GALLOWS, Feed The Rhino, Brotherhood of the Lake @Academy 2, Birmingham 17/10/12

RTM finds itself watching Plymouth’s Brotherhood of the Lake with its brother, who takes one look at them and says: “I don’t trust bands that wear hoodies onstage.” Rather odd prejudices aside, BotL are reminiscent of a less aggressive Dripback. But where the Londoners appear to be ready to smash your face in if you so much as looked like spilling their pint, the West Country mob seem ready to give you only a mild rebuke if you knocked theirs all over their new jeans. More aggression – and longer songs – needed if they are to pull this sort of music off.

Aggression is not something that Medway’s Feed The Rhino are short of. In fact, faced with a somewhat lethargic crowd response to their first few songs, vocalist Lee Tobin knows what he must do, namely remove himself from the stage and get in Brummie faces. Supporting just about every hardcore band they can find has long been a strategy FTR are doing their best to drag audience by audience with them, kicking and screaming if they have to.

That most recent album “The Burning Sons” is an improvement on the promise of the previous “Mr Red Eye” is clear and with songs as brutal as “Left For Ruins” in their arsenal, Rhino’s time can still arrive.

You can’t accuse of Gallows of not setting the bar high for this, their comeback tour. The Birmingham show is the penultimate of a mammoth 14-date trek, as a way to introduce your singer, you really cannot say fairer than that.

Of course, it helps if your new singer is pretty used to such matters and certainly Wade MacNeil, once of the rather marvelous Alexisonfire, doesn’t seem too perturbed at replacing Frank Carter after the latter made his shock exit last year.

It also helps if your new album is as good as Gallows self-titled comeback record was and is, and after things kick off with “Misery” from previous album “Grey Britain” its straight in with three from the new CD, including an aggressive “Everyone Loves You (When You’re Dead) and the lead single “Last June.”

The rest of the hour-long set is fairly even split between the three full-length releases, with MacNeil’s fake cockney sneer working a treat. The encore of “Victim Culture” and two old songs in “Abandon Ship” and “Orchestra Of Wolves” ends slightly chaotically with the frontman going crowd surfing and getting lost in the bodies, but this is, after all, essentially a punk gig, albeit one by a band who you suspect has a hardcore metal heart.

This is a comeback that doesn’t bother with baby steps and easing itself in gently, but rather runs straight for you grab you by the throat. And this version of Gallows is only just getting started.

THIS IS HELL, Feed The Rhino, The Cartharsis, Romans, Aurora @Birmingham Institute

There must be something of an unwritten rule at these types of gigs that there needs to be a load of support bands. No complaints here though, as the average hardcore/metal gig is tremendous value for money because of that.

Tonight is a prime example, as four bands show up before headliners This Is Hell and the ticket price is just £7. The first of which of these bands is Aurora on what is a special occasion for the female fronted metalcore group, as this appearance is their debut gig. They show potential and play a tight set and might just be ones to watch.

Brummie band Romans are next up, and despite their youthful appearance they play the most “classic” rock set of the evening. “Conspiracy” is a bouncy tune and they have some fine solos in their songs. A young band with clear talent.

The Catharsis have toured with Feed The Rhino before and you can see why. They are the first of the evening’s three hardcore metal bands, and they soon get the evenings first moshpit going “Casual Violence” is perhaps the most representative of their songs, they slam in a very heavy manner and it feels like the gig has finally begun.

Feed The Rhino are always a pleasure to watch. The Kent group have a new album entitled “The Burning Sons” out in July and are eager to showcase some of it here. Happily it sounds just as good as debut opus “Mr. Red Eye” was. It is the songs from “..Red Eye” like “The Butchers” that go down best, obviously, but if you have not seen FTR yet make sure you do when the new record is out.

The delays in between each band (and the stage times always looked ambitious!) mean that by the time This Is Hell hit the stage things are about half an hour late, and the Long Island five piece are clearly agitated. However, they channel the pent up frustration in the right way – by crushing what is left of the audience.

This Is Hell’s most recent “Black Mass” album is a brilliant cross between Hatebreed and early Metallica and it is with a track from this, “Acid Rain,” that kicks things off – literally judging by the crowd at the front.

Guitarists Rick Jimenez and Chris Mazella are a fearsome duo and singer Travis Riley boasts an Impressive range, destined for much bigger things, you hope, than 150 people on a Monday in an attic in Birmingham, his band have a song called “Salt The Earth” which is a good a crossover song as there has been in years.

Whether This is Hell do manage to get as big as we are tipping them to be remains to be seen, but at 40 minutes their set was all too brief, they were, however, so good that Lucifer himself would be proud.

WHILE SHE SLEEPS, Bury Tomorrow, Feed The Rhino @ Birmingham Academy 3 13/10/11

This part of Birmingham is the place to be tonight. And the second city’s live scene appears to be in rude health.

There’s some indie nonsense next door selling out the main room, while the well informed are crammed into the Academy 3 – which is also sold out – to watch three of the hottest of the new breed of British Metal battle for supremacy.

It falls to Medway’s Feed The Rhino to get things going. The band are fast becoming something of a fixture on the British concert scene – indeed they headlined Wolverhampton last month -  and the self styled “Noise and Roll” merchants do not disappoint, with some impressive circle pit action as they run through half an hour of well honed hardcore punk.

By contrast Southampton’s Bury Tomorrow have been away for a while and seem absolutely intent on making up for lost time. They go down like heroes – but in truth selling their brand of metalcore to this crowd isn’t a tough task.

Frontman Dani Winter-Bates screams, growls and jumps and James Cameron sings the choruses. You already know the drill, but just because something is familiar doesn’t lessen its entertainment and BT might just be ones to watch in 2012.

The same can be said for While She Sleeps. After a couple of years supporting anybody and everybody the Sheffield band seem ready to take on the world. Stunning mini album “The North Stands For Nothing” is well represented here – the title track in particular delivered with aplomb.

Selling out your first headline tour of the UK is an impressive feat in anyone’s book and, with high profile touring slots on the Kerrang tour next year, you get the feeling this will be the last time they are in anywhere with the number three in its name for a while. Its not often you get to see a band that’s about to break big. But we did tonight. While She Sleeps might just be the next big British Metal act.