First up this evening is American rock band Conquer Divide who have released two albums, their self-titled debut and the most recent named `Slow Burn`. This evening’s thirty minutes was anything but a slow burn. There were songs from the last release like `Paralyzed` that began quite edgily becoming fairly reflective before closing out with growled or unclean vocals. `Newheaven` was another thoughtful listen, `Eyes Wide Shut` from the debut album was fairly intense with unclean vocals sprinkled throughout before closing out with `Welcome2paradise` which had this engaged audience waving arms along with the band. The quintet shared a well received set that did exactly what a warm up act should do and got the crowd fired up for the main act.
The Warning are in essence the Villarreal Vélez sisters: Daniela (guitar, lead and backing vocals), Paulina (drums, lead and backing vocals), and Alejandra (bass guitar, backing vocals). They have released three studio albums and have a new album `Keep Me Fed` due out in June. The trio hail from Monterrey, Mexico and have supported the likes of Foo Fighters, Sammy Hagar, The Killers, Halestorm, Stone Temple Pilots and Muse. This was their first visit to Birmingham, “The Birthplace of Heavy Metal” and they appeared pretty wired to be here.
Tonight’s eighty minute set gave a flavour of their recording career so far along with a few tracks teased from their forthcoming release.
I really enjoyed songs like `Dust to Dust` which had drummer Paulina heading up the vocals, `More` which was delightfully hypnotic, the pounding thumping `Money`, thoughtful `Error` and `Survive` which had this heaving crowd singing along with the “whoa whoas”. The new tracks shared from the imminent release were the mesmerising `S!CK`, the delightfully heavy and anthemic `Hell You Call a Dream` and the questioning `Qué Más Quieres` which translates to what else do you want.
The meditative `Martirio` which may well be Martyrdom closed out the show before the trio are encouraged to return for a two song encore with `Narsisita` or narcissist and the scorching `Evolve`.
The majority of this nineteen date tour of Europe has unsurprisingly sold out with only five dates left around the UK remaining, and it’ll be challenging to obtain a ticket but i`m sure the band will be heading over again to promote the new release in much larger venues.
A band that certainly have something about them and it will be really interesting to see how they develop and grow.
