New Years Day with Conquer Divide and Fearless Vampire Killers at O2 Academy Islington
The o2 Academy in Islington is a purpose built 800 capacity venue in the centre of North London. It used to be the Marque Club (not the one in Soho, but the one that came after it). Tonight it is playing host to a trio of rock bands.
First up are Fearless Vampire Killers, a five piece from the East of England. Opening up their six song set with All Hallows Evil, a heavy but very groovy number with dual vocalists, Laurence Beveridge and Kier Kemp getting the crowd whipped into shape straight away. Luke Illingworth’s massive drums then take us straight into Necromania, the opening track from 2012’s Militia of The Lost album. There is some pretty intricate guitar work during Keep Smiling from 2015’s Bruises EP and Say What You Want From Me (The Ghost You Left Behind) from Unbreakable Hearts continues that theme.
The band then played their latest single Back from the Void which is a less heavy number than the first few songs from their set, including a short ‘jazz interval’ but things soon get back on track as the crowd pleasing Neon in the Dance Halls from Unbreakable Hearts got underway, bringing their all too short set to close with plenty of singing from the crowd.
A few minutes later, Conquer Divide took to the stage. Formed in Michigan back in 2013, the band has now evolved into a more international affair after recruiting British guitarist Izzy Johnson. This is my first time seeing Conquer Divide and was surprised at how heavy they were. Spencer D Maybe did a great job on bass delivering some fantastic ‘non clean’ vocals throughout the set. Tonights set is made up almost entirely of tracks from 2023’s Slow Burn album and things kick off with Atonement. Kiarely “Kia” Castillo’s powerful ‘clean’ vocals blending beautifully with Spencer’s screams while Kristen Sturgis and Isabel Johnson keep things heavy with some great guitar work.
2020’s Chemicals provides another massive slab of heavy guitars. Returning to Slowburn, Pressure delivered gentler moments combined with equally heavy parts. The more I saw of Conquer Divide’s live show, the more I enjoyed them.
Paralyzed, The Invisible, System_failure and New Heaven followed and then we were treated to the new single Bad Dreams which certainly went down well with everyone in the room. Although not as heavy as some of their other material, Bad Dreams had some great dynamics and a nice catchy chorus which soon had the fans singing along… and then a massive breakdown – splendid! Conquer Divide closed their set with the wonderfully shouty Welcome2paradise, a fitting end to a great set, I’ll definitely be catching Conquer Divide again when I next get the chance.
The sound of Pantera’s Domination fills the O2 Academy and it’s time for New Years Day to take the stage. Formed in California back in 2005, Ash Costello is now the soul remaining, founding member of the band, which has undergone numerous line up changes across the years. however, in that time, New Years Day has become a heavier band with a great back catalogue of tunes from which to pick tonight’s set.
A fair number of tonights setlist come from their latest release, 2024’s Half Black Heart and we start things off with the sirens of Vampyre, it’s massive chorus and even bigger drums courtesy of Tommy Rockoff, whose drumming throughout the night is next level. Ash and the band seemed pretty stoked to finally be playing in the UK once again, saying that it has taken them over five years to get here, and the capacity crowd at The O2 Academy seem to agree. The album’s title track Half Black Heart is next on the list, another giant slab of low tuned metal guitars courtesy of Nikki Misery and Jeremy Valentyne, both great performers with proper rock star on stage presence.
A couple of tracks followed from 2019’s Unbreakable album, Come for Me with it’s super catchy mid section and Shut Up, perhaps not as heavy as those from Half Black Heart but still they came across nicely as live versions and really showed how great a singer and front woman Ash is. After Fearless, another track from Half Black Heart, was New Years Day’s first cover of the night, a massive version of Kehlani’s Gangsta, a real crowd pleaser and in my opinion a better version than the original. Disgust Me from 2020’s Through the Years followed by the massive Hurts Like Hell came next – the self proclaimed ‘cute but psycho’ Ash yet again, pulling off a great vocal. Then the second cover of the evening came along, Pantera’s Fucking Hostile which certainly raised the metal level to 11!
Things were kept heavy, and I’m sure the drums got even louder as So Sick got under way, Skeletons from 2019’s Unbreakable album came next during which Ash climbed down from the stage and got into the crowd, walking around and singing to almost every part of the room which was a pretty good way to keep the audience on their toes this late in the set – it worked pretty well too. Returning back to the stage, Ash finished off the set with three big tunes from 2015’s Malevolence, I’m About To Break You, with pretty much every person in the room singing every word, Defame Me and finally after a quick photo op with the crowd, a great version of Kill or Be Killed to finish the night off, leaving everyone to walk out of the venue with the words ‘Sick, Sick, All of Us Are Sick’, rattling through our battered brains!
All three bands put on a great show tonight. Fearless Vampire Killers were a lot of fun and I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Conquer Divide, and as for New Years Day, they were simply a great bunch of performers, great to watch and listen to. If this was a show that you missed, you definitely missed out!
For more information about the bands and their up-and-coming gigs visit:
New Years Day | @nydrock | nydrock.com
Conquer // Divide | @conquerdivide | conquerdivideofficial.com
FFearless Vampire Killers | @fvkillers | www.fearlessvampirekillers.co.uk
