It’s Saturday morning and I turn on the TV to sit down with my Corn Flakes (other cereals are available) and mong out for a while. Unfortunately though I’m confronted by the ‘Hollyoaks Music Show’ with special guests Tinchy Strider, Diana Vickers, the Hoosiers and some other horrible dickheads. This made me do a cry into my dressing gown because not much more than 12 hours ago I was watching one of my favourite bands of all time tear up the ULU and leave it a bloody, twitching mess on the floor.

Opening the proceedings that night were Norwegian mob Kvelertak (I guarantee you just pronounced that wrong in your head). Their unique ‘crust and roll’ is quite far removed from the savagery of Converge but the 3 guitar assault was highly enjoyable. It’s the first time the majority of the crowd had ever been exposed to these guys and I for one am looking forward to checking them out again, which is apparently fairly soon. We were so close to getting an exclusive tour announcement for you, instead all we got was a really vague and cryptic clue.

www.myspace.com/kvelertak

Gaza were up next and honestly they didn’t grab me too much. You could tell they were playing with passion but there was just something a bit lacking for me. Again it was this lots first time on UK soil so I’m not sure if being unfamiliar with the material was the problem for me but I just didn’t feel moved. Gaza struck me as a less interesting version of ‘The Power and the Glory’, although massive props to them for crowbarring a ‘LOL’ and a ‘BRB’ into their hate filled lyrics.

www.myspace.com/gaza

Then it was the turn of Kylesa to turn the mood from ‘aggro discordance’ to heavy, heavy rock. It was my first time witnessing this lot live and I probably would’ve enjoyed it a lot more with the help of some ‘chemical enhancements’ but instead I had to make do with just being slightly tipsy. Kylesa had no problem filling the ULU with a wall of mongy, doomy, Sabbathy goodness which helped bring out the inner hippy in everyone witnessing their riff induced psychedelic trip. On a bill like this they obviously stuck out like a sore thumb but I got the impression that’s exactly how they like it. They’re playing Sonisphere in a couple of weeks and I’ll definitely be popping along again to give them another go, possibly with some ‘enhancements’. I did find myself willing the end of their set but I think that was mainly because I’d had the shittiest afternoon in the office and was desperate to just cut loose to the headliners.

www.myspace.com/kylesa

It’s hard for me to express just how much I loved Converge at one point in my life. The first time I stuck Jane Doe in my CD player I was a quivering wreck on the floor after the Concubine/Fault and Fracture opening. I used to play in a band that tried so, so hard to rip off every aspect of Jane Doe (but obviously failed miserably). Me and my friend Terry used to sit in his living room and watch The Long Road Home on repeat, especially that basement show, and dream one day that’d be us. That intense love started to wain when You Fail Me came out and again with No Heroes, not that I’m saying they’re bad albums, just that they didn’t connect with me the same way Jane did (<3 Jane). That all changed when Axe To Fall was released, another album with a stunning pair of opening tracks which reduced me to that quivering wreck once more.

Converge strolled on stage and straight away launched into Concubine followed by Dark Horse, which I’m pretty sure is one of the best opening tracks of any album in recent memory, and with this my love affair with Converge started all over again. It didn’t take long at all for the crowd to open up and pretty much stayed like that for the entire set. The songs they played from No Heroes and You Fail Me made me dig the albums out as soon as I got home and realise how good they actually are. Personal highlight for me was Locust Reign but the assembled masses were going insane to every song. Converge were giving their all for this crowd and the crowd were giving it back ten fold. Stage divers were hurling themselves off the stage like lemmings off of a cliff, even if the majority didn’t meet Converge’s seemingly high standard. It was rare that Jacob Bannon kept hold of the mic for longer than 30 seconds at a time, dipping it into the crowd to treat everyone to some sub standard crowd wailing over the PA. All in all it was a punishing set and I’ll see you at the front at Sonisphere and probably punch you in the face. Nowt personal, just Converge innit. One massive gripe though… NO SADDEST DAY! Converge, on that front, you failed me

www.myspace.com/converge

We managed to grab chats with Kylesa and Kvelertak which will be up on the site soon. Now if you don’t mind I think I’m off to Terry’s house to watch that DVD again.