There’s a special connection between Glasgow and the North East of England and it’s done to the sheer love to party and have the best time possible – when Glasgow metal outfit Suffer Under Sorrow and Newcastle icons Rituals announced a co-headline tour spreading across Scotland, I knew before a riff even rippled that this was heading for something special. The tour saw the bands bring the noise to Glasgow’s Attic Bar on a Saturday night – you know what’s expected.
Kicking off the night before in the capital, it seemed by the footage on show that tonight would be hard to follow, but it’s Glasgow, these guys do not disappoint. Three bands on the bill, two from Glasgow and one from Newcastle, serious damage is certain with such a combo.
With the room filling up, first to take to the stage were local metal band Sacrificial Burial – a set that brought deafening guitar riffs that would ripple right through you, killer screams from singer Nicolas O’Reilly and fast paced smashing drums making it almost impossible to stand still – only one band in and the neck muscles were getting a workout already. Only single out for now, The Carcass Decays gets a rousing response from fans in the room.
It was now time for the first of the two co-headliners and the boys I am most excited for – Geordie 4-piece Rituals make their long-awaited return to Glasgow having not made the journey north of the border since 2020 that saw them play just across the street in Nice N Sleazy. Having caught these boys only 2 months ago for the first time in Newcastle, the desperation to get to another show was strong and the wait all be it short, was worth it.
Getting straight to the point, singer Lewis MacRae urges the crowd to get as close as they can possibly get, with not barricade there for support, these kinds of gigs mean business and I am all for it. No messing around, the band kick off with 2020 single False Royal and it was just a case of start as you mean to go on – heavy as you like riffs on the stage and head banging across the room, only a song in and MacRae has the room where he wanted them.
As the night went on, the pits became rowdier, hard-hitting songs like Carved Out and Awake rallying the crowd into chaos. The biggest pit of the night comes when the room splits in two for an insane wall of death – McRae splits the room and the band kick into In Devastation as the crowd clash causing mayhem. The Geordie boys were brought in to warm up the crowd and that they did in more ways than one.
Being only the second time seeing Rituals, the love I have for the band has grown tenfold since Newcastle a few months ago – closing off their set with classic heavy as you like singles Oceans Subside followed by Snakes Head. A set fit to be a main headliner and a set I for one can’t wait to see back on the road again – these boys are made for the stage, and a big stage at that. Remember the name of these fast-rising icons.
To headliner two and the stage is set for another local band to showcase what they do best – it’s time for 5-piece metalcore band, Suffer Under Sorrow. The Glasgow band return to the stage in their hometown to cause their well-known chaos having only played in the cities Classic Grand a few months prior, the buildup for tonight’s show has been fully buzzed over by both fans and band member alike and what lay in store backed up the hype.
The crowd hard barely just cooled off before SUS took to the stage and with no messing around get straight to business sending the crowd into an instant pit – it was certainly a start that gave the neck muscles a good work (not that it was required with what came before).
Dropping their latest single Lightbringer only a week again, this certainly had a great reception with the Glasgow faithful and as you’d expect, it got the room going – a song with an exceptional head-banging intro and screaming vocals that would pierce right through your ears in a good way, it’s certainly a banger that’ll guarantee to get any room going.
Only just last year the band dropped their debut single Wanderer that as quickly followed by Entity, an EP that is filled with top quality head-banging tunes that, if you hadn’t heard this band before, give you an instant feel of what they are all about.
It’s been my first experience with the Cumbernauld band, and I can say for sure it will not be the last, from the very off the band owed every inch of that stage and showed why they should be on a bigger stage, quite like their friends in Rituals – it fills me with joy and confidence that the future of metalcore is bright when you have bands on this bill alone who give absolutely everything they have when on, the crowd interactions and their whole presence make it an insane spectacle to witness.
From the first band to the last, tonight was an incredible showcase – each band showing the same appetite to get a room going, if you were seeing some of the bands for the first time and for some that may have been the case, speaking for myself anyway it left me wanting to listen to each of the more and support what’s next in line for them – if you ever get the chance to each any or all three, take it, it will be worth it.
