The popular and unique iconic venue, Barrowlands was sold out and full of massive metal fans as Canadian heavy metal band ‘Spiritbox’ finally visited Scotland after a long wait and we were lucky enough to catch this sold-out gig!
The first out of 2 supports, was the mighty death metal ‘Brand of Sacrifice’ who did an incredible job getting the crowd warmed up. They have an amazing stage presence and know how to work with the crowd. I’m not the biggest Deathcore fan however these guys did an amazing job with how they entertain and reach into the crowd preparing us for the main event!
What is great about these deathcore bombastic guys is their ability to take the genre of deathcore and make it unique with their sound. You’d be able to identify their individuality when you hear their music and I love how creative they are getting into that genre adding layers and sounds into their music while still honouring the heavy screamo metal deathcore vibes – blegh!
Next up was a band that is the main reason I love going to see live music – it’s all about discovering a new band or hearing an artist for the first time and LOVING them! Heavy metal English band, ‘Loathe’ are my new favourite recent discovery.
I honestly feel they have this amazing sound suitable for those who aren’t into heavy metal! It’s almost like their sounds are emo meets nu metal meets chilled meets heavy again and I’m living for the adventure of sounds these guys make! You can hear influences from Deftones, but lead singer Kadeem France also was giving me Sleep Token vibes. He has this ability in his vocal range where he hits powerful ballad notes but still meets the alternative hearts. Personally, these guys blew me away and I hope to catch them again soon – don’t miss out on these guys and make sure you check them out before they take over the UK by storm!
Finally the band many of us were waiting for, one of our favourite Vancouver-based metal bands (also LOVE that these guys are fronted by a lady woo), Spiritbox have excelled and Glasgow ate them up!
Led by the powerful woman that is Courtney LaPlante, anyone can listen to this band and find a sound that suits them. With her outstanding vocals where she can transport you to a zen, peaceful bliss, pelting out impressive ballad notes to her mighty screams, she is making a way for the future of metal sounds and the potential for future ladies to step into the metal music scene!
CC: 📸 @dougelliottphoto
Spiritbox is pushing the boundaries and starting to set a new motion in place with their phenomenal creativity, and new sounds that will attract new fans to the metal music scene.
And they did just that by playing so many amazing tracks from their album ‘Eternal Blue’ from ‘Hurt You’, ‘Yellowjacket’, their heavy, heavy track that slams for anyone who’s a metal core fan ‘Holy Roller’, and the popular ‘Circle With Me’.
CC: 📸 @dougelliottphoto
As their incredible set drew close to an end, Courtney shared a beautiful moment with the crowd with a heartfelt message:
“I love playing these shows with these incredible bands like ‘Brand of Sacrifice’ and ‘Loathe’ because I think it’s just a great testament, and I say this a lot, it’s a great testimony to what heavy music can mean to us.
It can be heavy, it can make you wanna punch each other and stuff, but sometimes it’s heavy in a different way.
Sometimes its heavy on your heart and on your mind and that’s what this next song is for me. And if any of you are sad when you hear it – I just wanna let you know that I used to be so sad when I heard this song and when I sang it but now I look out at you and I’m happy when I sing it.
And I promise you’ll be happy when you sing this with me too.”
The alternative metal Canadians went into the beautiful, soulful and angelic-sounding song ‘Constance’ before ending appropriately on their final song ‘Eternal Blue’.
Spiritbox are catching the attention of many in the metal music scene, and I’m not one bit surprised. From their heavy riffs, crushing screams, huge vocal ranges and skin-tingling chords and melodies, these guys have proven that the metal scene continues to grow and they have a place in it.
CC: 📸 @dougelliottphoto