Archspire
Special Guests: Psycroptic + Benighted + Entheos
Venue: The Cathouse, Glasgow.
Date: 7th March 2023.
Review & Photos By: Dave Buchanan
Entheos
With an early kick-off in The Cathouse tonight, Entheos take to the stage just as the bodies are piling in. Wasting zero seconds of their set time, Chaney, Navene and co. let loose with their brand of punishing, progressive death metal. Vocalist Chaney Crabb stalks the stage floor, delivering equal amounts of venom and fire in her performance, while the band offer up a pulsating array of grooves and killer switch-ups. The lack of a bass player is evident tonight, though, and unfortunately, due to the muddy mix that hinders their usually clinical sound, I’m not even sure if there’s a bass backing-track playing. However, that doesn’t seem to phase the band any, as they thunder through tracks old and new, with unbridled energy. And even with the less than adequate sound, brand-new tracks like Absolute Zero, Darkest Day and The Sinking Sun groove like a motherfucker, showcasing the intricate performance levels this band are capable of bringing to the live stage. The star of the show, however, is Chaney. Her stage presence and vocal delivery is just on a different level 
(4 / 5)
Benighted
French deathgrind stalwarts, Benighted are up next, and after powering through the first couple of tracks with the same muffled sound that caused Entheos some problems, things then clear up, and the band get down to business without any sound issues holding them back. Talk about a band firing on all cylinders! Julien and co. roar through their set, taking zero prisoners. The delivery is precise, the riffs ferocious, and the crowd are completely in from the get-go. Believe me when I tell you, these guys put on a fucking show! Being able to perform a set with such energy, and deliver it with the accuracy they did, is hugely impressive to watch, and to be honest, I could have watched another 30 minutes, easily. That being said, the closing track of Let the Blood Spill Between My Broken Teeth was the perfect conclusion to an utterly crushing set. Get out and see these guys, stat! 
(4.5 / 5)
Psycroptic
Australian tech death heavyweights Psycroptic bring their style of heavy to the stage next, but with a little more melody than previous band, Benighted. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still tight and rip-roaringly brutal, but that extra shade of melody in the guitarwork adds a needed dose of contrast to this evening’s fully-loaded bill. Touring vocalist, Jason Keyser, is also quite the team player, making sure that the whole room is engaged in the chaos, even inciting some sort of conga-line at one point. But, when it comes time to get down to business, Psycroptic know exactly when to increase the heat, and tonight’s performance certainly has plenty of that, with a set full of absolute aural hand grenades. The grooves are thunderous, the tempo changes slick and the solos are just as majestic as they are on CD (4 / 5)
Archspire
After hearing and reviewing last year’s Bleed The Future, I was really interested to see how this would translate to the live stage. It’s an album filled with the most clinical of productions, and musicianship that will leave your jaw on the floor. But is it all studio wizardry? Can these guys actually replicate that sound live? Turns out I didn’t even need to hear their set. The soundcheck from drummer Spencer Prewett was enough to leave me speechless.
These guys can do it all, my friends. The.hype.is.real.
Everything you hear on their albums is performed here with utter precision. From the meticulous fretwork on Bleed the Future to the absolutely ludicrous bass playing on Abandon the Linear – the guitarwork across the board here is just mind-melting. Special shout-out to Tobi Morelli, who is an absolute beast on bass. Those fingers were all I could focus on during certain songs tonight.
But regardless of the song, Archspire have the crowd hooked-in from the word go. Their performance is as slick as it gets, with each member contributing a special ingredient to the Archspire special brew. Vocal powerhouse Oli is on fire tonight. Not only are his pipes utterly scorching, but his playful side comes out in-between songs. My favourite moment of tonight, though, has to be the mid-set game of Twister the band instigate with the crowd.
“Left leg, green. Red hand, blue…*flips over Twister board*…WALL OF DEATH!!”
It’s clearly something that happens every night, as the other bands look on, waiting for the end result of bodies colliding. But, it’s definitely a first for me, and added a moment of light-heartedness to this evening’s savagery. And before you know it, the machine-like blasts of Drone Corpse Aviator ring out, the band say their goodbyes, and the crowd are left feeling massively satisfied with tonight’s extremely solid line-up of bands. To be honest, I get the feeling that any of these bands could have headlined tonight, and it would have been killer (4.5 / 5)
