Recall The Remains, Nameless, Born Zero
Recall The Remains, Nameless, Born Zero
Wangies, Eccles (Greater Manchester)
26/01/2024
Live Review by Oli Gonzalez
It’s Friday night. It’s payday for many which means time to blow off some steam with a much welcome injection of funds to fuel a night on the town. Especially after the longest and darkest month of the year. In my case, and my friends accompanying me, this means a trip to Wangies in Eccles, Greater Manchester for a night of live metal music. Billed as a ‘Midlands’ takeover, it features 3 bands from this part of the country who are centred around the nu-metal and metalcore subgenres. The matching couldn’t have been better to be fair!
I’ve spoken before about my admiration for the venue, and it’s even sweeter that this is now only 10 minutes away from my new home. It overcomes the limitations of being a small pub not fully designed for live music by offering a fantastic warm atmosphere and a crowd of genuine music lovers. First up was Born Zero. Let’s get into it.
Despite being given the graveyard opening slot, the nu-metal/hardcore crossover does a fine job of opening up proceedings. Try to imagine the unholy offspring of Deftones and Hatebreed, then you’re kind of nearly there. Sporting infectious and crushing grooves with that late 90s metal seasoning, I certainly found myself headbanging along in appreciation, even though I’m not even a fan of that style of music. Which sums up how well their performance went down.
Only the second time I had ever seen Nameless, but the second time within a stretch of 7 days. Now given a slot slightly higher on the card and to a more warmed up crowd, Nameless seemed like a completely different band to what I saw a week ago! Feeding off the crowd’s energy, they were clearly more confident and had a much more solid presence. In turn, the crowd were more invested and the pit opened right in front of me. We even had an impromptu guest vocal appearance from Only The Righteous’ own Jake! Such phenomenal mutual respect between all musicians, which sums the night up really. I’d love to see the band take to a bigger stage now and be given a bigger platform to showcase their craft.
“Anybody who windmills faster than me gets a free t-shirt,” says frontman Recall The Remains frontman Jacob, issuing a challenge to the audience. Nobody can match that intensity though. Nobody even attempts it. I wouldn’t challenge a prime Mike Tyson to a boxing bout. It’s this intensity on stage that has brought Recall The Remains legions of fans over the past few years. Their intensity is ever present, whether their on Bloodstock’s New Blood Stage, opening for Nervosa or Cavalera Conspiracy, or a small pub here in Greater Manchester on a Friday night. With old hits such as ‘First Inversion’ and ‘Our Hell’, the crowd were fully invested and singing along, myself included. The band showed their appreciation for the opportunity and to the venue. A professionally clinical and deserving headline performance. As cliché as it sounds, big things genuinely are coming for the Telford based act.
Show all your love for Wangies, follow the page, and support this crucial hub for live music. Especially original metal, which many venues won’t touch with a barge pole. Jacob from Recall The Remains remarked how they “even got given coat hangers for our merch, do you know how valuable that shit is?!”. As comical as it was, it speaks to how well the bands are treated here too. I’m certainly going to be making more trips here as it’s now right on my doorstep.
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Oli Gonzalez and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
