Tonight in Manchester, American metalcore heavyweights I Prevail bring their Violent Nature tour to the O2 Victoria Warehouse. in support of their 2025 album of the same name. With newcomers Gore. and Aussie legends Polaris in support, it’s set to be a pretty good night of heavy metal! Rumour has it there may even be some pyro!
Kicking things off are Gore.. The last time Gore. were in the Manchester, they played at Academy 2, significantly smaller than tonight’s huge stage. That doesn’t seem to faze them, though. Getting stuck in with Wrath, the band grab the crowd’s attention pretty quickly. If you’ve listened to Gore., then you’re probably aware of what to expect with their sound. Personally, I find the recorded mixes a little over-produced at times so it’s a nice surprise to hear that Haley Roughton’s vocals hold up extremely well live. The band also take the stage in their stride, making the most of the space, doing a great job of communicating with the crowd. It’s easy to see why they might get compared to Spiritbox, as they fall into a similar area with their music, but nonetheless, it’s still a good set.
Next up are Aussie legends Polaris. They were last here at the end of 2024, supporting Beartooth; tonight they take to the stage to an extremely busy and enthusiastic crowd. Opening with Dissipate, it doesn’t take long before the crowd are in full motion, bringing crowd surfers and some surprisingly big circle pits. Once again, the band deliver a high energy set, filled with everything you could hope from a metalcore band such as this. Frontman Jamie Hails is once again on top form, delivering some brutal screams whilst bassist Jake Steinhauser hits every clean note with perfection and precision. They may not have been in the UK much over the past two years but they’ve been extremely busy on other tours and the festival circuit, the experience gained from all these shows shining tonight as Jamie commands the crowd.
A lot has changed since I Prevail last toured the UK. Brian Burkheiser left the band and the band dropped new, more aggressive music under the Scatterbrain alias. For anyone who had the chance to catch I Prevail at Slam Dunk in 2023, they know what to expect but for many the big question is ‘how different do they sound without Brian?’
Starting the set off with NWO is a pretty good indication of how tonight is gonna go. Its fast paced, its aggressive, and it sounds huge. Following this up with Bow Down is an easy way to really get the crowd going, also giving us a real taste of how the older material sounds now. Eric Vanlerberghe takes centre stage, handling both screaming and clean vocal duties, whilst rhythm guitarist Dylan Bowman provides some support with harmonies. Credit where credit is due—Eric handles his brutal screams and transitioning to clean vocals with ease.
By middle of the set, everything is in full swing. The crowd is a mass of circle pits and crowd surfers, backdropped by jets of fire as the band make full use of their pyro budget. Eric and the rest of the band are not only exciting to watch, but they also have some good banter with the crowd, something that some bands in the heavier scene just don’t have. During Paradise, Eric is joined onstage by Gore. vocalist Haley, filling in for Amira Elfeky who originally recorded the song with I Prevail. It slows things down a little and changes the tone, but that’s fine—the venue is hot as hell and the crowd could probably do with a breather before picking up the pace again.
In 2014, I Prevail dropped a cover of Blank Space by Taylor Swift, which is where things really kicked off for the band. Now, in my opinion, that should probably stay in the past, but that’s clearly not shared based on the crowd reaction. Who knew so many metalheads were secret Swifties? As we move towards the final songs it’s back to an all-out onslaught of crunching riffs and breakneck drums, before a final chance to rage with the band closing the set with Gasoline.
For some, I Prevail may fall into the Octane / generic regions of the metalcore genre, but honestly, who cares? If you’re looking for something fast-paced with brutal vocals, tasteful clean sections and some big breakdowns, then I Prevail tick all those boxes. It’s not until you get a chance to see the band live that you can really appreciate the sound they have. Not every band has to be on the cutting edge of the genre to be good, so long as when they get on that stage, they can deliver a great show. I Prevail’s performance was incredibly tight, their stage presence was strong and they had the crowd eating out of the palms of their hands. Based on their multi-tiered stage and crazy amounts of pyro, it’s only a matter of time before they’re heading to bigger venues in the UK.
Words and photos by Will Robinson