Live Review: Our Hollow Our Home w/TheCityIsOurs, Alternative Carpark & Microwave Cadaver Dinner at Alton Lounge Bar!

On the day that their album “Hartsick” reaches its fifth anniversary, a smaller show is where we find Our Hollow Our Home and with good reason as they have a new line up playing together for the first time following the exit of both drummer Nick Taliadoros and bass player Bobby Brooks back in November after something like six years in the band. From the outside that may have come as something of a surprise but tonight is very much an opportunity for their replacements Larry and Alex to make their mark and a smaller, tightly packed venue is the perfect place to give them experience.

Microwave Cadaver Dinner [7/10] open the show and while an oddly named young female fronted Old school Death Metal act might be an odd choice for a night like this, they are a fun band to watch. Their vocalist can tear strips off any man at ten paces with distinctive Angela Gossow stylings while their lead guitarist taps and shreds his way through the riffs, which lets face it, is always a good start for any band. A somewhat embarrassingly introduced Ariana Grande cover that was apparently decided upon in McDonald’s is a little left field but has been brutalised and is well fitting with their set of heavy and loose cuts which show plenty of promise.

There is a lot of love for Alternative Carpark [10/10] from the packed crowd tonight and its little wonder when their six foot permed and beared barefoot ginger five string bassist begins hammering out the lines like Rage Against the Machine bassist Tim Commerford while the band sound like Clutch on steroids. The riff lords hammer through the cuts like a well oiled machine with “Pennyblack” from 2016’s “Dripping Breaks The Stone” going down a storm while making full use of a huge guitar pedal board before the fans calls for “Red Rust” are finally answered at the close.

Following as good a live band as Alternative Carpark is a tough challenge but  TheCityIsOurs [9/10] are up for it and after a considerable delay take to the stage with material from their Arising Empire debut “Coma” in full effect. The venue maybe a smaller one than we might have expected a European touring outfit to play but it is absolutely packed to the rafters with only just enough space for a circle pit with “Death Of Me” going down particularly well. Since the last time we saw them they’ve tightened up their live show and in Oli Duncanson they have found a screamer who knows how to deliver, the only question is the use of a backing track to augment their sound.

Tonight’s headliners Our Hollow Our Home [10/10] aren’t about to be outshone by anyone on tonight’s bill and with two new members in the band waste no time in proving that they’re as tight as ever. The south coast Metalcore heroes bring out sing-a-long anthem “Better Days” early on in a crushing set with vocalist Connor Hallisey fired up his partner in crime in guitarist and vocalist Tobias Young being the ying to his yang. They go out so hard in fact that their new drummer breaks the snare, but fortunately they have a spare and after a quick switch around they’re back at it again. Perhaps the only surprise the absence of bringing Oli Duncanson back on stage and playing “Nerv” from their current album “Burn In The Flood” as they blast through the cuts as if this line up has been playing together from day one. They don’t miss a beat before “Seven Years (Shine A Light On Me)” finishes the set in style, the razor sharp riffage and showmanship hitting the spot perfectly.