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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!
Time for some prime time British melodic rock on a horribly wet Saturday night. But hell it's not an outdoor gig so we're ok! A near enough full little room for the Vega and Newman boys as well so I'm sure they were very pleased with the turn out and I must admit I was a touch surprised but I guess it being a Saturday helped on that score.
Anyway first up were British newcomers Shaft of Steel. The name of the band has you thinking heavy true metal but instead they play a breezy twin guitar led melodic rock/aor with slick guitars and high pitched vocals. They only played five tracks four of which are also on their Ep. They sound good live but the singer's voice is a touch on the whiny side for my taste. I prefer a slightly less nasal delivery myself. Musically they are spot on with nice flurries of melodic twin guitar and crisp solos all over the shop. Song wise they are fine too but they need to get the songs a touch shorter in my opinion with more memorable choruses. A good but not great start and they were pretty well received by the crowd.
Next up were Newman who are of course ably led by Steve Newman who is a stalwart of the UK melodic rock scene for many years now. I've always been a bit so so on Newman but I was completely won over by the two albums The Art of Balance and lately the awesome CD, Siren. I was perhaps looking forward to their set a little more than Vega's even and boy were they on top form. The guitarist had a punchy guitar sound and really let rip a few tasty solos. Front man Steve has a great tone to his voice and sang perfectly all night. The band is heavied up by the powerhouse drumming of Pete Newdeck and his added backing vocals help harmonise the songs really well. I enjoyed their set very much although I don't think they played any songs from Siren which is a shame although they might have done so don't quote me on that. They did finish quite late though at around 9.15pm.
Speaking of set times, something went drastically wrong somewhere as Vega's set started at around 9.20 and ended at 9.50 as there was a very strict curfew. I am not quite sure what happened but obviously the headliner slot should play for more than 30 minutes and it was disappointing but I enjoyed their short and sweet set. They rushed through as many songs as physically possible and Nick said they'd play the songs at double speed just to get through them! I actually think Nick Workman's vocals work better live than they do on record if I'm honest and he did a sterling job and the band sound tight as hell too. I like the right hand side guitarist's lead style a lot, very cool indeed. I would have loved to have heard some more songs from Stereo Messiah but it wasn't to be. The venue's strict 10pm curfew put paid to that.
What we did get was performed well and with gusto but I could tell the band wasn't so happy to have such a short stage time. This was my first time seeing Newman and second time with Vega and I hope to see both again soon. Newman won this battle but Vega's day will come!
If my memory is correct, this was only the second or third time I've seen the world's biggest death metal band in action. To be honest the last time they weren't all that great. They seemed to be going through the motions a bit but the support bill for this tour was to twist my arm into getting a ticket. That support consisted of Swedes Aeon and Americans Revocation who are both very good especially Revocation whose latest album is a real killer slab of tech death thrash mayhem.
The Forum is a large sized venue and the Halloween crowd filled out nicely by the end to over a 1000 I would guess. Some of the kids made an effort to dress up and the prize for dress of the night goes to the kid who came as an inflatable cock! Brave young man! The Teletubbies were also there and they came second..but I digress. There were plenty of ghoulish regular Halloween face paint jobs as well. In the end the serious matter of a death metal show was there to be witnessed and I decided to watch the show from the balcony as I'm carrying an injured foot at the minute and didn't fancy it getting trampled underneath the huge pits that were sure to start once the music was under way. There was lots of space in the balcony and I got a seat right at the front with a perfect view of the stage. Not great for taking photos but a few clear videos at least.
Firs up were Aeon the brutal God despising Swedes. I like their albums but this wasn't quite their night. They tried hard and got a fair response but the Forum sound mix rendered all their songs one big blurry mess to me. The final song of the set was awesome though and it's my fave of theirs. I forget the name now but it ruled.
Next up were Yanks, Revocation. Their new album Deathless is an awesome disk like I said earlier. The sound mix was much tighter and better for Revocation and speed they play at doesn't help but the tightness of the band is not to be sniffed at all. They also have an engaging front man who plays the music seemingly effortlessly whilst handling vocal duties as well. They were the most technical band of the night by far and played a very enjoyable set. The bass player was a headbanging mass of hair and spidery fingers as well - very cool to watch indeed.
