Bridear - October 7th, 2021 - Birmingham, UK

It is not very often we see a Japanese band playing in Birmingham; therefore I did not want to miss the chance to catch Bridear – an all female heavy metal band performing live at the Castle & Falcon.

Setting sights on the global stage, Bridear began hitting the road at the end of September to tour Europe and the UK in support of their most recent release Bloody Bride (released May 7th, 2021 via Setsuzoku Records). This makes them the first Japanese band to perform in the UK post-pandemic.

Tonight’s setlist was a mixture of oldies for long time fans and new tracks from band’s latest album. The evening was a proof that sticking to their high energy power metal formula- thrash beats, double kicks, big riffs and super melodic guitar solos – Bridear has created big numbers and quite a reasonable, loyal fan following.

As Bridear was going through their speedy, yet sugar coated anthems, it was great to see a mixed crowd of all ages and nationalities; rocking Bridear’s T-Shirts, fist pumping with the rhythm and singing along. While Haru’s (Bassist) dark growls were mixing with Kimi’s clean lead vocals, there was plenty of fretboard wizardry from Misaki (Guitarist), Ayumi (Guitarist) and Natsumi hiding behind the drum kit was a real powerhouse.

The night finished with Light In The Dark, a piece from Bridear’s 2016 album Baryte, leaving fans wanting more. Before everyone hit the merch stand at the end of the night, the quintet came back to play Again, a finale track from the 2019 release Expose Your Emotions.