Errander - 'The Need To Know' Album Review

Errander (formerly known as P>S>P for those not paying attention) are referred to by the lovingly produced In At The Deep End biog accompanying the album as 'combining all out thrash riffery, head banging metal and hardcore stomp with a splash of melody for good measure' and to be fair, that's about as succinct and accurate a description of what's on offer here as you could hope for.

Brilliant. Job done, I'm off down the pub.

*ahem* Anyway, I jumped at the chance to get my hands on this when it was added to the list of available to review cds 9Hz had received as I knew (if admittedly only from their MySpace presence) that Errander are a bit on the mighty side and had actually considered buying the cd myself when IATDE started advertising it but had stayed my credit card-wielding hand for financial reasons more than anything else. Am I glad I didn't pay for it? Yeah, maybe. Am I glad I jumped on it to review? Yes. Reason being, I'm not exactly much of a thrash fan and hence this cd won't necessarily get too much of a pride of place within my cd collection but none the less this is still a good (indeed, occasionally excellent) record with enough of the afore-mentioned 'hardcore stomp' to keep me more than happy that these South Yorkshire boys should be very proud of.

The 33 minute onslaught (which is undeniably the right word for it) gets under way with absolutely ZERO messing about with all instruments roaring and Ryan (also of GU Medicine 'fame') screaming his not inconsiderable lungs out without even a seconds preamble and proceeds to continue at that particularly violent tempo for almost the entire duration. Make no mistake, this is blistering stuff with even the more melodic moments barely dropping the break neck pace. I think it's safe to say there isn't a duff track here although as a result of the sheer ferocity it's rather difficult to pick out highlights as the album tends to explode past you in such a jagged, Metallica-having-a-bar-brawl-with-Converge-on-bad-drugs blast that you can often accidentally miss half of it in a flurry of air-guitaring before you know what's going on.

Personally, I'd have to say that some of it can get a bit too choppy for my tastes and some of the more melodious passages can seem a bit crowbarred in for good measure but on the whole it's a nice mix of styles. Add to that the very crisp production and beautiful presentation (I defy anyone to ever accuse IATDE releases to be found wanting on these fronts, of course) and there's very little room left for grumbling.

So, do you (The) Need To Know about this album? Yeah, I'd say so. Anyway, I'm off to kick some poor bastard shitless to vent all this surplus aggression I'm feeling all of a sudden. Dunno where that's come from... *cd finishes* Oh no wait, I'm alright now.

A Horse Called War - 'We Ain't Proud Of This' CD-R Review

Strike a light! A UK sludge band that don't just rip Iron Monkey off blind! Who'da thunk it?!

On first listen this meaty little four tracker is easily one of the finest new arrivals on the Sludge scene for some time, arguably as a result of their refusal to follow the standard IM tribute band route. A Horse Called War combine elements of some of Britain's finest heavy bands - Lazarus Blackstar, the ubiquitous IM and Charger most prevalently - into a particularly nasty 16 minutes and 50 seconds, belching out downtuned, doom-tinged antipathy with fiery, uptempo stomp-alongs aplenty.

Rather unfortunately, however, after you listen to the demo a few more times a rather unpleasant realisation hits you: They don't sound like an Iron Monkey rehash coz they're far too busy pretending to be the afore mentioned Stoke-based fuzzbastards Charger...

Now anyone with any understanding of my listening habits will know that I absolutely fucking love Charger so this is certainly not a criticism per se but the second half of this demo in particular is pretty much just a slightly rejigged combination of several passages from Charger's Peaceville released 'Confessions of a Man (Mad Enough to Live Amongst Beasts)' full lengther. The doomy, bass and feedback ending to demo closer 'Cry Havoc' being particularly guilty of this considering it's almost note perfect to the pseudo-spoken word middle section from 'God Made Us In The Image Of His Ass' which, once you've noticed it, is so obvious as to get really rather irritating.

Having now raised this point, however, I would take pains to remind everyone (myself included) that at the end of the day, plagiarism is far from uncommon nowadays and is often just a stage in the development of a band as they find they're own direction. Sludge as a genre is somewhat limited in its scope for experimentation and unlike many other bands out there (Out For Blood spring readily to mind here) at least A Horse Called War can hold your interest for more than the first five minutes and regardless of how many of the riffs displayed here you've heard before, they're still fucking belting riffs so you can't complain too loudly...

The press release that accompanied the demo states that A Horse Called War will be reentering the studio early in 2007 to record a new five track EP proper, let's hope that the promise (and impressively mighty sound) on display here are combined with a bit more individuality as with some work I think these boys could well be capable of great things and if nothing else, this'll keep me sated until Charger manage to get 'Spill Your Guts' released next march...

Wooly Mammoth - 'The Temporary Nature' Album Review

Okay, so just as a bit of back ground for you, the reading public; this is actually the second time I've reviewed this CD now. The reason I'm doing it again is because my original review was somewhat unfairly dismissive of this rather mighty little collection of songs. For those of you unwilling to read two reviews of the same CD, the long and short of the original write up went something along the lines of: "blah blah blah Kyuss blah blah blah stoner rock cliches blah blah blah s'alright, like blah blah blah better than a lot of this stuff blah blah blah". Having continued to listen to the CD since writing that rather uncharitable effort, however, it has become clear to me that these boys are deserving of a lot more respect than I originally gave them so here goes...

Let's get the obvious criticism out of the way first, shall we? Wooly Mammoth are obviously three VERY big Josh Homme fans. Pretty much everything here has appeared already on either a Kyuss or a Queens Of The Stone Age record somewhere along the line.

