer”, which saw the lead singer, Leon Hunter, ask the crowd part to make a pit, but not a mosh pit, instead, Hunter referred to it as a “Ritual Pit”. What followed next was something that I can simply describe as “So damn cool”. A dancer dressed in a full pagan style outfit, made of reeds and other organic plant matter, looking very akin to outfits seen worn by the iconic pagan band “Heilung”. This individual proceeded to do a very impassioned and impressively expressive dance in the middle of the crowd while the earlier mentioned balaclava clad extras banged on ominous drums. Once the ritual was completed, the track “Seer” continued with some of the best energy of the night so far.
In keeping with North Atlas’ genre bending, the rest of the set continued to be a fascinating and deeply enjoyable mixture of tones, styles and atmospheres, with one of the songs being described by Hunter as a dance song. “You guys like to dance?” he asked the audience before a very fun sounding track started up, to which the audience certainly did dance along. This was followed by a more traditionally heavy metal core song that was made memorable by the addition of another pagan clad stage performer, crawling around the stage like some ancient mythical forest deity, performing impressive acrobatics and interacting with band and audience alike.
Unfortunately, the band were, for reasons unknown, unable to do a full encore, so instead they ended the set with a back-to-back of what were evidently their most popular tracks, with their easily most recognizable song “House of Mirrors” closing out the set for the night.
It is undeniable that North Atlas are a new and rising force in not just the Scottish metal scene, but the wider UK metal scene. They are brimming with potential in both the range of their music and the scale of their future live performances. The unique Celtic/pagan twist is also something I haven’t ever seen done quite this way before, and that excites me immensely. Having recently supported reggae metal band Skindred at the Barrowlands and are set to appear alongside Bob Vylan and As December Falls at the upcoming Primordial Radio’s General Mayhem festival, North Atlas are very quickly becoming one of the must watch metal bands coming out of Scotland right now, and I look forward to seeing them perform here again at larger venues in future.
Review By John Morton
Photos By Katy Shewan
