Live Review: Motionless In White, Ice Nine Kills & Cane Hill @ Southampton Engine Rooms 18/01/2018!

Opening night of the European leg of The Graveyard Shift Tour and due to “about 14 unforseen circumstances” Cane Hill are unable to play the show at Southampton Engine Rooms tonight. The bands Twitter feed suggests that they had to head into London to get some gear to ensure they are able to complete the rest of the tour. As a result the crowd are kept waiting outside the venue for nearly an hour after doors were due to open.

The show opens with Ice Nine Kills who hammer through a set rich in material from “The Predator Becomes The Prey” and “Every Trick In The Book” played at break neck speed. The play off in vocals between frontman Spencer Charnas and Justin DeBlieck is a joy to behold in the live arena. The band deliberately avoid the chance to play one of their more commercial covers in favour of playing “The Shinning” based “Enjoy Your Slay” is a breath of fresh air. “Jonathan” “This Coffin Is Moving”, “Nature of the Beast” and “Bloodbath and Beyond” are all played with a real energy and verve that gets a circle pit going alongside a sing-a-long. It’s a shame that they were unable to elongate their set to make up at least part of Cane Hill’s as the Southampton crowd love every minute [8/10]

Unlike other venues, between the sets Southampton Engine Rooms keep the house playlist Metal. There is a crowd sing-a-long to SlipKnot‘s “Psychosocial” which sees the staff cut the PA out while the crowd continue to sing along before cutting it back in. It’s a magic moment.

Headliners Motionless In White are genuinely pleased to be in the UK tonight. Their major label career spanning set opens with “Rats” taken up a couple of notches to give it much more edge over the album version. The band then proceed to play through “Abigail” with Spencer Charnas reprising It Dies Today‘s Nicholas Brooks vocals from the original cut from “Creatures” alongside massive sing-a-long System Of A Down cover “Chop Suey”. The set is heavily steeped in newer material, with “Soft”, “Loud (Fuck It)” and “Necessary Evil” getting a lot of crowd interaction and affection. However it’s “A-M-E-R-I-C-A” and the back to back “Dead as Fuck” and “Dead as Fuck 2” that get the most love from the sold out Southampton crowd. The encore of “Untouchable” is probably the biggest surprise of the night, alongside the absense of more material from “Reincarnate”. That being said, the band make a point of trying to provide as big a production as they do with their US show and a pair of dancers appear on stage for a selection of songs. Overall it’s a great night, despite the absence of Cane Hill [8/10]