Now let's actually bother to listen to what's on offer here and give credit where credit is due shall we? What we have here is an unashamedly stoner rock album: fuzzed out bottom end, grooves deeper than a maternity wards waiting room floor and an obvious love of 'good times' (ie Wild Turkey and executive length cigarettes) permeate every second but when it's all done this well you can frankly stick your cynicism (or rather, my cynicism) where the sun don't shine as this album is an absolute fucking belter!

Opener 'Head Full Of Collision' sets the tone here brilliantly, managing to be reminiscent of (personal Kyuss favourite) 'Gardenia' whilst showing it's own character and a more uptempo approach. The album then proceeds to take the listener on a tour of Wooly Mammoth's understanding of what rock music is all about through doomier fare (track two 'From Meridian Hill' and the atmospheric monster of a title track 'The Temporary Nature') whilst injecting some more uptempo riff fests (indeed I defy anyone to not feel the urge to scream 'RIIIIIFFFFF!!!' in response to the start of QoTSA/Nebula tinged third track 'Black Spider, Red Spider') into the mix before rounding the whole affair off nicely with closer 'Mammoth Bones' which is an out and out tribute to Kyuss' parting behemoth 'Spaceship Landing' with it's bruising, lolloping belief that a good groove shouldn't be rushed and needs to be given at least ten minutes to breathe properly (and breathe it does as the song is positively HUGE)!

Basically, this album is proof positive that there's no such thing as too much of a good thing. Every song here pushes all the right buttons and will be welcomed into your life like an old friend you haven't seen for years within a few (honest) listens. Anyone who still listens to the bands mentioned so far will immediately love this record but I can't stress enough that for those who, like me, got tired of all the substandard Clutch/Kyuss etc impersonators who popped out of the woodwork shortly after QoTSA's initial success with 'Rated R' that with a little persistence and an open mind, Wooly Mammoth could well just remind you why you loved this kind of material in the first place. Excellent production, mature song writing... personally, I don't think anyone could ask for much more.

The Abominable Iron Sloth/Charger/Ghost of a Thousand @ Camden Barfly, London - 14/10/2006

*PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS AN EXTRACT FROM A MUCH LONGER MYSPACE BLOG AS I GOT TOO DRUNK AND COULDN'T ACTUALLY REMEMBER THE WHOLE GIG TO WRITE A PROPER REVIEW FROM!*

...upstairs we meet Wez who has become a good net-friend over the last year and grab beer numero 3 and then openers Ghost Of A Thousand take to the stage. a groan escapes from Wez at the sight of them as it's skinny fit tshirts, tight jeans and daft hair as far as the eye can see but they bound into a decent sub-Botch set of angular 'core n' roll. i will no doubt buy the album as i liked what i heard but both guitarists seem strangely unaware of what the bridge pick-up is for and hence the sound is tinny as hell and rather cheapens what otherwise i think would've been a fine set. comedy moments also abound throughout as the vocalist (who appears to have robbed his on stage moves wholesale off of a certain Mr. Jagger) has fallen off the stage before the end of the first song only to then not be able to get back up on it for a few songs although this indirectly leads to the 'save of the night' as he careens into a three-pint bearing BigJon who somehow manages to not spill a drop earning himself a spontaneous round of applause from those who witness it and finally, as they finish a song toward the end of their set, Wez (who is looking somewhat less than impressed by them) shouts 'TAXI!' perhaps a little louder than he was intending and a ripple of laughter floats around the gradually swelling crowd. in the meantime i have decided it would be wise to let BigJ toddle off to do his gig photography thing and match Wez pint for pint. unfortunately for me Wez is a big lad more than capable of drinking his weight who has been gripped by The Thirst so i'm already half way leathered by the time GOAT leave the stage to appreciative if rather luke warm cheers and applause.

at this point Cyrus Grissom (another mate from the UG boards) turns up and we get chatting before Charger wander on stage. the boys pile into an almost exclusively new material set and it immediately becomes apparent that GOAT can't necessarily be entirely blamed for sounding a bit weedy as the sound guy manages to somehow produce a flawlessly clear but entirely bassless sound for them. bearing in mind this is Charger we're talking about i have to admit this is a feat in itself but none the less irritates me for the duration. Ives is his usual edgy and nervous self on stage but nonetheless chats to the crowd throughout the set explaining the songs and talking about their lack of gigs this year and the forthcoming album and i have to say that (whilst i admit i was pretty much battered by this point so have large blackspots in my memory) from what was on display here, 'Spill Your Guts' due early 2007 will be something rather special indeed. i think one or two older songs may have got an airing though i honestly couldn't be certain and then suddenly from nowhere they tear into 'Cult vs. Cunt' and the crowd who have all been digging it as much as me go mad for it as the boys do their level best to destroy the place. then the set ends and it's all too soon for me, by now i've forgotten about my back problems and have been headbanging quite severely for some time. awesome stuff, can't wait for the album!

