You know what it's like...
When you experience something big for the first time, you tell yourself it's probably disposable, it's so big and special that it's not likely to happen again. The power, the excitement and the impact of the experience are so special that you do not believe such a thing can repeat itself...
But yesterday it happened... it repeated itself... and it was even bigger !!
Warning: This will not be a performance review, this will be a pure experience sharing!
It happened on the night of the 24th of January 2019, in south Tel Aviv... in Barby club Tel Aviv.
Walkways has gone up for their second performance at Barby since the issue of their crazy album launch last year and it was huge, powerful, unique and phenomenal.
You know that you feel at a certain moment that you are part of something big, you are witnessing something that you feel in your heart that is going to be huge, enormous, so these are Walkways !!
The band that recently signed a contract with the huge label Nuclear Blast, returned from a tour of several months in Europe as an opening act for Memphis May Fire and as Avihai (the bassist) described it: "It was like in the movies", on a bus with all the equipment waking up every day in a different city in Europe, give your soul out and live the life of rock and roll.
The show consisted of two parts, the band SHREDHEAD in the first part and Walkways as the second.
The came on stage after the opening act For Us All. But before we talk about Walkways we must dwell for a moment on SHREDHEAD...
We are not very familiar with the band, we have never heard their music and this is the first time we see them live. So from here we want to send a message to Israel Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff and inform them that they can release the current army because there is a sophisticated, formidable and cruel war machine in the State of Israel called SHREDHEAD !!!
Their two guitarists, Yotam Nagor and Razi Elbaz, lead the commando cruisers with determination, professionalism and cruelty while the mad drummer Roi Kahana (who seems to have 4 pedals or four legs) with bassist Lee Levy is a huge artillery or missile battery that drops heavy and powerful artillery. Leading singer Aaron Raguza who with his throat and power does not even need radio communication device, you can hear him from far away as he navigates the troops. There is no other way to describe their performance and music, those who love this style expect a completely deadly and cruel out-of-body experience, add to that their devoted and loving audience and you will get a huge show.
We have already talked several times about Walkways and also played them several times on our show. The amazing thing about this band is that it has its own special DNA, although it is in this genre called Metal Core it's very unique, you can feel it right away on the first note. There is something cosmic about the structure and dynamics of their music, a very sophisticated and deadly combination of strong riffs with caressing lines, unexpected breaks and transitions of different rhythms in an uneven structure. You feel it pulls you up, caress you gently and suddenly you get hit by a cruel punch to the face, you are thrown to the floor and find yourself stomping hard. It is very difficult to explain in words what this band manages to convey to the listener and especially to its audience during the performances. An exploded Barby , full of youthful scent, everyone with their hands up roaring "For Heaven Sake" one of their big hit song from the last album.
The combination of all this talent on stage with the mesmerizing sound leaves no choice but to have a total devotion. Both guitarists, Bar Caspi and Yoni Menner produce ultrasonic sounds that penetrate into your brain and initiate electrical pulses of a type you have not experienced, your brain without any resistance transmits these unfamiliar sensations to all the organs in your body. You feel like your body is moving from one extreme to another. At one moment you want to explode, jump, roar and at another moment you want to sing, whisper and break in tears. Those responsible for the navigation or more correctly for the direction of the wiring are the huge drummer Priel Horesh and the amazing bassist Avihai Levy. When the reefs are strong and shaky, they attack along with them and form a kind of formidable railroad with a collision course that is cool and great but throws you off balance when the crazy breaks comes and you do not even understand where will it be landing on you. The snare, the bass drum and the bass create passages that grasp your soul and in the silence that prevails you do not hear the heartbeat at all but only the snare and bass poundings. All of these powerfully feed the singer Ran Yerushalmi, who with mesmerizing charisma penetrates the soul, he whispers in your ear, he roars from the depths of his throat, he strokes you and he kicks you to hell... he's just huge!!
You're probably saying we've been swept away, that we're really exaggerating, that there are a lot of exciting bands but that's... really exaggerated. So we are not going to justify or apologize... For a fact this is what happens when a band reaches such a high level and it is in your home, in your country and it is part of you.
We wholeheartedly recommend going into Walkways Bandcamp or the band's website now and buy their two albums. We very much hope they will have more shows soon because this is a must see !!
Listen to the band debut album "Safe In Sound" issued in 2013 on: Spotify, Apple Music.
Listen to the band second album "Bleed Out, Heal Out" issued in 2019 on: Spotify, Apple Music