 So no problems getting into the venue tonight,
although there was some uncertainty, as to how
many bands i was going to be shooting tonight,
but all through the gig i kept my head downif
i dont ask, i should be fine. But i was glad to
be shooting metal bands again, more my taste as
there always good to shoot, but not my particular
brand of metal though tonight?
First up was Malefice, a metal band from reading,
and all through the 3 songs i got splattered with
water that the singer felt he needed to cover
himself with every 30 seconds, so standing in
front of him for too long would have resulted
me in drowning! Sticking with the singer i really
couldn't understand his death metal vocals, im
still not sure why people 'sing' like that, no
one can understand a word there saying unless
you have a lyric sheet in hand, but the crowd
loved it, the music its self was fast heavy and
a tad grinding at times, the lead guitar was pretty
good at times, the drums was just constant machine
gun double kick drums , i could also really feel
the bass but i guess that because i was standing
by the speakers for there set, the crowd loved
there set, but for me it was boring, there was
nothing really original in the structure of there
songs, everything about it was dull.
 Next up was Trigger the Bloodshed, a death metal
band im pretty sure, there set was short, they
only played 4 songs for it was 3 and a half songs
too long, there was plenty of aggression there
which is good to see and shoot, but it was all
speed and little melody really, to be honest i
cant stand this music there's nothing appealing
or redeeming about, im glad they played a short
set, but again the crowd lapped it up.
On next were Suicide Silence, i was hoping for
possibly some decent vocals at some point tonight,
unfortunately with this band its quite possibly
the worst kind of vocals, squealing, way worse
than the death growl, it sounds like a pig being
slaughtered (yes i know what that sounds like),
also there seems to be some sort of competition
on which band can blast beat the previous band
off stage, its pretty boring and predictable again,
slow grinding blast beat etc, just no imagination
at all, there was more crowd participation tonight,
which is good to see and great for the fans, there
was even a few circle pits on the move too, but
again this music is doing nothing for me, but
im pleased with the photos so far.
Main support act was Behemoth, they came out
in there gnarly corpse paint, it was more death
metal esq music, but this was more palatable,
i could hear some slight middle eastern influences,
they were quite entertaining too, but the music
seemed repetitive, there were some decent head
banging moments from the set, but them leaving
the stage after every song, ment that there seemed
to be little being momentum built up, by the time
it got going, it went back to zero again, a slight
annoyance was that, when there was a guitar solo,
i couldn't really hear it as it was being drowned
out by the drums, but the crowd again really ate
it up.
 Devil Driver were finally on, the night seemed
to have went by quickly, and i was expecting to
be made to leave the pit, but it never happened,
groove metal was the name of the game and the
singer seemed to know a few people in the crowd,
including a photographer, the energy was there
from the beginning really, there was a lot of
headbanging and a fair bit of movement from the
guys on stage, it was also good to hear some better
vocals finally, they opened there set with end
of the line, followed by Wander then Nothings
wrongs, this had the crowd going mad quite early,
which is good, then the new title track was pray
to villains, which got a good reception. other
songs that featured was, i could care less, hold
back the day and vengeance.The energy from the
band kept on coming, when the encore finally arrived
the crowd wasn't disappointed with an excellent
performances of Wretched and I Dreamed i Died.
I think by the end the crowd was full of dizzy
heads and stiff necks as it was boiling in the
room from all the spent energy tonight, and devil
driver with there energetic performance, topped
it off a decent night for the fans really with
a solid performance.
Malefice 3/5
Trigger The Bloodshed 2/5
Suicide Silence– 3/5
Behemoth – 4/5
Devil Driver – 5/5
Review By Robert Lawrence |
