I arrived a little early to down my medicinal lemonade (no drinking on the job!) and have a cigarette. One thing I will say about the Irish metal scene is it is so small, you tend to know the majority of people just from attending gigs regularly. I look around and I see the lads of TRAYUS giggling and socialising and the guys and lady from DEAD LABEL gawking with anticipation at the rugby match on the big screen. Shortly after along came some regulars from Limerick's finest metal bands showing up to show their support for their comrades.

Not long after that, the doors opened and I took my place near the bar with maximum visibility of the stage. After some time of waiting, the stage suddenly filled up with the six men of TRAYUS. Yes, you heard me. Six. With a stage as small as this, it's a surprise they made themselves fit on the stage and not have some catastrophic accident. When their set started, I didn't know what to expect, I'd never heard their material before as this was their debut Limerick appearance. My first thought was "what the fuck is this?". It's a lot to get used to, when you come to see a Death Metal show, you're not usually banking on seeing a Metalcore/Groove band. But once I got over the initial shock, I really enjoyed their music. One thing that really stood out to me was they had two vocalists doing live contrasting vocals. When Tony would do clean vocals, Mike would swoop in with some gutturals, and vice versa. Their energy was on top form and even though the venue felt like it was on Mercury, they didn't let that slow down their energy and enthusiasm. I did, however, get the feeling that they were there to play for their friends. They lacked communication and connection with the crowd (apart from the odd comment or gesture to their friends in the crowd).
 

After a quick break, Irish Death Metal titans DEAD LABEL hit the stage. With just three members, the stage looked incredibly tidier. The tiny, dank chamber of The Kasbah filled to what seemed like capacity as soon as they stepped foot on the stage. I have seen this trio play more times than I can count and they only seem to get better and better with each performance. This particular performance was no exception. Their instruments sound on point, exactly like they do on their albums. They kept their set very plain and simple, although their energy was sky high. Claire did not stop headbanging throughout the entire set!

At around their third song, there was some sort of light malfunction and the stage lights went out, leaving the stage in complete darkness. But being the true professionals that they are, they didn't miss a beat and kept on playing, and to be honest, it made everything that much more awesome. Their song finished and the lights didn't come on. Dan made a joke about the lights and they carried on playing their set. The crowd were loving it and there was a wave of Pantene worthy hair flying all over the place. The lights eventually came back on and everything was back to normal. Before finishing their set, they gave a little thanks to everyone for coming out and to stick around for the mighty BEHOLDER. They were extremely humble and seemed in awe of everyone that came out to watch their set. 

I stepped outside for some air at this point, about to keel over with the heat. Wearing a leather jacket probably was not the best idea. When I came back in, BEHOLDER were about to hit the stage. Something seemed oddly out of place. I realised the amount of people in the crowd had decreased to under half of what it was when DEAD LABEL played. I thought that maybe people were still getting a beer in the next room or still having their cigarette, they'd come in once they heard the music playing. They began playing and for some reason the crowd weren't all that receptive. It wasn't until they played "The Awakening" that the crowd woke up and some serious headbanging went on. The irony of this situation is not lost on me, believe me! They played a new song from their new album and Simon wanted to show the crowd how it was done and jumped off stage and into the crowd, mingling and headbanging with them.

This stuck with me, way too often I've seen bands just not care, just do what they came there to do and leave. BEHOLDER really connected with the crowd and made sure everyone left there with a positive impression of them. The passion in Simon's vocals throughout the whole set was inspiring. He really believed in the cause he was singing for. He made a little speech about the unity in the metal community, the mood shifted and the crowd just seemed to forget everything else and focus on them. There was great intimacy between the band on stage, you could really tell they loved what they did and did it all for the crowd and fans. On one of their last songs "The Edge of Insanity" Simon was in the crowd again, this time it seemed less out of frustration and more just for the fun of it. When their set finished, the crowd wanted more. They shouted the obligatory "one more tune!" at the exhausted band. Unfortunately they had to decline due to their new guitarist only knowing the songs on the setlist (which he learned in a matter of hours apparently, very impressive!)
 

This entire gig was brilliant, every band stood out in one way or another. My one and only true pet peeve was that everyone seemed to have disappeared for BEHOLDER's set. The people didn't know what they were missing! It was a lovely evening filled with great bands, great atmosphere and great music. I can't wait for BEHOLDER to come back and to catch some more sets of DEAD LABEL and TRAYUS. This was truly an Irish metal show at its finest.

*Photography by Trev Whyte