Monday 10/03/03 Hell is for Heroes @ Academy 2, Liverpool

September 23, 2003 by Vicky Roberts

While fashion may have shifted from impassioned geek rock in favor of something a little more antipodean, Hell Is For Heroes have surfaced to prove that there is life in the seemingly dated emo/metal scene yet - but still no room for Fred Durst.

Filed neatly into the newly evolved 'post-hardcore' scene, Hell Is For Heroes new album 'The Neon Handshake' comprises the sensitivity of Idlewild, but with the added bite of …Trail of the Dead. They also rank within their numbers two former members of Symposium. Whatever category they fit into, HIFH are going to be massive.

The band begin their assault on the audience with almost military like precision. Fresh from commandeering the attention of the entire music press, with their backs to the audience, vocalist Justin Schlosberg, and his enigmatic counterparts unleash a wall of sound pummeling itself into the stomach of everyone in the room. The crowd responds accordingly, maintaining eye contact, hands raised, and singing back every word of set and album opener 'Five Kids Go', a menacing and thunderously grating track, which whips up the mosh pit, in preparation for the fuzzed up base and fervent vocals of current single 'You Drove Me To It'.

Schlosberg launches himself about the stage frenziedly, hurling the microphone as he pauses to reclaim his breath, before reining it with the sort of control that Craig Nicholls would be proud of.

The assault is relentless, influences such as Fugazi mix with the tortured integrity of At The Drive-In and Hundred Reasons. The band heave themselves into a howling 'Retreat', before the elevating optimism of 'I Can Climb Mountains' is punctured by the stabbing riffs. By the time 'Slow Song' sparkles across the already allegiant flock, Symposium are forgotten. Schlosberg even manages the old rock adage of crowd surfing without a stammer or missing word.

Tighter, Faster Stronger, Better. If you get the chance to see Hell Is For Heroes, snatch it with both hands.