Having toured with the likes of Iron Maiden, Shinedown, and Killswitch Engage – did The Raven Age really fit the ‘bill’?
Self-described as one of the finest names in modern British metal, The Raven Age took centre stage at Manchester’s Academy last night.
Dressed in glam-rock outfits, having some trouble with the audio quality at times and failing to energise the room, The Raven Age gave a performance fitting for a Tuesday evening – that might have struggled on a Saturday night.
Stood among the crowd a small group of loyal fans could be identified on the front rows but elsewhere, the atmosphere felt flat.
Before their set was underway the crowd were greeted by the modern metal five-piece, Disconnected.
Hailing from France and with a set of pipes fans could hear across the Channel, Disconnected front-man Ivan Pavlakovic put on a hell of a show.
While Ivan is the most senior member of the band, he wasn’t pulling any punches.
With the lungs to scream like an older Oli Sykes (BMTH) and sing like a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute, Disconnected were hitting all the right notes.
‘Your Way to Kill’ from the album We Are Disconnected is definitely one for your Spotify playlist.
After a short interval the crowd were ready for The Raven Age, the anticipation was building as the dark stage was flooded with red back-lights and a slow intro from drummer Jai Patel.
Each band member made their way to their instrument separately to create the maximum applause for lead singer Matt James who joined the stage last.
Matt and Jai make up the second five-piece band of the night with George Harris and Tommy Gentry on guitars and Matt Cox on bass.
The audience were also treated to a blinding show of strobe lights throughout the night timed to the beating of the drum sticks.
The strobe lighting was punctuated by cool blue tones however each time the band sung slower songs such as Grave of the Fireflies, a song best to find on Spotify.
While quite a few in the crowd were wearing Raven Age t-shirts and were dressed to rock, the buzz in the room didn’t seem to peak throughout the show.
Performing their hit songs Nostradamus through to closing number Fleur De Lis – both comparable to the early work of Black Veil Brides, the crowd were entertained if not entirely energised.
What did receive more enthusiasm from the room was when a young boy was picked from the front row to play the intro of Angel in Disgrace on the drums alongside Jai.
While there were some young couples and groups of friends, a significant portion of the crowd were older rockers and head-banging off stage was in short supply.
What you couldn’t miss however, were the scrunched faces of someone truly feeling the bass of the music, and the slightly parted lips mouthing each lyric.
The Raven Age fans of Manchester may not be causing a ruckus any time soon, but they are definitely streaming songs and snagging tickets.
