A Poetic Yesterday open up tonight’s show,
bit out of place on the bill but never mind. They
have a sound reminiscent of early Funeral for
a Friend material but try and add heavier and
some alternative elements. As a massive FFAF fan,
I can tell you now that they are nothing on them.
Nevertheless you have to appreciate that it’s
still not a bad sound for a band and on stage
they seem to know what they are doing; apart from
maybe sometimes the singer takes things a bit
too far flinging that guitar around and sometimes
it’s quite cringe worthy. Either way I’ll
say that they didn’t really excite me tonight
but they definitely have some potential if they
just sort out some of what they do on stage and
get themselves booked onto more fitting gigs.
G.U. Medicine take the stage with a gritty dirty
hard rock sound that fits right into the style
of the following 2 bands. Although their songs
are pretty damn long they are great to listen
to and get the energy in the room ready for the
other bands to come onto. Not really much of a
big performance on their part but a much needed
change in energy in the room. Aggression is their
main attitude; the way they talk to the crowd,
the movements they make on stage and the way they
play their instruments it’s just the type
of band they are and it gives off a good vibe
and a much better atmosphere. Some laughs, some
tunes and a change of pace into the right direction
is a great warm up.
Holy Grail are completely out of this world! Best
band of the night; they come onstage to a small
crowd but definitely a lot bigger than the last
time I saw them. They just tear through their
set of raw heavy metal and thrash infused tracks
with such passion and explosive energy that was
quite astonishing to watch. One of the guitarists
really aggressively gets into their set and loses
his mind, jumping off things getting on the barrier
and head banging his heart out. The singer also
loves his head banging whether he’s singing
or not matters not he just carries on! Holy Grail
have given an amazing performance tonight with
some superb showman ship. The music these guys
make is very damn special and they hit every note
with extreme precision and make it look effortless.
These guys definitely need to come back the UK
again very soon.
Revoker have a damn lot to live up to after that!
With no studio album releases so far just 2 singles,
very few people actually know much of their material
so it’s more of a showcase of songs from
their as yet unreleased debut album “Revenge
of the Ruthless” in hopes that people will
buy it and come out to see them again. As they
bagged a place on the Rob Zombie tour they announced
a headline tour to follow it in hopes the impression
they left on that tour would encourage people
to come out for a full headline show. However
there’s not really that many people here
and when the singer asks “was anybody at
the Rob Zombie show?” only around 3 of us
actually were. As some have now left makes it
an even smaller crowd and in all honesty there
wasn’t a great deal more at any point before,
but the band take anything they can get. They
are my favourite new British band and they put
on a mighty fine show. An extremely heavy yet
brilliantly fun set, playing songs from their
debut album “Revenge of the Ruthless”
including their 2 recently released singles “Stay
Down” and “Thief” which are
both definitely some quality metal tracks. They
aren’t too serious either which is always
good for an upcoming band as they don’t
get the big crowds and reactions so it’s
best to be able to take it all in their stride
and have a good laugh with it. Playing the intro
parts to some cover tracks winds some people up
but I find quite funny; “HOW ABOUT SOME
SLAYER? Well we’re not good enough for that
so no” nobody can say they don’t have
a sense of humour. Some tracks they play are too
quick for me to head bang along to especially
with but that’s definitely a very good factor
in a song for me. All in all, I preferred them
at Rob Zombie but they did put on a good show
and leaves me now drooling with anticipation for
the release of their debut album! Roll on May!
A Poetic Yesterday 3/5
G.U. Medicine 4/5
Holy Grail 5/5
Revoker 4/5
Review By James Webb
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