Music lovers can make every night feel like it’s a Saturday night out. Tuesday night and metalcore enthusiasts are gathering in front of the doors of Trix in Antwerp to see the likes of Northlane, Novelists and ten56!
ten56
The evening kicked off with a powerful performance by French heavy hitters ten56. Although the room was still filling up, the band gave everything they got! The set started out without remorse on the tunes of ‘Saiko‘, to be followed up by ‘Diazepam‘, the very first song they ever released. Despite the small crowd being present, these two bangers sure put those present in the right mood!
As a total surprise vocalist Aaron Matts summoned his friend Matteo Gelsomino on stage to sing along with him for their newest song ‘ICU‘. For those who don’t know Matteo, he used to be the vocalist for Novelists between 2013 and 2020. The interaction between both vocalists was just amazing to see and to hear. Moving on with ‘Yenta‘ which resulted in a small wall of death and girls-only moshpit or to quote Aaron ‘a big clit energy moshpit’.
“Wakey wakey” is how the next song was announced appropriately because it was definitely time to wake up, ‘Good Morning‘! After everyone was given a good wake-up call, it was time to move on with some more heavy tunes in ‘Traumadoll‘ and ‘Boy‘. After 30 minutes of mayhem they concluded their set with ‘Kimo‘ for which the breakdown at the end really killed it!
Setlist: Saiko – Diazepam – ICU – Yenta – Good Morning – Traumadoll – Boy – Kimo
Novelists
Next up was Novelists! By now, the room was filling up. They opened with ‘Lost Cause‘, where the angelic voice of vocalist Camille Contreras once again enchanted the crowd. Once the first notes of ‘Terrorist‘ hit, the crowd got on their feet. To finish the song Camille striked a girly pose right before Florestan Durand and Pierre Danel took it away with an amazing guitar solo.
Time to take it down a notch. Camille switched the microphone for the guitar for the next song called ‘Mourning The Dawn‘. Another change in gear, for the next song ‘Smoke Signals‘ when Nicolas Delestrade changed his bass guitar for the microphone. He was in charge of the clean vocals for this song and in my honest opinion he totally nailed it!
For the closing song tonight they chose ‘Turn It Up (Keyboard Warriors Social Club)’ to get the crowd moving and getting ready for headliner Northlane. Personal opinion but it must be said: after their headliner show earlier this year the 40 minute set just didn’t cut it… Hope to see them return as headliner soon!
Setlist: Lost Cause – Prisoner – Do You Really Wanna Know? – Terrorist – Heretic – Mourning the Dawn – Smoke Signals – Turn It Up (Keyboard Warriors Social Club)
Northlane
Northlane proved from the very beginning that they truly deserved the headliner position. From the first notes in ‘Carbonized‘ they got everyone moving and dancing and just enjoying themselves. Luckily they did not have us wait too long to hear some new songs such as ‘Miasma‘ and ‘Dante‘ from their new EP Mirror’s Edge which was released earlier this year.
The crowd had a good ‘Intuition‘ when it was a perfect song for a circle pit. The song ‘4D‘ seemed perfect for another wall of death. ‘Kraft‘ started of with a rapping Marcus Bridge, who is the vocalist for Northlane. Finally it was time for the band to unleash ‘Bloodline‘ which is my personal favorite.
The time had come to really party hardy with the song ‘Echo Chamber‘ which started off as a dance song but gradually turned in a real headbanging metal song. It was a song where John Deiley and Josh Smith could show off their amazing guitar skills. Continuing on this dance influence it was time for John to show what his fingers could do with the keyboard for the song ‘Clarity‘.
After this dance intermezzo it was time to get back to business with a medley of some of their heaviest songs. The final song ‘Nova‘ once again showcased the exceptional vocal range of Marcus. It was also heartwarming to see how grateful the band was for being able to play this show. The encore song ‘Citizen‘ was the cherry on top with lots of dancing and one final wall of death.
Setlist: Carbonized – Intuition – Miasma – 4D – Talking Heads – Kraft – Bloodline – Dante – Echo Chamber – Clarity – Ra/Worldeater/Dispossession/Jinn – Solar – Mirror’s Edge – Afterimage – Clockwork – Nova – Citizen
