Live Review: Fear Factory with Butcher Babies, Ignea and Ghosts of Atlantis at The Electric Ballroom, Camden, London (03/11/23)

It’s a club night at The Electric Ballroom, so you know what that means! The doors opening at the ungodly time of 5:30pm and the first band taking to the stage at 6pm. Which, in many cases, would mean they’re missed. Except when it’s a band the calibre of Ghosts of Atlantis. A band we have had a lot of good things to say about over the years, with both their debut album 3.6.2.4 and the recently released sophomore album, Rise of the Sycophants scoring highly on our website.

It’s not just on record where Ghosts of Atlantis excel though, as live, they are just as impressive. In fact, over the past few years, they’ve gotten better and better. Looking and sounding so much more confident on stage.

A 30-minute set is never enough time to fully drink in their dark symphonic metal sound, but they utilise their brief time on stage to wonderous results. The Electric Ballroom might not be full, but plenty of people have arrived in time to see them perform, and it is a mighty fine performance that oozes darkened atmosphere. There’s no half-measures from this band and being able to draw from two incredible albums now certainly helps. It’s a heavy and intense set with epic choruses and dramatic storytelling.

The highlight might be the incredible Lands of Snow from Riddles of the Sycophants, but there are no lowlights. 30 minutes of Ghosts of Atlantis is never enough but it would be genuinely surprising if they didn’t earn themselves a ton of new fans tonight.

The same goes for Ukrainian melodic metal band Ignea, who are up next. A band that has been around since 2013 but are a bit of an unknown as far as this reviewer goes. With my interest being perked up by the appearance of a keytar, Ignea arrive in excitable and brash fashion. Showcasing a deeper and layered style of melodic metal that has plenty of death infusions, folky touches, and progressive elements.

It’s a real attention-grabbing set from a band who seem genuinely delighted to be here and the fairly packed out venue responds with the same amount of affection.

Talking of attention grabbing though… it’s Butcher Babies! Are you ready to get your ‘stomp’ on?

So, for clarity, I’m not a fan of this band on record. I like some of what they do, but for the most part it’s so ‘meat and potatoes’ metal, that I get bored quickly. However, I’ve never seen them live (at least as far as I can remember) and saw this as a great opportunity to see if they could change my mind based off their stage antics.

Alas, there is an immediate problem as co-vocalist Carla Harvey has had to sit out this tour having undergone emergency eye surgery. Which means Heidi Shepherd is doing it solo, so I’m not quite getting the full Butcher Babies experience.

That being said, credit to the band for not dropping off the tour and even more credit to Heidi Shepherd for doing the vocals solo. She is an absolute beast and exceptionally watchable. In fact, she’s downright cool and has no problem controlling the massive throngs of people who are all game to go a bit wild for this band.

It’s an energetic showcase of metal, groovy and heavy, with melodic touches. Where even a non-fan can see the appeal. All that being said though, their set does little to change my mind and by the end, I could feel my attention well and truly wandering.

Which brings me to the headline act, the inimitable and iconic Fear Factory. A band I’ve loved since I was a youngster and a band, I’ve seen live way too many times. Yet, it’s going to take something significant (a new album that I absolutely love) for that to continue, unfortunately.

Now, I don’t freak out about vocalist changes, but the absence of Burton C. Bell, is a significant one for Fear Factory. For many, he is Fear Factory, even if his vocals weren’t quite as powerful as they once were.

It’s big shoes that new vocalist Milo Silvestro must fill, and he more than deserves the chance, which London is more than willing to give him. The Electric Ballroom is packed to the rafters, and seemingly aware that now is not the time to focus on what comes next, Fear Factory go for nostalgia and a showcase of what Milo Silvestro can do over the entire Fear Factory back catalogue.

He’s no Burton C. Bell but he’s a mighty fine vocalist too. There’s no doubt that Fear Factory will be fine going forward with him on vocals. Even if this nostalgia laden set does stray into tribute band territory at times. Which is a bit of a problem for me personally, and I can’t help but reflect on how much more exiting the likes of Ghosts and Atlantis and Ignea were by comparison.

That’s me though, and one look around at the mass of sweaty bodies tells me I might be alone here. The measure of a successful show is a happy crowd and the Electric Ballroom is filled with happy faces.

What does the future hold for Fear Factory? We shall see, they certainly need to move forward, but there is a sense that it’s a lot brighter now than it was a few years ago.