It’s the final week of term, and everyone is looking to wind down, so it seems like the perfect time to catch the Watford boys in Lower Than Atlantis as they make their return to the UK following a successful tour over the other side of the pond. Over the last five years, the releases that the band have put out have undergone a noticeable development in sound; debuting with Far Q, on which you can find the kind of visceral hardcore-inspired rock that one expects from a Watford band, their transformation has taken them to a much lighter shade of rock. With these stylistic changes, and some intensive touring, the band have picked up a loyal fan base, who apparently are out in force tonight to pack Leeds Beckett Union.

Tonight’s show starts with the band behind a white curtain, their silhouettes projected onto it as they make their way onto the stage. From the moment that the opening strums of ‘Get Over It’ start sounding over the sound system, the crowd know what is coming, and even before the curtain has dropped they are all singing along at the tops of their voices. The setlist is packed with upbeat energetic tracks, many of them from the band’s self-titled album which was re-released at the end of November, with a few choice classics from the band’s breakthrough album World Record. Despite the positive crowd reaction to the new tracks, this mixture only serves to demonstrate the band’s movement away from an edgier sound that made their unique music the main draw at live shows, to a newer lighter sound aimed at larger venues which leaves them, at times, relying on the showmanship of vocalist Mike Duce. This was most obvious with the change of pace that came with ‘Another Sad Song’ and an interesting acoustic rendition of ‘Deadliest Catch’, both of which had every member of the crowd singing along.

Keiran Suchak