Review South of Salem A Nightmare of a Night to Remember.

Review and Images By Erin Greasley

After seeing the headline tour of South of Salem being announced, I knew a definitely needed to be there, and what an amazing sold out show it was at the Key Club in Leeds, with too amazing bands, In Search of Sun and High Parasite, it was definitely a night I wouldn’t forget.

Kicking off the night with a bang was In Search of Sun a band I hadn’t heard of before but after having a listen beforehand I was definitely not put off by. Definitely for fans of Maraton, Black Orchid Empire and Mandroid Echostar, In Search of sun are a band full of energy and ready to get everyone bouncing with their funk infused metal sound. Starting off their set with “Mega Piranha”, filled with groovy guitar riffs and a heavy drum to fill the sound it definitely introduced their unique sound well, getting the audience moving with their audience participation in singing and jumping. 

Swiftly moving on through their set, they played some songs off of their latest album from 2024 “Lemon Amigos”, including “Contagious” and “Rhythm” filled with their unmatched style of heavy chords and the groovy melodies sung throughout their set. Coming to an end of their set, they played “Bad Girl”, getting the whole ground down to the ground and jumping before swiftly moving on to the next band. 

Setlist: 
Mega Piranha
Garden
Fire
Contagious
Rhythm
Bad Girl

High Parasite were definitely a band I was excited to see, if your a fan of the likes of The Sisters of Mercy, Tribulation, or Sakis Tolis then this is definitely the band for you, blending themes of doom metal and goth into a melodic groove, inspired by industrial and electronic influences. Starting off their set with a song from their debut album from September 2024 “Forever We Burn”, called “Parasite”.

 This song really set the tone of their “goth-rock” feel within the album; their haunting cascading guitar riffs contrasting with the smooth mixes of clean and gruff vocals. Moving on through their set to “Wasn’t human”, cranking up the tempo with this song. Finally finish off their set with the last two songs “Let it fall” in which the echoing and harrowing chorus of strong vocals. Their final song “Forever We Burn”, which got the crowd energetic and ready for the final band and headliner, South of Salem.

Setlist:
Parasite
Concentric nightmares
Grave nightmares
Wasn’t human
Hate springs eternal
Let it fail
Forever we burn

Finally finishing off this great night, South of Salem took the stage full of energy and ready to rock. Starting off their set with their well known song “Let Us Pray” getting the whole crowd involved singing along, also giving a tease and playing their newest song “Fallout” getting the crowd excited in what’s later to come. 

For their tour for their newest album “Death Of The Party”, a 10 track album which came out January 2024, bringing the bands music to a new and amazingly high standard throughout each song. Going onto their song “Vultures” really set the tone for the evening, created a horror-infused and heavy song filled with power and aggression whilst still holding the high level of melody and intimacy within Joey’s vocals. Following on to “Static” which powers through the crowd with its powerful bass and drums, yet still being a catchy song keeping the audience moving and singing along throughout. 

The audience had full attention on the boys whilst they played their new album start to finish, rocking the stage with their heavy rock. Highlights of the show included “Stitch the Wound”, “Bad Habits (Die Hard)” and the title track “Death of the Party” which really brought the audience to life.

Slowly as the night came to an end, even including a Drum Solo by James- highlighting his extreme talent hidden at the back of the stage; the set finished with the final song off of the album “Villain”, creates a emotional atmosphere for the end of the night.

With the audience clearly not being done and cheering for more, the boys came back out to rock the stage a final time for the night, finishing their set with “Demons are forever” and “Cold day in Hell”- putting a perfect end to a lovely night filled with three completely unique sounding bands, blended together for a wonderful night.

Setlist:
Let us prey
To the moon and back
Pretty little nightmare
Fallout
Vultures
Static
Jet black eyes
Stitch the wound
Left for dead
Hellbound heart
Bad habits (die hard)
(Drum Solo)
A life worth dying for
Villain
Encoure:
Demons are forever
Cold day in hell