INHEAVEN
+ Thyla
@ The Deaf Institute, Manchester
12/2/18 – 7:30pm
INHEAVEN are rising up in the alternative rock scene. Having just been featured in Kerrang! Magazine as ‘Your New Favourite Band’, they are now kicking off February with a headline tour. I’m excited to review INHEAVEN tonight because they are a band whose name I have heard floating around the rock scene for a few years now, but I’ve never thought to follow it through and to listen to their music or to see them live, until now.
The energy that support band Thyla have seems uncontainable for the small stage of the Deaf Institute. Frontwoman Millie Duthie is so confident with her vocals and use of guitar, really letting her passion loose during opener ‘Everything’. I’m always envious of women who can sing and play guitar, as I never managed to master it, no matter how much I practised. Thyla test out new song ‘Amber Waits’; one that is obviously very new to the crowd as Thyla gain a few confused ‘What?’s, but the song goes down a treat. I would think if they upped the gain and lost the EQ/reverb on the vocals it would give the song just that little bit more kick and power to create a well-rounded indie punk/rock song. Preview of their next single ‘I Was Biting’ gets the crowd a bit more interested. The instrumentation Thyla have is brilliant as they are all equally putting their money’s worth in. By that I mean, each member looks and acts like they want to be there and loves the music they’re playing. This will always make the crowd feel more positive because then, everyone is having a good time and loving the music.
The whole venue goes black and a droning backing track announces the arrival of INHEAVEN. It’s funny because each member looks like they’re representing a different era of American music history. You have the looks of the Ramones, late 80’s metal, glam rock and pop-punk all thrown into one band, and it makes each member have character, a bit of intrigue.
INHEAVEN have drawn a massive crowd tonight, a near sell out show. ‘Baby’s Alright’ kicks off the first mosh pit of the night, setting people off into a frenzy almost as soon as the bass riff begins playing. Now it feels like I’m at a rock show, as following song ‘Vultures’ keeps the energy in the room at max, with (bassist/vocalist) Chloe Little taking over for this song. INHEAVEN pose and dance their way about the stage, laughing about the ongoing mosh pits.
‘This is the best gig of the tour, thank you Manchester’, shouts James Taylor (vocals/guitar), before announcing next song ‘Do You Dream?’.
INHEAVEN, along with the crowd, are going non-stop tonight and are gathering up a solid following from this amazing performance. The smiles on their faces show acknowledgement of this. I really like how they alternate between male and female vocals, then combine the two together. When done in rock music, it’s tricky because the vocals have to sound different enough to sound different enough from each other, but still be able to mould together during choruses. With INHEAVEN, it doesn’t seem like there’s a battle for power either, because both Chloe and James share the stage- definitely no battle of the sexes tonight.
Finale song ‘Regeneration’ seems like the anthem of young people today- ‘I don’t wanna bring you down, I just want to f**k around, I’m bored of my generation, is this my generation?’. It kind of speaks to me because there is a lot of pressure put on today’s younger generation and, honestly, a lot of us are just here for a good time. You need moments to unwind and let loose, like INHEAVEN have allowed us all to do tonight.