Page 45 - Black Velvet Issue 96

BV96 pg45_BV96 pg45 12/03/2018 02:10 Page 1

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MOTIONLESS IN WHITE / CANE HILL / ICE NINE KILLS – BIRMINGHAM O2 INSTITUTE, 26.01.18
Motionless In White’s ‘Graveyard Shift’ tour is not for the faint of heart – at least when it comes to support bands Ice Nine Kills and Cane Hill, both
intent on aggressively fracturing ear drums. The bands for the most part are predominantly metalcore. Ice Nine Kills are particularly lethal with songs
such as the droll ‘The Plot Sickens’ and ‘Bloodbath And Beyond’ much heavier live than they initially were on disc. Spencer Charnas is incredibly
active, vigorously jumping around the stage. ‘Me, Myself & Hyde’ begins with a soft and mellow emo intro before unleashing its destructive wickedness.
Cane Hill go for guttural growls and a wretched tone during songs such as ‘Too Far Gone’. The dominant Elijah Witt tells the crowd “I’m a selfish
person” before adding, “I expect more and I want you to give it to me”. The Louisiana-based band’s set seems to get heavier and harder as the set
progresses, with ‘It Follows’
sounding particularly sludgy and
set closer ‘Fountain Of Youth’
being an industrial mass of pound-
ing metal.
It’s the ‘Graveyard Shift’ tour
though, and as such, when Mo-
tionless In White take to the stage,
they delve deeply into their latest
album. It’s arguably their best
album to date and features the su-
perbly catchy ‘LOUD (Fuck It)’,
one of the most contagious songs
you’ll ever hear, one that as soon
as the show is over you’ll want to
go home and put on repeat. Mo-
tionless In White’s stageshow is
similarly impressive – the band
have brought their full U.S. stage
set over, which includes two fe-
males that come onto the stage at
various intervals with props such
as angle grinders that spray
sparks, flags, water guns that they
use to shower the audience,
cheerleading pompoms and more.
Plus lots of lights – so many lights
that frontman Chris ‘Motionless’
Cerulli says you’ll go home blind.
‘Rats’ kicks off the set with a dark
and demented industrial groove
before ‘Reincarnate’ continues the
synthy industrial rock vibe. The
first five tracks are from ‘Grave-
yard Shift’ before the tone turns to
their heftier metalcore past, with
‘Abigail’, from their 2010-released
‘Creatures’ album. It goes out to
all the old school, diehard fans
who’ve been going to see the
band for years. ‘570’ continues the
hardcore heaviness, despite being
a song from ‘Graveyard Shift’. It’s
a song inspired by their Pennsyl-
vanian roots.
There’s a cheer for the humor-
ous ‘Not My Type: Dead As Fuck
2’, a cute and quirky industrial
goth number, while their one-song
encore features ‘Eternally Yours’
from ‘Graveyard Shift’, the song
that ends the album – and now
live show - with a loving feel.
While the show, overall, is very fo-
cused on ‘Graveyard Shift’, that’s
a positive thing in our eyes, being
that it is our favourite release from
Motionless In White, yet the
band’s set is enough to please
both old fans and new. Tonight,
Motionless In White is everyone’s
type.
YYYY
Shari Black Velvet

Chris Motionless (Motionless In
White) Photo By Shari Black Velvet

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