Genre blending. It makes you notice things. It makes you say things in new ways, or hear things in new ways. It’s a bit like summer in London: have you ever seen so many people in sandals walking around Camden? Yet it undeniably fits.
HENKA
Diving on stage with just her microphone and her backing tracks, HENKA had the unenviably tough job of single-handedly warming up a Wednesday crowd. She was not to be underestimated. Playing an electro-pop/metal mix fitting perfectly as an opener for ARCHERS, she got the Black Heart headbanging before the end of her first piece.
In a bit of a plot twist moment, she introduced the song I Wanna Destroy You as her Eurovision entry for Portugal, which had won her the public vote, but a staggering zero points from the jury, since “they don’t know how to have a bit of fun”. While it’s a far cry from MARO’s saudade, saudade from 2022 and maybe not what my mother would vote for, it has everything that makes a great Eurovision song: soaring vocals interspersed with growls, an epic metal intro that would get any moshpit hyped, an easy-on-the-ears chorus to soothe the impact of the excellent screaming, and a post-chorus spelling “D-E-S-T-R–O-Y” made for crowd interaction.
It’s funny how a bit of framing completely changes what you pay attention to in a song. After the Eurovision reveal, I couldn’t help hearing bits of early 2000s Euro-pop in Hold the Knife or Pedestal. As modern as the production is, there is a nostalgic air to the vocals, a kind of honest-to-goodness earnestness that seemed to be everywhere in the early ‘00s, but has since been smoothed out by breathy stand-off-ishness (in pop at least). I’m glad for what HENKA’s doing. It’s a breath of fresh air, to have smooth wonderfully sung melodies backed by fast heavy metal riffs and trap beats.
ARCHERS
Metalcore at face value is not a genre name I would associate with pining and melancholy, but the partnership between Nathanael Pulley on vocals and Ben Koehler on guitar has grown since 2015 into a powerhouse of longing and emotional expression made doubly potent by the immediateness of chest-pounding metal.
With the bass cranked up so high your nose hairs shook, the Black Heart welcomed the opening line of Drag Me Out (featuring bassist Oscar Porter on vocals too) by belting it right back and the band chugging an even louder breakdown. You know you’re in for a good set when every song feels like a caffeine pill, reenergising you into your best head-banging moshing self, but also when you find the lyrics stick to you like a life raft on a choppy ocean. The band may introduce Say This Sober as “This is a song about fucking”, but it’s Hozier-level of gentle self-aware handling of the subject matter. Their sound blends the precision-playing of math rock with the fun virtuosity of Japanese rock music (not unlike Polyphia’s play with palatable chords progressions pushed to the brink of physical ability), over which a bucket-load of distortion and Nathanael’s kind vocals constantly dance in wild circles.
The excitement got too much for the kick-drum pedal and it broke midway through the set, but the band kept the vibes high by thanking everyone for their support and sharing some adventures from their first time touring the UK, including Grayson Mesarosh having his first drum solo on the Download stage, when the heat caused their other tech to malfunction.
Oscar Porter: You know what they made me try? Black pudding!
Nathanael: That’s not pudding, that’s a scab hockey puck. Also have you guys ever heard of AC? It’s this wonderful thing they invented 50 years ago that keeps you comfortable. Would you guys like to be comfortable?
To which I could only think “boy, wait until you play Underworld”.
Because they will. If they keep going at the current pace, with the high quality of both their songwriting and music production, their rise is inevitable. They already have a complete package to offer fans: great stage presence, wonderful lyrics and stories that people can connect to, and all the riffage and explosive heaviness a crowd looking for a release is asking for. Just like Slomosa is slowly conquering the rock world with another Hellfest showing this year, ARCHERS have now played Download, and I can see them opening for the likes of Polyphia soon enough.
End of the gig, they walk offstage, the lights come up, but luckily, the crowd wanted way more of them. Upon returning, they introduce an older, much beloved song, Blanket Fort, and it is a fitting sweet moment when two handheld fans (held by fans – I’ll see myself out) pop up to cool Nathanael and the rest of the band off.
Find that little piece of joy, your cat’s face, flowers on the highway. Not everything can be fixed, but it does get better and a little bit of joy can get you through years and years of darkness.
I don’t know the future, but I also know this is the last time I’ll see ARCHERS play a sub-500 room. Their route is set. Godspeed, boys!
Archers Setlist
Venue: The Black Heart, London