more beer is consumed and i beg the sound man to turn the bass up only to get a dismissive sneer for my troubles and then The Abominable Iron Sloth appear from nowhere. again, i can remember little other than they're A. W. E. S. O. M. E! i'm not sure if the sound man did take my advice after all or if it's just the somewhat more likely case that the yank Sludgsters are just too heavy for him to control but finally the wall shaking bottom end we're all here for is in evidence and the now packed venue goes mental. they are, in fact, so heavy that it takes me about half the set to realise that there are only 3 men on stage which impresses me all the more. the majority of their superb self title debut album gets an airing along with a fair amount of new material as well (i believe, don't quote me) and we're all lost in a Sludge-Tsunami that threatens to be the end of all of us and then the highlight of the evening (both musically and comedically) fires in as they launch into album opener 'Hats Made Of Veal And That New Car Scent'. the crowd double their efforts rocking out and as i look over my shoulder for the first time since they took the stage i realise that not only myself, Wez and Cyruss but in fact the entire audience all respond in kind throwing The Claw and screaming along to 'RRREEEEEZZZZZZUUUUUURRRRRREEEEEKKKKKKSSSSHHHHHYYYYUUUUUNNNNNN!!! which nearly makes me fall over laughing but as i'm rocking out and throwing The Claw so hard myself i manage to stay upright. about two songs later they end in a hail of feedback and we amble back downstairs. somewhere along the line i've finally managed to buy myself that Charger hoody i've been after for so long and then Ives collars me at the bar and i have to go to the cash point to get more money to buy him that beer i've been promising him for just as long. this puts me in a foul mood for no explainable reason and then (i think) we say our goodbyes to jay Charger and Jon manages to herd me out the door so we can find this pub his mate is having a birthday bash in. somewhere along the line we proquire chips and i rant about Ives before Jon delicately enquires if maybe i'm not overreacting and i collapse into a brief fit of despair at potentially having acted like a cunt to the poor guy whilst absent mindedly wiping ketchup and mayonaise all over my new hoody...

These Arms Are Snakes - 'Easter' Album Review

I'll warn you now, once again I'm reviewing a band I absolutely adore so please don't be surprised when you find it dripping with my trademark fanboy exuberance.

You may now continue...

These Arms Are Snakes, despite featuring a former member of the almighty Botch, seem to be a reasonably unknown commodity amongst a lot of people involved with this music 'scene' of ours and (rather unfortunately for me) attempting to describe what they sound like can often prove somewhat frustrating as the person you're trying to describe them to will invariably end up looking rather confused and distinctly less than impressed. As a result of this I shall attempt to set the tone for this review by describing what the band are doing, rather than their actual sound per sé.

Basically, TAAS are somewhat of a rarity in that, in this day and age where every guitar band going are desperately trying to convince you that they're 'The New Heavy' whether they even have the slightest understanding of what that term might mean or not, TAAS are furiously trying to convince people that they're not heavy when they're actually skull crushingly so. 'Interesting statement' some people will no doubt think, especially those who do know any TAAS material but let me explain further: I don't mean they're heavy in the same sense as a doom band are heavy, all huge amounts of gain and gut wrenching roaring, but rather that the general vibe and intensity behind the music will (if given a fair chance) utterly floor you, and it's this that makes them so special. Their music is the very essence of barely restrained intent. Abrasive rather than aggressive, provoking rather than punishing... They could rip your head off and shit down your neck if they wanted to... but that's not what they're trying to achieve, it'll cause notably more problems if they simply almost sever your neck and then leave you laying there trying to put yourself back together.

When I first received 'Easter' on pre-order a week ago I played it simultaneously filled with huge anticipation and great trepidation... I knew it was going to be brilliant, but would it match up to their previous full length effort 'Oxeneers: Or The Lion Sleeps When His Antelope Go Home'? On first listen, I honestly thought it didn't. It was another fine example of their ability to craft intricate, occasionally beautiful and always intensely intelligent songs but where were the stand out tracks? Every TAAS release up to date has had that one song that simply blows you away. 'Oxeneers...' had 'Your Pearly Whites', 'This Is Meant To Hurt You' had 'Drinking From The Necks Of The Ones You Love' but these seemed to be lacking here and my initial enjoyment suffered as a result.

Good God, was I ever wrong...

'Easter' takes the already stupidly high standards set by 'Oxeneers...' and frankly, laughs at them whilst pushing the bar even further beyond the reach of other bands.

The reason there are no stand out tracks on this cd is because they all stand out. From start to finish there isn't a superfluous note or wasted idea. The album takes the established, near-tech Seattle sound of their previous releases but shapes it into a far more complete, and therefore complex, whole. The electronic elements of their sound have finally been fully incorporated into the song writing and the guitar work is simply phenomenal, somehow blending rocked-up Botch-esque tech with delicate indie sensitivity and at times a new, almost country-like swagger. On top of the musical progression, singer/madprophet/bornagainJohnnyRotten Steve Snere continues to allow his punky, but never unnecessarily aggressive delivery chase you around the musical landscape as his lyrics continue to tease and provoke, refusing to lay it on the line unless he absolutely has to. You know he's saying something important but he'll make you sweat to earn that understanding, if it ever comes at all and yet i dare anyone to try losing interest in his performance.

All of this sinks in somewhere around the fifth or sixth spin of the album and then you suddenly realise... actually, there are stand out tracks... and there's more than one! 'Subtle Body', 'Abracadabraca', the two-parts-of-the-same-song 'Perpetual Bris' and 'Corporeal' and album closer 'Crazy Woman Dirty Train' all, for different reasons, bore slowly into your heart, oh so very quietly over the space of the first few listens before finally exploding into bloom, gripping you completely. Indeed, 'Crazy Woman...' is perhaps the perfect example of this new enlivened TAAS sound as it slowly builds into what will obviously be a gigantic, tumultuous album finale only to refuse to do so at the very last second. Guitar, Bass, Drums, Samples and Vocals all rage into it but there is still restraint as the band refuse to take the easy option and give you what you want, or even what they want as you can almost feel the tension as they hold it back to where it's supposed to be. This album isn't supposed to be Botch, remember? and TAAS will only let their music happen on their own terms.

Thought provoking, at times beautiful and delicate, genuinely original and searingly visceral, 'Easter' serves up the goods as only TAAS could. Frankly, I pity any band trying to move within similar circles at the moment as if this is what they're capable of after only a few years I am quite seriously scared to see where they will go next.

Faultless.

