23rd November 2007

It's a good time for those of us that enjoy the heavier side of music. Recent years have seen some of the most amazing music coming from genres such as hardcore, metal, punk, etc. And the critics seem to have already decided on their album of 2007 - Machine Head's "The Blackening".

Tonight Machine Head are at Birmingham's NEC arena to finish up a year which has also seen them open for Metallica at Wembley Stadium as well as being one of the highlights of this year's Download Festival. But first, there's a mighty line-up of acts ready to get the punters well and truly warmed up for the headliners.

An unusually early start to proceedings means I miss Shadows Fall's 5:45 set and arrive to find Arch Enemy already strolling around the huge stage. Angela Gossow's possessed growl combined with the ferocious dual guitars behind her ensures that Arch Enemy win themselves a new legion of fans and I look forward to their co-headling Academy gig alongside Opeth next April.

Next up Dragonforce are hilarious in more ways than one. Never a band to take themselves too seriously, they continually berate each other on stage and encourage the audience to smile as hard as they bang their heads. The musicianship is staggering but the songs are overblown and full of noodly guitar solos that you thought died out in the 80s. It's all very entertaining but somewhat ridiculous at the same time, and any man who licks his guitar neck during solos should never be allowed near a stage!

After the theatrics of Dragonforce it's over to Orlando's crown princes of metal, Trivium, to take things to the next level. A band that's failed to impress me much before, tonight Trivium are a different beast altogether and deliver a performance which finally lives up to all the hype. Tracks such as fan favourite "Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr" mean Matt Heafy's boys have the NEC crowd in the palms of their sweaty hands, and "Anthem" more than lives up to its name.

After such an impressive performance, many might be worried that Machine Head could be an anti-climax. What happens in the final sixty minutes of the night, however, means that any such thoughts are pummeled to the very depths of our minds, with Machine Head delivering a staggering lesson in how it should be done. With no time for theatrics or posturing, Rob Flynn and his trusty sidekicks hammer out a set of mega-riffs from their checkered yet legendary career, while tracks from "The Blackening" more than hold their own. The huge sound fills every corner of the arena and the NEC witnesses the biggest circle pit it's probably ever encountered.

Flynn pays homage to local bands Napalm Death and Judas Priest before introducing "Halo" as "a call to arms". His legion of fans are right their with him. Roll on the next Crusade!

Review & Photography - Steve Gerrard