with Our City Fires and The Hero Dies First
Reviewed by Kashif Hussain
The self-proclaimed “greatest metalcore band on Earth” played an awesome set at The Soundhouse alongside a duo of quality support acts.
First to the stage were local alt rock group Our City Fires, from Leicester. While they sounded notably different & less heavy than the rest of the bands they still put on a good show with rhythmic guitar work and catchy vocal melodies.
Watch this video, by Kevin Gaughan, of Our City Fires performing at this event.
Next up were melodic metal band The Hero Dies First. Most of the crowd were still a few meters from the stage, which was a bit of shame because their dual clean/harsh vocals and downtuned guitars were most impressive and could’ve easily inspired some moshing.
Watch this video, by Kevin Gaughan, of The Hero Dies First performing at this event.
Finally, the Chuggalos drew closer to the stage once the headliners started. Dressed in face covering balaclavas and matching white masks, those in the crowd unfamiliar with the Chugg Life could easily tell they weren’t your average metalcore band. Raise the Roofie was the first track, demonstrating vocalist Levi Taurus’ vocal range extending from screeches, Attila-esque growl rapping and memorable clean choruses, as well as the breakdowns and “chugs” that they’re named after.
Alongside fan favourites their set included a couple of new tracks. First was Illumiparty, whose intro featured synths reminiscent of Born of Osiris. A highlight of the gig was their second new song, known simply as “Emo Song” (working title), which featured a sombre piano intro that was clearly a pastiche of the iconic emo anthem Welcome to the Black Parade, yet the lyrics described the tribulations emos face, such as not being taken seriously by your parents, in a more relatable way than My Chemical Romance singing about marching bands.
Watch this video, by Kevin Gaughan, of ChuggaBoom performing at this event.
Ending their set was their ode to video games, Mad Skills Brah!, which fittingly begins with the famous “FINISH HIM” line from Mortal Kombat before an assault of chugs that truly ended the night with a flawless victory.
Comedy plays an important part of Chuggaboom‘s image, yet to call them a comedy band would miss the point entirely as they clearly are at least as talented as any of their contemporaries in the metalcore scene. A horde of loyal fans, AKA “Chuggalos” can’t be wrong.