Liquid State
“Liquid State: ‘a substance that flows freely but is of constant volume, having a consistency like that of water or oil.’”
Never has a definition seemed so appropriate, for Liquid State is a band whose sound flows like a river, ebbing and flowing from millpond tranquility to raging rapids in the blink of an eye.
Earning themselves the reputation of being one of the preeminent live bands that Bristol has produced in the past five years. Vocalist Keren Ashley, guitarist Kray Zellinger Mundy, Ben Bull on Bass, and Harry Moffatt on drums are renowned for turning any size venue into an arena with a light show that dazzles and a wall of sound that punches a hole through the solar plexus.
Their sound is as adaptive as AI programming, early punk rock coding rewired into a post-hardcore algorithm. Liquid State has the programming to hack the DNA of anyone they come into contact with.
Thursday’s gig at a busy Rough Trade surely assimilated more disciples into the Liquid family. The eight-strong set was a master class in how to hypnotize an audience. Liquid State flowed over the crowd like a Tsunami that refused to let anything caught in its wake come up for air. Ben on bass, Kray on guitar played as if injected with shots of adrenaline, and to stop would result in heart failure, Harry manufacturing an electromagnetic shockwave on the drums. Whilst Keren has a steely intensity in her performance that feels like each lyric is capable of splitting atoms.
Positioned mid-set was the band’s secret weapon, their Oppenheimer. “Blossom” is an unmatched nuclear live song. That has the potential to be anthem level. And will surely make its way to set opener or close out in the future.
“Wasted Youth” and “Hollow Frames” jolt the crowd like a taser. Before the voltage is increased further with “Cynical” and “Russian Roulette,” all of this served only to create a palpable “Static” charge in the room that made goosebumps rise and hairs stand on end.
Liquid State is surely about to burst the banks of Bristol? And when they do the UK better be ready for the flood.
ARIMEA
Arimea (Whitney – Vocals, Tom – Guitar, Joe – Bass, Richard – Drums) have risen like a Phoenix since the brave decision to rip up version 1.0 and strive to make version 2.0 a more authentic version of themselves. The latter bleeds integrity and a desire to succeed by being who they want to be rather than who they think they should be.
What has emerged is a self-assured quartet that is producing some of the best next-gen nu metal you’ll hear on these shores.
If Tom, Joe & Richard are the gunpowder, Whitney is the struck match ready to ignite everything around her. She waltzes onto the stage at Rough Trade like an alt-metal ballerina, as if she has escaped a music box forged by the hands of the masters of metal. The vocal that bursts forth oscillates between the sweetness of an angel’s tears and the wrath of a demon being exercised.
The last time we heard the 7 tracks that make up tonight’s set, they were new, raw, untested. Tonight they take on a life of their own, filling every inch of the pitch-black room possessing the bodies of those watching, forcing them to bang their heads in unison.
The opening to “Third Light” is easily one of my favorite openings to any song I have heard in the past few years. It digs its talons into your flesh and refuses to let go. “Far Forgotten” & “Silent Space” act as markers to how far the band has come over the past year. Crowd favorite and latest single “Castiel” is enough for me to make a mental note to rewatch TV series Supernatural in full again.
The set couldn’t end in a stronger fashion, as “Remember It Kid” showcases how easily the band is able to reimagine the sort of music those of us who grew up in the glory days of Nu Metal had thought were forever lost in time. And it’s quite literally that “Nostalgia” that brings us to a close. If “Third Light” has one of our favorite openings, then “Nostalgia” takes the crown for one of our favorite choruses; it seeps into the bloodstream and forces you to involuntarily scream it from your lungs with everything you have.
The metamorphosis Arimea has undertaken is something beautiful to behold.
@thebristolnomad / @bristolnomad_gigphotography
Role: Photographer / Reviewer / Interviewer
Chief, the one that bugs the team for team for their reviews and images. Creator and founder of The Bristol Gig Guide. Can usually be found swamped in admin or getting cramp kneeling at the front of a gig.
Available for: Gig Shoots, Gig Reviews, Photo Shoots, Album and Single cover shoots, Videography work, Interviews and Touring
First attended gig: Republica, circa 1996.
First gig shot: Hands Off Gretel, at The Louisiana!
Dream gig: Huge metalhead and my ultimate dream gig would be shooting my heroes Slipknot at a huge stadium gig, or as festival headliners. And to experience shooting a headline tour outside the UK
