Live Review: King 810 w/Death Blooms & Courtesans @ Camden Underworld 22/02/2018!

The prestigious Camden Underworld is sold out tonight with the anticipation of King 810 playing to a packed house raised by their previous impressive performances on our shores. There is no doubt that the band could have played 3 larger shows and people would have travelled however get a full UK run with 10 shows makes each one that much more special. Tonight’s openers are Death Blooms [8/10] who deliver passionate Metalcore with bounce, verve and an energy that gets the crowd going early doors. Indeed, while it’s obvious a lot of people haven’t heard of them before, they win over everyone by the end of their set. The Liverpool/Manchester band played the Manchester, Birmingham and London shows of this tour and we expect to see much more of them going forward. “Hate:Die”, “Last Ones”, “Sick” and “I’m Dead” are all massive and the newer material goes down well. We’re going to say we hope that the band are named after the Mudvayne song of the same name from “L.D. 50”.

Having Courtesans [3/10] on the bill perhaps hints at the softer material that King 810 themselves have put out. The problem is that at best Courtesans are an alt. rock band that are like lots of other middle of the road alt. rock bands. They don’t have anything in the way of tempo changes in their music and they just drone after a while. The lyrics are meaningful and delivered well for the most part but there is nothing about them that stands out at all. You could say that they want to be like 90’s rockers Skunk Anansie but they don’t have any sparkle. They are very out of place supporting metal bands and yet they seem to be making a habit out of doing just that.

After all the hype King 810 [9/10] finally take the stage as a 3 piece with guitarist Andrew Beal absent from the stage. Whether the band are playing to a backing tracked guitar or someone is behind the curtain off stage isn’t clear but either way, the band deliver. Bass player Eugene Gill and frontman David Gunn stalk the stage while delivering a passionate and powerful performance of their material. “Heavy Lies The Crown” smashed into the brilliant “Alpha & Omega” before bursting into “War Outside” which sees David Gunn removing his gloves with sweat pouring off him. The band stick to heavier material from “Memoirs Of A Murderer” & “La Petite Mort…” with the only exception a mid-set break for “Take It”. Drummer Andrew Workman delivers a power house performance behind the kit throughout with “Fat Around The Heart” and set closer “Killem All” getting huge sing along treatment. It’s a fantastic night for the Flint, Michigan crew who love every minute.