Cyruss - 'Hate/Human' Album Review

In direct correlation with the Out For Blood review, here we have another band fond of chucking the word 'Sludge' about the shop. This Vienna-based three-piece's website (which, rather handily, appears to be riddled with AdWare...), however, prefers the use of the term 'Brutalized Stoner' which is certainly more accurate as, if OFB are more or less Sludge, these Austrians are clearly no such thing.

What they are, however, is actually all the better off for it. Basically, what we have here is fairly standard, ramped-up stoner with an Isis style roarer, able to avoid many of the Sludge cliches that can have such a negative effect on other bands humping the Iron Monkey dream. A good comparison would be to think Karma To Burn or maybe SixtyWatt Shaman with the edgier, more aggressive vibe of Clutch's 'Trans-national Speedway' era. Unfortunately this 'edge' can sometimes feel rather tacked on as if as an after thought ("Wait a minute lads... It doesn't sound very angry. Quick! Add a 'malevolent' sounding intro!") but fortunately doesn't really spoil the flow of the cd as I don't think they could actually write a 'nasty' riff if they took a bucket full or bad speed and spent an hour slapping each other in the face before trying to do so...

In reference to the vocals, I have to say that it's probably rather fortunate that the singer has adopted the roaring approach as the lyrics printed on the sleeve are verging on absolute gibberish. I'm sure the singer refers to them as 'hate fueled' but rest assured, this is not the case. I think the poor boy's maybe trying just a little too hard to reach the misanthropic depths plumbed by your average Sludge/Grind screamer without realising that such bands tends to be at least a little bit tongue in cheek about it, with the end result that it just feels like a twelve year old trying to write 'clever' free-form poetry...

Still, daft pseudo-English aside, everything on display here is enjoyable enough and well played throughout. I'm sure it will have those with a place for stoner in their hearts nodding their heads well enough with a good production quality letting the fairly simple song structures employed here shine. I won't lie to you and say I'll be listening to this regularly (or indeed, probably ever again) but I certainly wasn't disappointed whilst it was on.

Now if only they'd stop worrying about trying to sound so evil all the time...

Out For Blood - 'Out For Blood' Album Review

Sludge. Seriously now, amidst the current slew of ridiculously named sub-genres that music-journo's seem to be falling over themselves to patent every time a band tries something even remotely original, what the fuck is 'Sludge' anyway...? And where do you draw the line between the different types of Sludge? What differentiates a band between being 'Sludge' and 'Sludgecore', for example?

Reason I'm wondering is that there has already been some rumblings on the 9Hz webzine forums regarding whether this lot are being entirely fair when they refer to themselves as 'Sludge' and whether listing Iron Monkey on your MySpace 'Influences' list actually makes you worthy of the title?

Anyway, this is a review, not a discursive essay so let's get back to the point.

I first found out about Out For Blood about a year ago and remember being mightily impressed with them (certainly compared to a lot of the other diabolical tatt that was attempting to add me on MySpace at the time...) and they're one of the few bands that I've made a concerted effort to keep tabs on as a result and so happily coughed up my cash when they released this cd.

And so to the nub: is it any good... and is it Sludge?

Well... Yes and Yes, but unfortunately, only rather 'Kind of' at best on both counts.

Basically, I've been listening to this cd for over a week now and I've encountered exactly the same issue every time with it. Yes, it's fucking bastard heavy with appropriately fuzzed-out, distorted bottom-end sounding guitars and bass. Yes, the vocals are suitably brutal, throat ripping and misanthropic. Yes, the tempo skips from thrashy hardcore ala Among The Missing (hence the 'kind of' Sludge statement, as the majority of the fare on display here is of the uptempo 'Sludgecore' variety) down to turgid, dead slow near-doom akin to the rightfully all-hallowed Iron Monkey with dirty, 'orrible grooves aplenty.

So we're doing well here on (at least my interpretation of) the 'Is It Sludge' Checklist. so far, so good you'd think then, right...?

Yes, but here comes the 'kind of'. Generally, I've completely switched off by half way through the third or fourth song (case in point; I was listening to the cd whilst originally writing this review and nearly fainted with surprise when it finished as I was writing this very paragraph considering I honestly thought I was only about half way through!). Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it all the way through and it's all done very well but I can't deny that we're back to the arguement sparked by me review of Bossk on the 9Hz forums again here, i.e: Is doing something very similar to what's gone before really well excusable, or should a band be trying for new grounds at all times at the risk of being rubbish?

In Bossk's case I have been arguing Yes, if only because they can keep my attention so any negatives are balanced by my overall enjoyment of the cd. Unfortunately I can't bring myself to do likewise with Out For Blood as, whilst this is all of a very high standard, the album is woefully formulaic and (at least in certain regards) a real disappointment for me as I was expecting good things from these boys.

Parting thought: I've now moved over to listening to Gojira (bearing in mind I would normally rather rip my own cock off than listen to anything remotely Death Metal-ish) as I consider it to be a safer option than trying to listen to OFB again as I simply can't be arsed to be disappointed by them anymore.

And I so wanted to be able to rave about how great this was, too...

Bossk - 'I' Album Review

I first heard about these guys when, shortly after buying Symmetry's rather cracking four track e.p. 'This Is Not The End, It Is A Beginning, You Cannot Falter Now', they announced that they would be touring with Bossk. At the time (and this is in fact still the case) they only had an excerpt from the opening of the first track off this cd available for perusal on their Spazz profile which didn't really give any real indication of their style but when the album was released I bought it on a whim anyway, figuring if they were touring with Symmetry they couldn't be too bad.

I was right.

Clocking in at around the forty minute mark this two track album is a fantastic example of the new wave of British bands finding their own niche in the post-Isis world we all now inhabit (and yes I know that should be post-Neurosis but let's be honest, Isis are the band that made everyone notice).

