Manchester Orchestra - Waterfront

If you've ever turned up late to a party, full of apprehension, only to have your hopes raised that maybe, just maybe, you can slip in unnoticed when you discover it's still in full swing, you'll have some idea of how I feel when I'm standing in the industrial guts of the Waterfront tonight, clutching a pint and a notepad. Perhaps I'm stretching a metaphor a bit too much. The point is that Manchester Orchestra released their debut album I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child back in 2006, but I've only stumbled across them in recent weeks. Everyone seems like they've been having a ruddy great time for the last 8 years, and when I witness this celebration of loud, unruly sound it's really not hard to tell why.The obvious stuff is easy to state; the Atlanta five-piece make eardrum-shattering music, and a lot of it. The riffs are luminous, and the bass plunges like the neckline on a Topman t-shirt. The noise is huge, but it's more than brute force. It's packed with intricate delights, and the transitions between tearing the roof off and dropping to tender depths are masterful. Andy Hull's vocal mesmerises at times. At others it outright drop kicks you in the face. Tracks like The Mansion and, to an extent, the massively popular Simple Math, serve as well placed grounding moments, pulling you down off the ceiling just long enough to catch your breath before getting hit with the band's fervent, melodic energies all over again. Shut your eyes and you're in a stadium; open them again and you're glad that you aren't.I understand completely when I see a dedicated collective in the centre of the room screaming lyrics back at the stage. These are the kind of songs that get right into your bones and linger in the marrow. Outside I've already run into fans who are getting in for free because they have Manchester Orchestra tattoos, and this kind of chemistry between artists and followers spills over into the performance; Hull jokes with the crowd, improvising musical banter and orchestrating the entire night with a minimum of fuss. The band don't put a foot wrong all evening, nailing track after track, and by the time Hull steps back on stage with support singer Kevin Devine to tease out an acoustic rendition of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, you're left with the sensation that you've just taken in something both joyfully and seriously good. I may have gotten to the Manchester Orchestra shindig a little late, but I'm glad it's still going strong, because it's made me excited for heavy music and the things that it can do once again. For crying out loud, if you get the chance, go and see this band.