Red Enemy at the Button Factory, Dublin, 21 November 2014

To celebrate the launch of an album ten years in the making, Dublin metal band Red Enemy brought something special to the Button Factory.

With a self-curated line-up of heavier than hell bands from both the heart of the metal genre and a couple of left field choices – the Red Enemy lads provided a show that proved, not only that the Irish metal scene is alive and well, but that it has more in common with bands outside the genre than fans and non-fans alike may realise.

First up were electrifying newcomers Bitch Falcon. Lying somewhere in the nebulous middle-ground between metal, grunge and noise-rock, the Falcons kicked off the show with a surge of sizzling riffs, seguing from an upswell of distorted guitar to a hooky chorus to a furious, prolonged guitar solo, in most cases all within the same song.

It may have been far from staple fare at a metal gig, but it was also a rousing opening.

It could have been a difficult act to follow, but a band like Nibiru looked like it wouldn’t have fazed them to take to the stage after the actual apocalypse, such was their dynamic, free-flowing confidence. Merging a heavy doom-laden sound with copious amounts of groove, the band steered the show back to traditional metal territory. The music punctuated by tough vocals, that somehow managed to be as heavy as the music they accompanied yet still flowed as smooth as jazz. Nibiru served as proof of just how rousing this type of thing can be when done right.

If Nibiru signaled the gathering of the storm clouds, Frustration were the storm breaking. The hardcore band unleashed havoc from the moment they took the stage, blasting waves of scuzzy intensity from their amps, kicking the show into a whole new gear. With a manic, unhinged punk spirit combined with a thunderous heaviness, Frustration whipped the crowd into a frenzy, transforming the area in front of the stage into a swirling mosh pit – one the lead singer wasn’t afraid to dive into and join when the band hit an instrumental section.

Just when the show seemed to by stampeding in one direction, the next act brought things around again, taking the audience to a completely different place. You may not expect Overhead, the Albatross to make an appearance at a show like this, but when they did they were an oddly good fit. More a contrast to what came before than a complement, there was nonetheless a definite common denominator between the OTA’s instrumental post-rock soundscapes and the heavy metal barrage that came before.

Behind all the mellow, artfully constructed musical patterns, OTA are still a band that know how to rock out; to bash away at each one of their myriad of instruments on a breakdown; to wring as much distortion out of their amps as possible. They may not make a reappearance on a metal bill any time soon, but they proved themselves more than suited for this one.

The fact OTA served as a moment of relative calm only served to make Red Enemy sound even more monstrously heavy when they finally made their appearance. The band were ushered onstage by four marching-band drummers, looking like cult members in kilts and Red Enemy hoodies with the hoods up. The drums pounded as the band took their spaces, before they feel silent and each member of red enemy launched full-tilt into noise making mode.

Led by frontman Kevin Letford’s booming growl of a voice, the band knocked their way through a host of tracks from their long-awaited debut album with explosive, percussive force. Though the previous bands had been loud in the extreme, Red Enemy pushed the noise levels further still, with each new song pushing the pace a little faster, with guitars shredding lightning quick, and bass and drums chugging out a beat so fast it almost approached a constant drone. Then it got a bit faster still.

Closing out on the furious outburst of rage that was Night Eyes – to which the crowd more than obliged with a requisite amount of frantic, chaotic movement – you could almost be forgiven for mistaking the Red Enemy mood for one of anger. But once it was all over and everything fell quiet (bar a ringing in the ears that would last for several days) it was obvious they couldn’t have been happier.

Maybe it was finally releasing an album after years of hard work. Maybe it was the fact that an Irish metal band filled out a venue that only typically draws this many metal heads when it’s a big international name playing.

Whatever the case, one thing endures about the night’s gig: the Irish metal scene is doing okay for itself these days.