Whilst the primary influence on this band is clearly Isis' 'Panopticon', Bossk are very much in line with their British contemporaries (of which Symmetry themselves are another fine example) in that the feel of the music itself is notably more positive and uplifting and the general sense of depression that is arguably so imbued in Isis and Neurosis' releases is left behind.

Track one, cleverly entitled 'I' starts very gently with an almost ambient-drone-like, soft feedback before moving slowly into more heavier fare. The main emphasis here is on the dynamics of the music and the interplay within each song between (cliche attack!) light and dark (i.e. light and heavy). The song revolves around itself wonderfully before reaching a crushing final high point before returning to its quiet origins at a full sixteen minutes and six seconds. Certainly, Bossk are a band that require a lot of space to be enjoyed seriously, you'd need to go back to your grindcore if you were only looking to fill a few minutes...

The equally geniusly named 'II' is a more sombre track, rolling in at a verging-on-ridiculous nineteen minutes and twenty seven seconds. Don't think for a second, however, that the boys are being self indulgent here as the opening takes up a delicate and mesmerising seven minutes before they get down to business and a straight ahead metal riff crashes in, chugging along in a fine impression of Isis' 'Oceanic' album, building more and more before a brief hiatus to alleviate any possibility of boredom. As the heavy kicks back in, the listener is treated to a rather unexpected vocal accompaniment (well I certainly wasn't expecting it after a good thirty minutes of instrumentalism) which, whilst completing the music and adding that final level that may have hampered an entirely instrumental band) is perhaps a little too gruff for it's own good. This is not to infer that it doesn't fit, it does, but rather that perhaps amidst such well thought out, intelligent writing a slightly subtler, less formulaic delivery may have worked better.

The sound throughout the recording is excellent and it warms my heart to see so many new bands making an effort to make their music sound right rather than just 'getting it done', although the guitars perhaps sound a little too rounded at times which possibly looses some of their edge. I'm sure live this is not a problem but a tiny little extra bite might well have finished off an otherwise excellent job. This plus the fact that one or two of the very quiet moments are almost lost entirely where the volume drops so far down are the only real complaints that can be levelled at the production and as I said, are far from major quibbles.

Final thoughts: Buy it. If you're remotely interested in this kind of music you'll like this band. I for one will certainly be keeping a close eye on them on the strength of this recording.

El Topo - 2006 CD-R Demo Review

El Topo are a London based three piece comprising ex-members of Dirty Switches and Entronaut (although this means little or nothing realistically as I admit to being ignorant of both previous bands), playing determinedly lo-fi, doom tinged "fuzz rock" (their words).

Combining the rumbling, heavy-by-repetition approach of Om's 'Variations On A Theme' with the bassy grooves of Kyuss' seminal 'Blues For The Red Sun', this is unmistakably music to drink fine whiskey and smoke serious weed to. It's certainly easy enough to imagine the band themselves taking the stage a little worse the wear, shrowded in plumes of smoke that have little to do with any smoke machine present...

The demo itself contains four such overdriven groovefests, each of which explores a slightly different approach to the boys sound. Opener 'Let's Ride' immediately shows the Om influence in it's floating, low in the mix vocals and lollaping, lethargic riff before a notably more uptempo almost Fu Manchu like ending swaggers past. '1+1=3', meanwhile, romps through a no nonsense, Kyuss tinged groove. Track 3 ('Bomb Head') begins with what appears to be the theme tune from 'My Name Is Earl' before resolving itself into another mantra-like doom riff before throwing up a pleasantly unexpected (but mercifully not over-egged) guitar hero break shortly before a thumpingly heavy conclusion. Finally, demo closer 'Leather Freak' pelts full tilt into an almost thrashy stomp along, briefly shows an almost 'Bleach' era Nirvana streak, before dropping back into a wonderfully sludged up version of it's opening riff.

Production wise, the guitar and bass do what's expected of them with a bottom end heavy enough to damage foundations with, suiting the material well (although this can, at times, come close to obscuring the John Garcia-caned-off-his-tits vocal delivery in the obviously intentional, uber lo-fi fuzz). The drums, however, are suprisingly crisp and fill out the sound nicely.

All in all, an interesting and well crafted take on the current state of the Stoner/Desert Rock genre. Not necessarily the most original in and of itself but arguably more so than many of the other young, proficient if a little uninspiring bands attempting likewise at the moment.

Taint/Black Eye Riot @ The Sand Bar, Swansea - 02/09/2006

Apparently, there was some skate/bmx/whatever 'extreme' sport festival going on in Swansea this weekend... Apparently...

Fortunately for those of us over the age of fifteen, there was a free gig incorporated in this otherwise entirely uninteresting event which, whilst mostly comprising various little Swansea oi punk rubbish, was headlined by Swansea Oi!SludgePunkDoomCore lunatics Black Eye Riot and local boys done good TechDoom behemoths Taint and by sheer coincidence, the early afternoon start meant that I finished work, met some mates and got to the gig at about ten past five with enough time to say hi to Dor Riot and get a pint in before the boys got to it, successfully missing the previously mentioned punk mincing.

Winner. Anyway...

