The Exchange, 15/12/21
Our first live experience of The Raven Age is not one we will likely forget in a hurry.
Middle of the week, in the middle of a new pandemic wave you’d forgive the attendance for being smaller & more subdued, but @hawxxmusic had already more than warmed the crowd up. And when the South East Metalheads took to the stage & immediately cranked into first gear you could be forgiven for thinking you were in a much larger arena.
This band is a solid gold atmosphere generation machine. Before the doors closed at Exchange there would be a lot of spilt beer to mop up. I genuinely didn’t know what to expect from the band, but three studio albums & tours with Iron Maiden, Anthrax & Killswitch Engage suggested they would be full of heavy riffs & blistering bass.
Out the gate “The day the world stood still” set a thumping tone that instantly impressed. The set was fundamentally heavy, but the ability of the band to strip back to almost acoustic levels was impressive. And spine tingling renditions of “Wait for me” (What a song by the way ) & “No Man’s Land” showed the depth & ability of the band. Matt James vocal performance & stage presence really is exceptional. And this was a great showcase of new album “Exile”, which is far more than a stop gap whilst we await album no4.
The crowd were joyfully moshing & singing at the top of their lungs by the close of set, however the band were not quite finished with them. A thunderous performance of crowd favourite “Fleur De Lis” sent everyone home happy.
By the time the show ended I’d already added the band to my Spotify playlist, I can’t have been the only new fan created in that room on Wednesday night.
#theravenage
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