Review: Black Tide

Feb 4 2008 by Katie Campling, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

ARTIST: Avenged Sevenfold

VENUE: Leeds University

REVIEW BY: Darrell Blount

THE fans at Leeds Uni were in for a treat with support act Black Tide’s opening set.

Brutally executing their way through their purely metallic songs, they certainly knew how to tear up the place.

Their Maiden-esque sound went down perfectly with the growling voice of their lead singer but it wasn’t until the band broke out with Hit the Lights by Metallica that the crowd were truly appreciative and showed the Miami foursome what they were really made of.

Coming out strong, fellow support band BloodSimple were an energetic ball of chainsaw-like guitars and penetrating kick-drumming. They started off well but soon began to grate and I found myself becoming increasingly interested in the mass of tattooed audience members than the actual band’s performance.

The quintet weren’t poor musicians; rather the monotony of their set soon became tiresome.

Playing a relatively short set, headliners California’s hardest metalcore band Avenged Sevenfold wasted no time in blasting out the classics.

Looking like a cross between Linkin Park and Papa Roach the band was near CD perfection and played crowd favourites like The Beast and the Harlotand Bat County.

The vocal strength of lead singer M Shadows and the guitar crunching solos of Synster Gates were sublime.

The only let-down was the band’s reluctance to play any tracks from their first two albums and opting for a more pop-friendly approach to their gig.

This had tainted the evening, and the hardcore fans seemed disappointed for this reason. Other than that, the sheer aggression and raw talent these lads gave off was mind blowing. Avenged did themselves proud.