One of the heaviest tours you will see all Winter stopped off at Nottingham Rock City for the opening night of the run. American metalcore heavyweights August Burns Red were the main attraction but were certainly generous to our ears in bringing along The Devil Wears Prada and awesome Chicago based tech metallers Veil of Maya.

It was early doors at Rock City, but having caught up with the gripping action on Ramsey St; Lyric Lounge Review made it to the venue just in time to catch Veil of Maya.

The early start to proceedings meant that some of the crowd were still busy lubricating their insides at the bar, but Veil of Maya managed a healthy if static turnout to start with. The band soon caught the majority’s attention with their rafter-shaking racket, and by the end they had won quite a few new fans!  Brandon Butler could pass for a friendly looking Tim Lambesis but he and the band behind him have nothing friendly about them when onstage. Their tech/djent/industrial brand of metalcore goes down a treat in a set filled with bangers from their latest album: Eclipse. ‘Punisher’ hits the crowd with an unexpected bomb blast and when the crowd are asked for a circle pit; they promptly fill the floor with one.

The Devil Wears Prada kept the ball rolling nicely. The crowd swelled for the band, with just about everyone in the venue down on the floor replicating the intense energy on stage.  Frontman Mike Hranica may look like a ginger ‘Big Issue’ seller but once things kick off he is a model frontman. Covering the stage several times a minute he gives it his all and more. The band mix the keyboard led softer parts and the aggressive sections well to give a night of solid metalcore, some variation. They also sneak away with the band of the night crown…

Hitting the stage to Rozalla’s ‘Everybody’s Free’ lightens the mood after a bit of a wait, as the partisan metal crowd dance around like they’ve stumbled into the wrong venue. August Burns Red soon turn up the heavy, but it’s not the only time the band will have the crowd dancing. With regular intervals of some questionable Jake Luhrs-led dancing and a clap-along in every song, it’s pretty obvious that the crowd were eating everything out of the bands hand on the night. The band may not possess the ferocity that the undercard delivered on the evening but their accessible sound still has its brutal moments. Circle pits, raving, clap-athons and general boogying…the set had it all. The tough guys from Pennsylvania look genuinely humbled when they thank the crowd for the support and letting them do what they want to do. Who would want to stop them?