The Five Hundred - Do their best performance to date in London

*****

A wall of Sound!!!

The Five Hundred ***** strangely put on the best performance tonight, as they open up the upstairs of this months Voodoo Rock, London event. Playing alongside with three of the hottest newish bands in the Metal scene, the mighty Red Method, Exist Immortal and Cage Fight. Promoter Larry London has really put a great night together here, and with the fact all four bands don't play at the same time... this was always going to be a great night. The four bands play accross two stages, upstairs and downstairs at the London, Electrowerkz in Angel. 

I didn't know what to make of  the Nottingham band The Five Hundred the first time I saw them, I see hundreds of bands in this genre and they really didn't stand out as something special. But a few years on, this has really changed. They are a wall of sound, with vocals and music that has been crafted in to perfection I don't think they could be any nearer to the sound they are trying to bring accross, the guitars and bass and drums, are all in time... to the point I am trying to catch them out with a wrong note but it just never happens.

They open up the set with 'Black Dog' off the new album, but it is single 'The Rising Tide' which is becoming a real anthem, crossing sounds us such as Bring me the Horizon, Starset, Carnifex and Coldrain in a blender to produce a song that now is already a live classic for the band. With it's blast beats, that work well with the lights singer John Eley uses this to show off his vocal range and make the crowd into a frenzy. They really know how to command the upstairs stage, and to give out a performance that will get stuck into peoples heads. 'The Rising Tide' which is off their current album 'A World on Fire', is a stand out track and one you can watch the video for at the bottom of this page. 

Older songs like 'Smoke and Mirrors' have been given a new life, and stand up really well against the new tracks. And their is no point in the set where you feel a song is a filler. Every track is as good and the other, which shows this is a band moving forward and really know what they want from their music. This is shown in new songs like 'Your Apocalypse' and 'With Scars'. It's brilliant because Jeremy Gomez of Red Method who sings on 'Your Apocalypse' joins them for the song, because Red Method are also on the bill tonight.

Strangely enough with me thinking sometimes The Five Hundred sound like a wall of sound, because they end their set with a track called 'Walls of Jericho'. The Five Hundred are intense, but they are also enjoyable... putting everything they got into every performance. This is why The Five Hundred, will be a band that will be touring and releasing albums for years to come.

Review and Photo's by Dan Devour

The Five Hundred - Setlist
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Black Dogs
Smoke and Mirrors
The Rising Tide
The Warmth
Bleed Red
With Scars
Your Apocalypse
Our Demise
Walls of Jericho

Check Out! the Video for ' The Rising Tide' Below...