The now fully pumped Halloween crowd was at fever pitch waiting for the 'Corpse to take to the stage and finally at 9.30 on the dot they did so with Corpsegrinder geeing everyone up before they launched into Staring Through The Eyes of the Dead with it's deadly groove bouncing along and the mad punters below already starting huge pits and in more than one place. The band sounded super tight and the sound was obviously the best it had been all night. The band sounds like a well oiled death metal machine as they are well into this European tour now so are playing these songs like they know their ABC. Corpsegrinder is one funny guy sometimes with some of the things he says. The way he windmills is something else as well. He challenged the crowd to a headbang war before one song and said to everyone "try to keep up! Even though you can't." and he declared himself gleefully the winner with a big "I win!!!" before roaring the first line of the song. Too funny!
One thing I noticed is that Alex the bass monster is headbanging a touch slower than I remember. He's still banging away but the tempo is a little slower I guess the old neck ain't as strong as it used to be. Corpsegrinder's neck, I can't even comment on. It's obviously made of steel!
My fave songs of the night were Sadistic Embodiment and Kill or Become from the new album. Make Them Suffer which is perhaps the catchiest song CC have ever written apart from THAT song of course! The Wretched Spawn had a monster groove with mass headbanging. I Cum Blood always get a god response and this was no different with a huge pit starting up. Of course the whole place went ape when Corpsegrinder announced it was time to play the song that everyone was gonna go mental for their biggest song Hammer Smashed Face. It segued into a blisteringly fast version of Devoured by Vermin and the night was over.
A suitable and fun night of death metal on an unseasonably mild Halloween night.
Staring Through the Eyes of the Dead
Fucked With a Knife
Stripped, Raped and Strangled
Kill or Become
Sadistic Embodiment
Icepick Lobotomy
Scourge of Iron
Demented Aggression
Evisceration Plague
Dormant Bodies Bursting
Addicted to Vaginal Skin
The Wretched Spawn
Pounded into Dust
I Cum Blood
Disposal of the Body
Make Them Suffer
A Skull Full of Maggots
Hammer Smashed Face
Devoured by Vermin
A night of pure AOR/melodic rock bliss lay in store for me as I bought a ticket for this gig. I really enjoyed the recent Relaunch II album of new tracks and covers with the new band members. It sounded better than the original Relaunch to me.
I made my way to the Barfly for the 3rd time in 2 weeks and this tiny venue is turning out to be a cool little room for gigs of this size. It filled out quite nicely by the end of the night with about 150 or so people inside. I was actually expecting less but the AOR aficionados turned out pretty well.
First support band were Big Time from Sweden. Actually it was an all Svensk night hehe so there's not much point mentioning their origin. I came across these big time (if you excuse the pun) hair rockers a few years ago but not heard of them much since. I enjoyed their songs on youtube especially Julia which is very catchy and the song they started their set with. There was a whole heap of hair on that stage indeed! The guitarist had an odd 80s shock of hair which made him look somewhat odd when he had his head down and rocking the guitar as the picture below proves. The front man had a real solid voice though to go with his big 80s perm do. The guys didn't have a long time but I guess they didn't have many songs. They also played a cover of Dio's Stars which was sang very well by the front man. A real enjoyable fun little start. I hope the band progress more and release some music.
Next up were The Spin who are not strictly an AOR band at all. They mix up slightly punky pop rock with some nice clear vocals from the energetic front man. Their tunes are easy on the ear but a little childish for my taste and far too bubble gum poppy and lack a little maturity. But the crowd seemed to enjoy them a lot and there was a lot of dancing going on. I doubt I would listen to them on record but live they made a very passable 30 minutes until the lush AOR of Houston would arrive.
Finally Houston took to the stage with new members in place and sounded pretty cool but there was something just a little subdued about the performance overall. I mean they were all good and played well but the guitar sound was not very clean at times and made the songs sound a little dirtier than they sound on record. I still enjoyed the melodic aor bliss of songs like a 1000 Songs, Runaway and Truth Slips but I was a bit disappointed that no songs were played from the new Relaunch II album as there's some awesome tunes on it like Justice For One, Downtown and Our Love or even one the Lady Gaga cover would have been nice. A cool night of smooth aor from the Swedes overall but could have been a bit better with newer tunes and a more polished sound I guess. I am being a bit picky though and I'm glad I went to the show especially as I think Big Time were my fave band of the night!
