Live Review: Fear Factory w/Crystal Lake, HATE and The Nocturnal Affair at The 1865 in Southampton!

Tonight is the penultimate show of the “Cybernetic Domination Tour” which has seen Los Angeles Californian Cyber Metal Kings Fear Factory dragging The Nocturnal Affair, Hate and Crystal Lake kicking and screaming across Europe since 29th August’s opening show in Poznan Poland. We’re at the 1865 in Southampton, a 750 capacity venue which is of course sold out… and in all honesty it feels a little surreal that this run would stop at this venue but residents of this city and its neighbours are happy that it is.

Sin City Alternative Metal outfit The Nocturnal Affair [7/10] get the party started by taking us back to the dirge laden riffs of the early 2000’s while vocalist Brendan Shane sings about broken relationships. Cuts like “Cross Me Out” and “Oxygen” have a melancholic edge to them, the syncopated twin guitar attack and potent drumming adding a decent weight to their sound. They even manage to pull out a few solos before the end and are a very solid band with something of a Disturbed vibe to them, even if they look like they’re on their way to a casino as they’re suited and booted. They finish their set with a cover of “What Is Love” is a song by Haddaway which of course everyone knows so it’s easy to get everyone singing along with the anthemic chorus.

Unlike tonight’s openers Polish Blackened Death Metal act Hate [8/10] don’t spend much time talking to the crowd, instead choosing to decimate the weak and thin the herd with a non stop onslaught of ruthless riff and pummelling percussion. That begins with the ripper that is “Bellum Regiis“, the title track of last year’s brutal album before heading back to 2010 for “Erebos“, the corpse paint and fake blood adding to the aesthetic even if they don’t have their own banner. Adam Buszko’s throat splitting vocals are as intense as ever, showing no signs of wear despite the bands having been on the road for six weeks. The fact the four piece who have thirteen albums under their bullet belts and released first demo “Abhorrence” in 1992 only get fourty minutes on stage feels like a crime but that doesn’t stop them from delivering rousing renditions of “Sovereign Sanctity” and “The Vanguard” before the end.

Having officially joined in August after being a fill in for live shows vocalist Park Kang-hyun is a bundle of energy as he bounces around the stage with Japanese Metalcore merchants Crystal Lake [9/10], twice leaping into the crowd and surfing back to the stage, all the while remaining attached by the microphone cable. As a band the quintet have reached their heaviest incarnation, embracing Deathcore elements but they certainly haven’t forgotten their rich past, bringing out older cuts like “Six Feet Under” and “Prometheus” which sit comfortably alongside new heavy hitters like “Blüdgod“. Having witnessed the five piece several times around their 2019 album “Helix” we can safely say they have not lost any of their electrifying energy or stage presence despite the passing of time and drummer Gaku Taura still loves to give a performance, standing as he pounds the war drums at the end of crushing final song “Apollo“. Tonight is a triumphant return for a band who have endured their fair amount of trials over the years and those times have only made them stronger.

If you had told the kid who heard Fear Factory [10/10] for the first time when “Edgecrusher” appeared on a magazine cover CD (remember those?) back in 1998 that we’d be here tonight, that kid would have just laughed. Fast forward almost 30 years and after witnessing them for the first time on the Ronnie James Dio stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival two years ago seeing them tonight was a no brainer. Unlike that set which was a celebration of 30 years of “Demanufacture“, tonights set is a career spanning one which finds the four piece burn through eighteen songs in seventy five minutes. From “Acres of Skin” to “Linchpin” and “Zero Signal” to their cover of “Cars” by Gary Newman they squeeze in as much as mechanically possible with a high energy output enough to put a hole in your chest but the absence of “Self Bias Resistor” seems strange. New song “Roboticist” bodes well for the next album which guitarist and founder Dino Cazares promises won’t be too long and it has to be said that vocalist Milo Silvestro is impressive. He’s nailed the Burton C. Bell style and mannerisms of performance so well that if you couldn’t see him you could barely tell the difference. What he brings is stage presence and energy, his constant movement and crowd encouragement demonstrating just how much he loves these songs. Drummer Pete Webber may be known for his work in Thrash crew Havok but he’s an absolute machine in this line up, driving the band forward at the tempo of the damned throughout. There may not be much room but that doesn’t stop the eruption of circle pits and crowd surfing, the bands light show as impressive as ever in packed sweaty club environment. Is it a bit weird that “Archetype” is in the set even though none of the musicians on stage were in the band when it was written and recorded? Are the lyrics being used as a f*** you to the former members of the group? Only Dino will know that but it still sounds like a Fear Factory banger.