Black Eye Riot get going shortly there after and it's chaotic business as usual, although, as a reult of guitarist Lee being on holiday and the early hour limiting their available pre-gig drinking time, they are at least a little more restrained than normal. Also, the fact that the performance area of the Sand Bar is barely big enough for the five of them to actually fit into certainly isn't helping and whilst some of the faithful are in attendence, most of the crowd are teenage skatepunks and hence shit themselves and go outside shortly after kickoff so the sheer levels of idiotic fun they're capable of producing is unfortunately limited. Screamers Dor and Willis, meanwhile, seem to actually be quite enjoying the fact that they're sober enough to (almost) stand up unaided for once which means Willis's habitual intersong stand up routine is less hampered by slurring than normal ("This one's about getting down to it with the Mrs... it's called 'BitchSlap'...". Cue lampooning from his lady wife and general lacivious "hur hur hur"s from the male half of the audience) and the boys in the back line are also able to (nearly) keep time with each other, making a more competent and tighter performance. Drummer Carl especially is on top form in a flurry of arms and hair as he throws himself into one of the best impressions of Animal from 'The Muppet Show' I've seen in some time. Of course, with BER, your money buys you absolute bloody carnage so the one fact is somewhat of a trade off against the other but none the less the lads stomp and silly posture their way through their standard setlist with (I believe) a new one chucked in for good measure, ending with the "Everybody join in!" scream along to 'The Cunt' during which Dor and Willis very conscienciously point out everyone they recognise in the audience (never let it be said that the Riot aren't fair to all comers) and then they're back off to the bar where they belong. Top fun as always!

Now it's been a long time since I last saw Taint, having so successfully managed to be too tired to see the Swansea leg of their tour with Knut and having to work last weekend so I couldn't attend the 5HJ London gig, so I'm very excited about seeing them and they certainly don't dissappoint. Opening with the Jimbob guitar stylings build up of 'The Sound-Out Competition' I'm immediatley wearing a big soppy grin and Jimbob, Chris and Al throw themselves into it full tilt. Now I believe it would be customary at this point of the review to start chucking superlatives like "Face-Melting", "Blistering" and "Punishing" about the place but let's be honest, we all know what Taint are capable of so rather than trying to super-fanboy (which I'll readily admit I am...) I think it'd be better to simply state that this was the best gig I've ever seen them play. Baring in mind that (as a super-fanboy) I would generally consider a 'poor' Taint gig to be far better than a 'good showing' from anywhere up to about eighty five percent of all the other bands out there, I think it gets the point across well enough. For our listening pleasure this late afternoon the boys tear through all the best bits of last years magnificent 'The Ruin Of Nova Roma' including the face-melting (oh c'mon! I reckon I deserve one!) 'Drunken Marksman' and two post-'Ruin Of...' new songs (both excellent and showing a welcome return of The Groove to their sound) before closing the days festivities with a huge sounding rendition of 'I Wanna Kill Henry Ford' and BER split family favourite 'I Fulfil I', the former involving Carl BER (having been sat on a table to Jim's left for most of the set) suddenly launching himself into the crowd in the best stage dive I've seen for a fair few years and the later generating one of the first real mosh pits Swansea's hosted for an equally long period of time.

As feedback hails the end of the set, Al looks on the verge of fainting and Jim and Chris are dripping sweat from the vicious attack they've just unleashed on their instruments and the crowd are horns in the air and cheering their lungs out to a man. I borrow a tenner of my mate (ta shell! i'll get that back to you asap!) and buy a new tshirt and congratulate the boys on a job well done.

Basically then, Fan-Fucking-Tastic! Come back soon lads, it's been far too long...

Jesu - 'Silver' E.P. Review

If you've found this blog and have stuck about long enough to have started reading this then it's a safe bet that you already know who Jesu are. The main reason for this is that Justin Broadrick is a name that garners a lot of respect in extreme metal circles and with good reason too. Whether you're a fan of his pioneering work as one half of Ambient/Industrial Doom/Drone titans Godflesh (and if not, why not...?) or you're more interested in the vast amount of remixes and production he's been involved with over the last ten years or so, there's no denying the man is a phenomenal talent and has made a serious contribution to the music scene we all love.

Broadrick's latest project Jesu are already well established, this being the third release behind the original stop-gap ep 'Heartache' and last year's simply magnificent self titled full length album. The breathtakingly heavy, heartstoppingly beautiful melancholy that drove those two previous releases is again strongly in evidence here, but this is not to infer, however, that Broadrick is somehow resting on his laurels. Far from it, 'Silver' is yet another leap forward in his ongoing experimentation with heaviosity.

Eponymous opener 'Silver' is probably the closest feeling track to the other releases but Broadrick's voice continues to improve with a less monotone, much warmer delivery and whist the standard iceberg-slow, crushingingly heavy guitar and reverb drenched keyboards we all love so much are very much in evidence, the whole feel of the song is more positive. Second Track 'Star' opens with an almost punky, up-tempo drum beat and jangly guitars before moving into the heavier main section of the song which (brace yourselves) verges on feeling rather chipper compared to the general despondency so many bands this heavy seem to depend on these days, until the slower, more tempered second half progresses the song to a gentle and uplifting fade out ending. Next up we're treated to 'Wolves' which sees Broadrick's apparent love of continuing to evolve previous riffs and concepts rear its more than welcome head and sounds very much like a re-visit of one of the 'work-in-progress' sections from the 'Heartache' EP, minus the Godflesh-hangover aggression. EP closer 'Dead Eyes' begins with a more... err... experimental... (psych is totally the wrong word when used in reference to Jesu...) effects driven build up that floats through you like sunshine, lifting your mood yet further as Broadrick again refines what the word 'Triumphant' should mean when describing music before (as if the happy feel of the EP wasn't shocking enough) Broadrick finally succumbs and allows himself to be compelled by the power of the riff and slams down into a groove before slowly reverting to its start point for the end of the record.

Of course, as with everything Broadrick touches, the production is faultless. Devastatingly heavy (seriously, other bands spend their whole lives dreaming of being this heavy...) and yet crystal clear with every single instrument, noise and word delicately overlaid onto its counterparts without obscuring them. Another shock departure is noticed when you check the sleeve notes and realise that Jesu is no longer a one-man-band but now features other credited musicians as well as The Main Man himself. One can only assume the beauty of the Welsh/English border countryside Broadrick lives in these days that he states is one of the primary influences on the feel and sound of Jesu is slowly but surely mellowing the gentleman's otherwise pathological need for control. Lest we forget it took him well over two years before he was certain that the self titled album was ready for general consumption.

