November 13th 2025 At The Junction, Plymouth UK
Written By Kevin McSweeney
We didn’t get off to the best of starts. I’m old and the gig took place on a school night, which didn’t bode well to begin with. Also, I had to venture out in rain that verged on the Biblical.
Even for a country known for being wet and windy, the recent weather had been exceptionally bad, and I was soaked to the bollocks by the time I reached the venue, and in a mood every bit as bad as the conditions.
That evening’s entertainment would have to be good in order to impress. I don’t feel too charitable when I’m facing the prospect of a heavy cold. Yet, I felt charitable enough to pay on the door, even though I was on the guest list, so disappointing was the turnout.
It was a midweek show, the weather was horrendous and the Christmas lights were being switched on in Plymouth that day, so it was perhaps only to be expected, but ultimately, that evening’s events were characterised by two charismatic performers whose stagecraft is deserving of a much bigger audience than the one they received.
(Before we go any further, I’ll make it known that TheCityIsOurs asked me personally not to reveal their setlist while the tour is in progress, so instead of going through the sets song-by-song, we’ll concentrate on the highlights.)
First up was Mallavora, an alternative metal band from Bristol whose vocalist Jess Douek gave a powerful, thought-provoking interview to Metal Lair recently.
A diminutive figure who required the use of a stick onstage, you’d scarcely think Douek capable of the fury she was about to unleash. That’s very much the reason for the fury, in fact.
It’s anger as a result of being dismissed, of the assumption that disabled means incapable, of misogyny, of the soft bigotry of low expectations from those with benign intentions.
It’s an anger that makes her compelling as a performer. Having said that, it’s actually the more melodic element of their music that is their strongest suit.
Her harsh vocals were drowned out by the volume of her bandmates: guitarist Larry Sobieraj, bassist Ellis James and drummer Sam Brownlow.
The Junction is a small venue, and getting the balance right is a challenge, to be fair. Her clean vocals soared above the cacophony, however.
They commenced their set with Lilith and Esther, in which Douek channels the fighting spirit and survival instincts of her Jewish ancestors.
Taking to a stage adorned only with tube lighting that flashed red and white, the band were clad all in black, in stark contrast to the all-white instruments played by the headliners.
Douek called for the sparse crowd to come closer to the stage with limited success. Much greater success was achieved in tearing through an eight-song set with gusto.
Douek’s magnetic stage presence seemed unaffected by the small size of the crowd, whom she jokingly berated at one point for being “half-asleep” after multiple calls for cheering and the stomping of feet.
It was a dreadful day, and everyone was cold, soggy and tired, so a lack of enthusiasm was perhaps understandable.
The set included recent singles Smile and Waste, of course. There seemed to be some issues with the timing during the latter, but that’s the joy of catching a band live, which is the one area of music that AI has not yet been able to fuck up.
If you want perfection, you might as well stay home and listen to Spotify. Needless to say, they were tight and cohesive as a unit at all other times.
The set concluded with the song Disorder, which is not a cover of the Joy Division song of the same name. It culminated with a big breakdown, which was one of few in evidence during their performance. I commend them for using that technique sparingly. It’s all the more effective for the application of restraint.
Given the band’s current trajectory, they will not be performing in front of such small crowds for very much longer, especially once their debut album What If Better Never Comes is released next March. (The announcement of said album drew one of the biggest cheers of the night.)
Douek in particular is a star who is very much in the ascendancy, and it would be a good idea to catch them in such intimate settings while you still have the opportunity.
It is a shame for them, and for the headliners, that it was a chance of which so few fans in Plymouth chose to avail on this occasion, but better will undoubtedly come for them.
Explore more trailblazing artists in Metal Lair’s Women in Metal series.
In a moment straight out of Spinal Tap, or more accurately, Type O Negative’s spoof live album Origin of the Feces, a fire alarm went off between the sets. I briefly pondered starting a chant of “You suck!” But that would have been neither fair nor fully appreciated.
I have long been amused by the description of Oli Duncanson as the “unclean” vocalist for TheCityIsOurs. I had half-expected him to come to the stage clad in sackcloth and ringing a bell.
He was far more conventionally attired when the band arrived, however, with their set presaged by a low rumble that briefly had me questioning my dietary choices.
Tall and physically imposing, Duncanson had much more success than Douek at getting everyone to come closer to the stage. (Sorry Jess – that’s the patriarchy for you.) In fact, Duncanson spent much of his band’s set offstage and among the punters – even bringing the mic stand down with him at one stage.
I’ll take this opportunity to remind you of the promise I made to them when they asked me not to reveal the set, as they want it to be a surprise each night. So, instead, we’ll go with general vibes.
At the outset, they were much poppier than Mallavora, with more in the way of major scales and melodic vocals, principally from guitarist, “clean” vocalist and Shaggy from Scooby Doo lookalike Mikey Page. The energy was undeniable, with much in the way of bouncing around from band and audience alike.
Having said that, the songs seemed to get heavier as the set went on. They started off showcasing melodies that wouldn’t be out of place on Radio 1 and went via rap-centric nü metal and Linkin Park-style angsty moments to much harder material at the end, with a greater emphasis on harsh vocals and big breakdowns.
One spoiler: they performed a cover of a Spice Girls song. I won’t say which, but it worked surprisingly well in a metalcore context.
Bizarrely, it bore something of a resemblance to Sepultura’s Ratamahatta with its sultry Latin rhythms, huge, downtuned riffs and slick bassline from Jamie Deeks.
One notable difference between them and the support band was their much greater keenness to display technical prowess, particularly on the part of drummer David Cardona, who seemed to be performing a drum clinic in parallel with the gig, displaying some highly impressive chops in the process.
This was notably different to the tendency of his supporting counterpart Sam Brownlow to stay “in the pocket,” to use percussive parlance.
While Mallavora were all business, TheCityIsOurs were only too happy to showcase their technical proficiency.
The most poignant moment of the evening came when Duncanson spoke of his experiences as a member of the LGBTQIA community, the trauma his struggle to come out had caused him, and how it nearly cost him his life.
He urged other “queer” people to remember one simple but important message: “You are enough.” This prompted an equally simple but important response from the members of Mallavora, who had gathered to my right: “So are you!”
Those who baulk at the music we love would never be able to imagine a metal show producing a moment of such beauty and tenderness. They could not be more wrong.
Phone torches were turned on and the show became something akin to a candlelight vigil for those lives lost to such struggles as those articulated by Duncanson, as they performed a song that, in spirit, reminded me of the ballad For a Friend by The Communards. It didn’t sound like it musically, but remember: we’re talking vibes here.
The band enjoyed a good bit of success in inspiring audience participation in the form of claps and stomps, and even managed to instigate a small circle pit upon request.
They were still jumping around late in their 15-song set, and I really don’t know where they got the energy. They did a great job in entertaining the crowd. It’s just a pity that there wasn’t much of a crowd to entertain, and I can’t shake the feeling that both bands deserved better.
Places like The Junction provide a vital service in offering bands a place to perform in a city that has lost numerous music venues in recent years.
If we don’t use them, we will lose them, and that’s what was disappointing, even on such a foul night with other things going on elsewhere.
It was a tale not of two cities, but of two charismatic vocalists and a rain-soaked, wind-battered city that failed to show up for them.
