I Killed The Prom Queen

Plus: Romeo Must Die,

Bury Tomorrow

The Underworld, London

10.07.2012

Words: Jenny Chu

Support act Romeo Must Die create mountains of macho roars and spine chilling guitar wobbles which define such a tight set. A constant throbbing of beats that shake Camden Town, the Essex bound band show they are not scared to cause riots in the pit or vandalise ear drums. It’s impossible to not want to throw yourself into such a brilliant metal sound that thrashes every living thing in the room. Their set list is like a time bomb ticking away until the last song is brutally fed out, finally destructing and destroying the room with maximum carnage. A fondling of superior screams compliment the outrageously heavy rhythms Romeo Must Die bring.

To heat things up, Bury Tomorrow take on the stage with an intense foreground of pounding and heart racing drum beats that are a strong platform for the shockingly good vocals that include hench and powerful screams that make the clean vocals the icing on the cake. Tonight they make the rest of the bands in their genre sound like crying babies. It’s got to be settled that the rockers from South England are actually pretty damn good at wiping the stage with powerful force whilst shredding like manic professionals. It’s as if these guys could do this with their eyes firmly shut. They manage to carry off melodic verses and riffs with exciting and pure mighty choruses with intelligent and unique hooks and not forgetting great amplitude of unpredictable and memorable breakdowns at full force and even though they’re heavy there’s no resisting singing along. Bury Tomorrow have half the experience the headliners do but they sure as hell are just as capable of summing up what metal and rock really is. Their teeth grinding, crushing yet catchy songs make for a fitting performance.

Ten thousand miles away from home Australians I Killed The Prom Queen are legends in their own right, the fast paced vocals that are bound with ignoramus force fields, the friction between the brutal chundering of guitars that is exhibited throughout the set. Opening with ‘You’re Shirt Would Look Better with a Columbian Neck-tie’ off 2006’s Music For The Recently Deceased contributes thunders of hardcore arrangements. It’s the build-up in the songs that create a recognisable identity for the Australian crew. They don’t give too much away or force feed what they preach but in ‘Headfirst from a Hangman’s Noose’ and ‘Sleepless Nights and City Lights’ they impressively and intelligently deposit moments of greatness and moments of sheer metalcore at its absolute finest. It begs to question why the kings of metalcore failed to sell out tonight’s show, where the hell were the people of London tonight. ‘Say Goodbye’ is the perfect result for an invincible anthem. The gang vocals fitted hand in hand with the intimate crowd. If metal was once sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll then it’s now also the fulfilment of sounding as heavy as possible and tonight’s show has gone way past the fabrication of typical screams and beats that weigh down the genre, I Killed The Prom Queen have a back catalogue of metal beauties that sound just as extremely well put together live.

Daring to introduce a new song that is due to be on their early 2013 album release, hasn’t stepped too far away from their past material but it does boast a successful talent that has been experimented, tasted and tried, and the end result? It’s a brilliant belter. The beasts behind this all are without a doubt masters at metal and hardcore. Ending with ‘Sharks In Your Mouth’ prevail the venue and when the band leave they leave a stage that has more people on it than off it.