So, in conclusion, once again Mr Broadrick has come up with the goods in fine form and produced another epic, soaringly beautiful masterpiece that is essential to anyone who means it when they say anything similar to "yeah i really love heavy, progressive music". Now do yourselves a favour and fork out the best seven quid you'll spend in ages and get your copy... seriously, your music collection will continue to hold you in contempt until you give it what it wants so that it may feel a chance of being complete.

review update!

at this point in my burgeoning rock journalism career i actually started reviewing cd's as well as gigs so from here on in there's a mix of live and album reviews.

a fairly pointless comment but fuck you, it's my blog...

Art Of Burning Water/Flatlands/Black Eye Riot/Death Of Her Money @ Monkey Cafe, Swansea - 05/06/06

god bless my misses. say what you will about her love of awful house music and her hatred of my own music tastes, she always pulls through when i need her and she readily coughed up a fiver she herself doesn't really have so i could attend this evening of riff worship and i'm very happy to report that all bands featured made it money well spent... err... blagged... oh whatever, you get where i'm going with this...

i get to the venue and as i pay in with my hard filched money the guy behind the door is kind enough to point out that Death Of Her Money have just started so i pelt it upstairs to catch Newports rising stars. as i walk into the room the wall of sound these guys produce hits me full in the face and it's a mighty sucker punch indeed. i've only ever seen these boys the once before when they played Swansea with Taint over a year ago and they blew me away that night. tonight they're throwing some considerable weight around as their odd brand of post-doom(core?) belches out across the (even smaller than usual) audience. i think the thing that impresses me about DOHM so much is the fullness of sound they generate from a one guitar band as the guitarist plays doom like it was full tilt punk making clever use of open low strings at all times whilst providing the... err... 'melody' via manipulation of more high end notes, thus eleviating the need for a second guitarist all together. accomplished and punishing, sounding somewhere between The Melvins and Isis along with their more hardcore-ish flourishes the band close with the one song of theirs i know, the monsterous 'Flood Of Love' before leaving us. not bad at all, i expect great things to come...

Black Eye Riot have evidently been drinking for some time before taking to the stage tonight and god bless them for it as the true level of carnage they're capable of producing is on full display tonight with Dor and Willis both steaming drunk and absolutely determined to cause some serious destruction before they're done. the crowd are immediately at fever pitch screaming along with the ubiquitous pumping of fists as Dor and Willis proove unwilling to wait for the crowd to start a pit and begin their own. cue much tomfoolery as mic leads entwine instantly as the Two-Man-Tornado attempts to stay upright and fails (as per usual). the rest of the band aren't in much better shape and it takes the first few songs before they settle into any real kind of cohesive order, not helped much by their singers either being too distracted to sing in time or simply forgetting that they're supposed to be singing at all but this is, of course, exactly why we love them so much and i for one wouldn't have it any other way. sticking to their standard track listing the Riot storm through 'Bitch Slap', 'Battered By Elephants' and 'First Blood' from their recent split with Charger along with 'Bite The Snake', 'Instinct' and 'Beaten Down, Rising Up' from album 'No Hope, No Future, No Worries' before ending with crowd pleaser 'The Cunt', the last two or three of which Stu plays unnaccompanied on guitar due to the standard BER technical issues rearing their ugly head as Lee successfully manages to blow a valve on his notoriously unreliable if undeniably much loved HiWatt. this does however mean he can join in with the free-for-all sing along of 'The Cunt' during which he produces comedy moment of the evening by covering Willis and Dor in Stella despite Dor's best efforts to stop him (ie he shakes his head at him, though quite what he thought he was going to achieve with this action is unclear...). best BER gig i've seen for ages which is a statement in itself as far as i'm concerned.

between bands i pop out to the balcony to chat to Adam Suns of Thunder and (as i'm not stoned for once) actually manage to talk to other people as well, introducing myself to Alex (Bomb The Sun guitarist) and one of the Circle Of Stones lads. i bitch furiously about Monkey refusing to make it easy (or indeed possible) to book gigs before after a while rumbling from across the hall indicates the next set is about to start.

ramdom fact not very worth mentioning: Flatlands look like proper geeks. sorry boys but i have to say it. fortunately for all concerned however, they rock like bastards so everything evens out. now i don't know much Flatlands material as i've only heard their demo cd but what i've heard i've been impressed with but they seem to be a somewhat different beast live. for a start i realise they actually have two singers (bassist Big Si doubles up as the designated roarer) which was a fact that i appeared to have missed up until this point. heavy as all hell and slow as you could want they move into a reasonably standard Isis style light/heavy dynamic and all is well except some of the time signatures are perhaps a little over wrought spoiling the rythem of the music (only a little) occasionally but this is a minor niggle as when these boys hit a riff they fucking hit A RIFF!!! without a doubt their finest moments come when they begin to play with warmer, more intricate melodies under the gigantic slabs of heavy in a style reminiscent of Symmetry which seems to make the BIG FUCKING RIFFS soar that little bit higher. particular note must also be taken of their screamer Mike, who appears to find microphones almost entirely unnecessary as his voice rips across the surface of the music regardless of wether he's actually holding the mic in front, near, or for that matter nowhere near his mouth. incredible.

