Savage Messiah Live Report

A quick revisit to the Upstairs room at the Garage for a fun evening with UK melodic thrashers Savage Messiah was what lay in store for me on a wet Tuesday night. The room was far more packed for the Vega gig on Saturday just gone than it was for the Messiah boys. Maybe about 60-70 turned up. Not a disaster but not great by any means.

First up were London based Beneath Dead Waves from whom I actually bought my ticket saving me £3 on the door price. So cheers for that guys. Musically they are OK but the gruff grunting of the front man I can't really take to at all. The riffing is fine and dandy but the songs are pretty hard to follow. Also the volume of tonight's gig was astronomical. Are you trying to make us deaf sound man? Beneath Dead Waves is just not my cuppa.

Next up were unheralded UK melodic thrashers The More I See. I actually really like these guys. Their album from last year was good but the one before was even better. They play very well and in Gizz Butt they have a shredding lead guitarist able to match the best in the thrash field. I enjoyed their voluminous set, thanks again sound man, quite a lot and at least the vocals didn't defer to stupid growling/screaming. Musically they were a very able and suitable support to the headliners being a band made of similar ilk.

I've seen Savage Messiah a few times now and they never disappoint. This was the first time as a headliner though so I was expecting their best show yet. The Fateful Dark is their best album by far and the biggest hits all played to blistering affect. Cross of Babylon is my fave and Hellblazer of course never fails to get the adrenaline pumping and necks snapping.

Front man Dave Silver is an engaging dude whilst the lead guitarist Joff Bailey shreds and pulls mean faces galore. The best songs were all the new ones although they did play a few older ones as well. The sound was once again monster loud and I was getting blasted in the front row but it was fun to see the band cutting loose with thrashing melodic abandon right in your face. They played a new song as well which fitted right in to their current set so it all bodes well for their next effort which could be their best yet although they'll have their work cut out trying to top The Fateful Dark. Savage Messiah are one of the UK's best metal bands these days and they deserved a far bigger turn out than they got but I guess thrash on a cold Tuesday just didn't appeal - oh well their loss!