It was an early start in Manchester tonight with the Defenders of the Faith package tour rolling into town, serving up a menu of 4 bands for the metal hungry, sold out crowd. Opening the evening's proceedings were Canadian true metal warriors 3 INCHES OF BLOOD - still short of 2nd lead vocalist Jamie Hooper, but now equipped with brand new drummer Ash Pearson. Although the set was a miserly 25 minutes, 3 INCHES OF BLOOD still managed to leave their mark on the night. 'Deadly Sinners' received a rousing response, and tracks like 'Forest King' and 'Night Marauders' sounded tremendous through the Manchester Academy sound system. The screaming vocals of Cam Pipes may still be seen as a parody by some, but for those metal fans who love their metal 80's style, 3 INCHES OF BLOOD are certainly a shining light for the future. Hail and Kill!

Next up were another band who live, breathe, eat and shit heavy metal. DEVILDRIVER are the heaviest thing to come out of California since AUTOPSY. Ok, so this isn't out and out death metal, and it sure ain't grindcore, but whatever the hell it is, it smacks you in the face like a Mike Tyson right hand. Ex COAL CHAMBER frontman Dez Fafara looks far more at home in this band and his snorting grunt of a vocal is almost evil enough to summon a visit from satan himself. Pummeling cuts like 'Clouds Over California', and the brutal assault of set closer 'End of the Line' kick-started the kind of circle pit that I haven't seen in the Academy since MACHINE HEAD's performance there in 2005. 30 minutes was just about all the crowd could take and DEVILDRIVER left the stage, leaving nearly 3,000 metalheads to somehow re-cooperate ready for the two remaining acts.

Fortunately for the walking wounded, the next act up were OPETH. In terms of speed and aggression, a quite different band to the others on the bill. Even so, there were plenty of OPETH fans in the audience and for a while, their positive reaction seemed to rub off on the rest of the crowd. However, this is the kind of band who needs to grace your CD player for a few weeks if you're really going to enjoy them, and by the end of their 70 minute set, to whom their music was unfamiliar, the set was undoubtedly becoming rather tiresome. The epic 'The Baying of the Hounds' was a stand out, and the brooding 'Demon of the Fall' offered a rare chance to break into a headbang - but in all honesty, OPETH are not the ideal band for a package tour like this, and would be better off playing their own shows to their own loyal following.

Taking their turn to headline the show tonight were Swedish melodic death metallers ARCH ENEMY, who sounded absolutely tremendous. Whether they looked any good though is left to the imagination, as their performance was almost impossible to watch due to a ridiculously over-the-top lighting job, with flash lights pointed at the crowd, which were triggered with pretty much every kick of Daniel Erlandsson's double bass drum. This was a real irritation and certainly marred a lot of people's enjoyment of the show.

Michael Ammot's guitar playing sounded note perfect as ever, and Angela Gossow continues to defy the laws of mankind as she balls out the harsh death meal vocals - not the kind of girl you'd want to take home to your mum and dad! In terms of highlights, 'Blood On Your Hands' worked terrifically well as an opener, and the anthemic 'We Will Rise' proved to be a rousing track to have in the encore. In between those two, 'Revolution Begins' impressed and 'Ravenous' proved extremely popular with the crowd - while 'My Apocalypse' would give any metal headbanger severe neck ache. ARCH ENEMY are without doubt one of the best bands in their genre and providing they have a different lighting engineer, I'll definitely look forward to seeing them again! All in all, this was a great night out for metal fans, and although package tours may not be the best thing if you want to see a particular band, they do provide a great vehicle for metal bands to play to bigger audiences, and for the fans to see more bands for their money. So all in all, it's a thumbs up from me!

3 INCHES OF BLOOD Setlist: Goat Riders Horde / Trial of Champions / Forest King / Deadly Sinners / Night Marauders

DEVILDRIVER Setlist: Not All Who Wander Are Lost / I Dreamed I Died / Clouds Over California / Horn of Betrayal / I Could Care Less / Fighting Words / End of the Line

OPETH Setlist: Demon of the Fall / Serenity Painted Death / The Baying of the Hounds / In My Time of Need / Wreath / Heir Apparent / The Drapery Falls

ARCH ENEMY Setlist: Blood On Your Hands / Ravenous / Taking Back My Soul / Dead Eyes See No Future / My Apocalypse / Revolution Begins / Dead Bury Their Dead / I Will Live Again / Enemy Within / Nemesis / Snowbound / We Will Rise / Fields of Desolation

Ratings:

3 INCHES OF BLOOD: 3.5/5.0

DEVILDRIVER: 4.4/5.0

OPETH: 2.6/5.0

ARCH ENEMY: 3.8/5.0

Review by James Allman

Photography by Alexander Shaw

ARCH ENEMY

OPETH

DEVILDRIVER

3 INCHES OF BLOOD