Live Review: While She Sleeps - Oberhausen 2024

Turbinenhalle 2, Oberhausen, Germany
7th November 2024
While She Sleeps - “European Tour 2024” - Special guests: Malevolence, Thrown, Resolve

Our favourite Metalcore band WHILE SHE SLEEPS from Sheffield, United Kingdom seems to be a on a roll. They just released their latest album ‘Self Hell’ this year in March and have been touring relentlessly ever since, thankfully leading them to the cozy Turbinenhalle 2 in Oberhausen on a gloomy Thursday evening.


Resolve

First up this evening was the French Post-Hardcore band RESOLVE. Originating from Marseille, the band formed in 2016 and is currently on their third release (‘Human’ from Sept 2023). Check out https://resolveofficial.co for more info.

Music & Performance
France is gradually putting itself on the metal music map. This cannot only be observed in the opening of last summer’s Olympics in Paris, where GOJIRA awed the world with their mind-blowing performance. Also, fellow countrymen from LANDMVRKS, with whom RESOLVE collaborated for the song ‘Self-Made Black Hole’ are testament to the thriving music scene.



So, arriving early here paid off that night. At 6:30pm sharp, a gloomy intro with flashing strobe lights gave way to the first notes of the opener ‘Human’. In the following 30 minutes, vocalist Anthony Diliberto, bassist Robin Mariat, guitarist Antonin Carré, and drummer Nathan Mariat entertained the crowd with their art of beautifully bludgeoning and densely expansive sound that was resting in the back of their heads, as their website puts it. You could tell by the cheeky grins of the band that they were extremely happy with the response of the crowd, and this left the crowd screaming for more after the 30 minutes of playtime flew by.

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8 / 10

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Thrown

Up next was Sweden’s best Metalcore newcomers THROWN. The four-piece from Sweden have carved up a loyal following with their uniquely aggressive vocals blended with immensely heavy and distorted guitars. This August, they have released their first studio album ‘Excessive Guilt’, after a bunch of singles and one EP ‘Extended Pain’ in 2022. https://extendedpain.com

Music & Performance
A thick Hip Hop intro (‘Imaginary Friend’ from GELOWLER) started, the four members of THROWN walked on stage, while the Hip Hop beat was brutally interrupted by the shrill guitar intro of ‘Guilt’, and when the first guitar walls set in, it became clear that this a brutally engineered assault on the ear canals was about to begin.



Indeed, I have never heard a more distorted, “rough” guitar sound than from THROWN, so kudos to the band and the sound engineers for making that happen. THROWN’s playing style was nothing short of mesmerizing. The band members displayed exceptional technical prowess, effortlessly transitioning between intricate guitar solos, atmospheric synth textures, and driving rhythms. Their stage presence was equally impressive, as they commanded the stage with an infectious energy that spread throughout the crowd. And shouter Marcus Lundqvist visibly loved his job and delivered his vocals with a wrenching energy and gut-punching passion, it was a pleasure to watch. This is definitely a band to watch out for, which should be put on the line-up onto a much later spot, so many more people can witness the sheer energy.

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 6
Light: 6
Total: 8 / 10

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Malevolence

Fellow Englishmen from Sheffield MALEVOLENCE held the sub headliner spot on this evening’s billing. The band members are more on the hardcore side of Metalcore, compared to their city mates WHILE SHE SLEEPS. MALEVOLENCE formed back in 2010, and they are on their third album, which is called ‘Malicious Intent’ and was released in September 2022. https://mlvltd.com/

Music & Performance
The contrast could not be greater. Where WHILE SHE SLEEPS is using a virtuous, melodic scalpel, MALEVOLENCE is swinging an axe: The opener ‘Malicious Intent’ made this abundantly clear.



Brutal riffs, thundering double base passages, and relentless growling had entered the chat. The audience loved it, and turned the headbanging, circle pits, and crowd surfing up a notch. Singer Alex Taylor and his band mates delivered an extremely energetic show, which made it clear they took their job very seriously. The band put the pedal to the metal music-wise and gave the people in the mosh pit the heavy riffing they were waiting for. The fans thanked the band in the form of a giant wall of death, which underscored what an excellent addition MALEVOLENCE have been for this line-up.

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8 / 10

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While She Sleeps

The quintet from Sheffield, UK formed as a band among former schoolmates back in 2006. Current singer Lawrence ‘Loz’ Taylor joined them in 2009, and so far, they have released six studio albums with the fourth ‘Self Hell’ being released beginning of March 2024. Check out www.whileshesleeps.com.

Music & Performance
The stage break revealed lots of sleek Marshall guitar speaker cabinets for the upcoming gig of WHILE SHE SLEEPS. Around 9:20 pm, the lights went low, the gloomy first intro notes of ‘Peace of Mind’ resounded over the speakers, while the band members entered the stage.



With a thunderous lightning of strobe lights, WHILE SHE SLEEPS entered the stage to perform this track as the opening song. Together with the excellent sound mix underscoring the band’s versatility, the new song once again ticked off the audience, and almost simultaneously, dozens of half-full beer cups were thrown into the air and a vicious circle pit appeared. The fever pitch was reached when the band played their anthemic ‘Hurricane’ from the 2016 ‘You are We’ album. The set continued without any room to breathe, during which all kinds of seemingly lost garment pieces were thrown in the air, as the intensity of the pit action showed no sign of watering down. For the song ‘Four Walls’, Loz asked everyone to put someone on their shoulders while illuminating their cell phones to create a sea of light in the concert hall, and the crowd gladly obliged.



The gig culminated after 70 minutes at the end of the epic song ‘Sleeps Society’, when singer Loz towards the end went upstairs on the balcony of the Turbinenhalle, finished the song from there, and finally jumped from the balcony into the open arms of the crowd underneath, and the evening ended with Sean screaming a heart-felt “Thank you Oberhausen, you’re fucking unbelievable!”

Setlist
01. Peace Of Mind
02. Leave Me Alone
03. Anti-Social
04. You Are All You Need
05. The Guilty Party
06. Rainbows
07. Trophies Of Violence
08. Self-Hell
09. Systematic
10. No Feeling Is Final (Interlude)
11. Four Walls
12. Down (With Malevolence)
13. Hurricane
14. Enlightenment(?)
15. Silence Speaks
16. To The Flowers
17. Sleeps Society

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10

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All Pictures by Dietmar Seifer