Public transport can be a nightmare at times,
stuck on a train for an hour sucks, I suspect
a leaf on the track is to blame!! It was good
to be at a gig with a fellow team member and friend
James Webb. Good times.
Awake By Design are a 7 piece schlock/classic/power
rock/metal band, they got the whole classic rock
thing going on but not the songs, there's nothing
really that changed from the last time round,
and now they've diluted there sound some more
by adding a keyboard player to the mix, the songs
are still too long and they still lack imagination,
they play well, but the songs don't seem to go
anywhere.
Triosphere, Much better than the opening act,
less depressing for sure, this is their only 2nd
ever uk show, some great riffs from both the guitarist,
really rocking out as a tight nit unit, the lead
guitarist solos while competent there not really
memorable there just missing that bit extra, the
drumming ain't too bad, nothing too complex going
on same with the bass. The vocals from the bass
player ain't too Girly they have some power behind
them but importantly you can understand them.
The 5th song in has a nice meaty riff to it, one
you can headbang too which is always a pleasure
to hear but it does get a bit over indulgent as
it goes on, the last song they play, plays like
a toned down version of their previous song, with
less of a meaty riff, the lead guitarist even
does abit of show boating by down tuning mid solo,
the song does get better toward the end and the
lead guitarist makes his way to the barrier and
finishes the set in front of the front row, not
bad.
Labyrinth, A pretty decent power metal band, the
vocalist is pretty entertaining even if he did
have lyric sheets on the stage floor, he likes
to play a bit of air guitar, not too fond of his
voice in places when he tries to hit the high
notes, doest quite hit it, the riffs are a plenty
and mostly good at that, the bass player has seen
a few years but seems sprightly enough throwing
in flying kick at the start of the 4th song. The
drumming pretty good, heavy too, I haven't seen
a keytar in a while, you can just hear it, but
not much unless everything else drops off. There
not a bad band and hit all the right spots but
as entertaining as they are, I'm not all that
thrilled by watching them. Perhaps it's because
it seems a tad on the dated side
Sonata Arctica are another power metal band, They
opened really well with Flag in the ground Then
they lost momentum with their second of the night
Last Amazing Grays Other than the first song,
there's nothing here really grabbing me, they
got some decent songs including songs such as
Juliet, Replica, but me and like a lot of the
crowd other than certain parts seems pretty quite
but there is a fair bit of singing from the crowd
though, but it must be out of my view because
I can’t see them, but can hear them.
There set picks up with blank file, as if the
world ending is up next, nice melodic intro takes
it down a notch with a bit if a ballad. Paid In
Full comes in after a lengthy story about his
first car. That's one of the annoying things about
this set tonight, the singer just aimlessly waffles
on about his car and other rubbish, I'm sure he
was attempting some stand up routine, but it’s
not what people have paid for, they want to see
the band perform songs such as Victoria's Secret,
The Misery full moon and the rather spiffing In
black and White, which was rather good. After
a much needed short break, They opened there encore
with the rather lengthy Caleb, which seemed to
go on and on and one, not good, Don't say a word
brought the crowd to life, most action I saw all
night from the crowd, they should have played
this first. They closed their set with Vodka.
One thing that they need to improve on is the
pacing of the set, they need to really burn up
them opening songs with some of their more upbeat
and fast songs, not killing the set after 1 song,
and less taking, other than that, not at all bad.
Awake By Design 3/5
Triosphere 3/5
Labyrinth 3/5
Sonata Artica 3/5
Review By Robert Lawrence
|
