Sonisphere Review: The Cult, Kvelertak, Heights

More reviews from the frontline: Sunday at Sonisphere, here are the reviews!

Kvelertak are something of a revelation. Yes, we’ve been hearing good things about the hardcore/punk influenced sextet, but you don’t realise just how good until you see them in the flesh. Looking so
comfortable on stage you’d think they were born on it, the Norwegians rock, roll, groove, scream, jump and growl their way through a set that takes the hungover and bludgeons the holy hell out of them.
Watching these guys live is akin to seeing a demolition derby on top of a minefield, such is the raw energy and power they put into each song. Surely, a performance like this portends bigger things to come.

Check out our Gallows and Converge Sonisphere review

Heights are something of a disappointment because ultimately they fail to excite. The fivesome live ‘just down the road’ so this is like a home show for them, and the nerves are obvious at first. They hit
their stride pretty soon, all Gang vocals, impassioned screams and some melodic-hardcore riffing. The trouble is, it’s hard to remember any of it after they’re finished. Nor is there anything spectacular in
the live performance itself. Then again, these kids have only just begun and there’s just enough hints of potential to assure critics that the best is definitely still to come.

Read our Motley Crue Sonisphere review

They’ve been through more members than Ronnie Wood has girlfriends, but The Cult are still sounding great and still know how to show everyone a good time. Their’s are tunes custom made for festival frolic, with a wonderful rock n roll groove that only the morbidly depressed would be able to turn a deaf ear to. Even the PA cutting out midway through their set (they kept playing of course, the consummate professionals) isn’t enough to put the breaks on a performance that has all the bluster and swagger we expect of rock gods like Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, more than ably matched by a thunderous performance by Johnny Tempesta. Older cuts receive a much warmer response, of course, but the quintet still have it. And how.

Read Hammer’s Papa Roach and Fear Factory Sonisphere review