final band of the night Art Of Burning Water listen to Taint's 'The Ruin Of Nova Roma' while setting up and whilst all the things we've always loved about them are still there (ie they still rob the occasional riff off Slayer and the Melvins) they seem to have been taking some serious notes Swansea's finest sons. although other more recent additions to their sound are evident throughout with healthy portions of Keelhaul in particular shining through there's undeniably a very large nod to Jimbob's rather unique vision of how TechDoom should be written and played throughout the entire set. this is no bad thing in my book of course, as Taint are easily one of my favourite bands and have the unenviable job of carrying the hope of the UK underground on their shoulders to at least a certain extent. the main difference between the two bands however is that Art Of Burning Water seem to have a very serious ambition of being crowned 'Band Most Likely To Fit More Riffs Into One Song Than Any Other' as they belt them out at top speed with almost no let up what so ever. this in itself can get a little irritating at times as some riffs other bands would wait a whole lifetime together to write are frittered away in seconds but does have the rather pleasant (and very practical) outcome that in a scene nowadays where songs under eighth minutes are somewhat frowned upon, most of the material here clocks in around the three to four minute mark purely because you just can't play breakneck tech for any longer than that without having some kind of fit and/or coronary incident. this seems to be a reasonable juncture to heap praise on the sheer level of musical prowess on display here from all three members (there's another guy with them not on stage tonight who i'm sure used to be the second guitarist?) of AOBW though as it really is quite mind-boggling that they don't even seem to be playing at full stretch at any point. after about eight or nine songs they play their closer and at long last the boys stop and take their time with a riff. and what a fucking riff! if Flatlands had some BIG FUCKING RIFFS then this bastard is THE MOTHERFUCKER OF ALL BIG MOTHERFUCKING RIFFS building on itself becoming heavier and heavier before slamming to a close. the crowd start asking for more and at the request of BER drummer Carl (who by this point has been abandoned to be drunk in his workplace alone by his bandmates, shame on you lads...) they play one more song but whilst it explores a more open and dare i say delicate side to their song writing it simply can't stand against their previous effort but trust me, NOONE is complaining after the battering to the sense they have just provided and the 30 or so people left by the time the noise dies down are all in full voice showing their appreciation. suffice to say as soon as i have cash again i will be buying their freshly released new album. exceptional stuff.

all in all a fucking belter then with the added bonuses of me only having spent four quid all night and Alex and Adam were kind enough to give me a lift home!

Truckfighters/Suns Of Thunder/Dead Wolves @ Monkey Cafe, Swansea - 17/05/2006

well we here in Swansea appear to've gone from a lonely outpost of rock to a reasonably serious contender for 'up and coming new place to gig' in just a few short weeks with some fine bands coming out and tonight was no exception.

Shelley got flooded into her house so again i was on me tod but feeling slightly less concious of it this time round. on with the line up then, eh...

openers tonight are local band Dead Wolves who i've only recently found out about. i was very intrigued to see them live as the mp3's on MySpace show an interesting cross section of the 'heavy' spectrum combined cleverly into something more interesting. black metal and doom interspersed with long drone/sludge sections aren't necessarily uncommon but most bands seem to pick one and then show flourishes of the others whereas these guys seem more intent to display all influences evenly. live, however, these guys are all about the spirralling, psychadelic tinged doom and it's done so well i nearly faint. the set starts out as dead slow sludge drone (think Chargers more doomy moments) with roaring gravelly vocals (think Aaron Turner on early Isis) before just when you think it's gonna all get a bit much they would suddenly leap into an Electric Wizard style uptempo groove and keep you guessing the whole way through. the middle of the set lets the psychdoom of later day EW take full swing and my head is spinning as they chuck out blissed out heaviosity with consumate ease before collapsing back to sludgier fare for the set closer. they play for a suprisingly long time for an opener and everything on display here is excellent quality and obviously done with serious passion. all hail the riff, all revel in the sludge. fantastic stuff, even better than i'd hoped it would be.

a quick smoke and chat to the Suns boys and then it's back in for the next band.

now this time, i am gonna re-rant about the Suns Of Thunder properly as, frankly, they deserve it. plain and simple. the boys take to the stage in somewhat cocky form as they not only open with a new song that the audience is still only reasonably familiar with but then effortlessly turn it into a twenty minute jam fest that most bands would be more than happy with as a set closer, laying it down groove after groove whilst simultaneously dealing with a drumkit that's slowly but surely hopping forward (nearly two foot and very nearly straight off the riser) under the pounding Sam is giving it. again, just in the few short weeks since the Winnebago Deal gig, the band appear to have gotten tighter and stronger. the entire set becomes a four song jamathon of two new numbers, the ever popular 'Tenessee Smile' and a superb instrumental '...Time Part II' which it takes me nearly half of to realise it doesn't sound half as empty as it normally does when Maria isn't screaming her lungs out over the top because Keyboardist Ben is doing a damn near perfect synth impression of her on the sly. meanwhile, Adam's guitar work again blows me away as his sound gets rawer and his playing itself gets more and more intricately understated. Greg, of course, is effortlessly 100 percent RockStar head to toe (aided even more by the fact that he has to spend almost half the set with one foot on the riser trying to keep the drumkit from landing on his head in true '80's metal fashion) and his voice is sounding simply huge these days. i talk to Adam after the show and he laughs that "it wasn't really a gig, like... just more of a jam than anything really..." and i tell him that he's a cocky bastard and they're lucky they pulled it off but we both know well enough that there was never really any doubt and luck had very little to do with it.

we reach the finale of the evening and Swedish desert rockers Truckfighters get down to it. i'm thinking (as i so often do at these kind of gigs) that they're gonna have to try fucking hard to even make a dent on us after the pummelling we've already had by Dead Wolves and The Suns and wouldn't you believe it? they fucking level the place! there are two things that anyone would notice about this band immediately so i may as well start with them and then digress after. 1: their favourite bands are very clearly Kyuss and other desert rock icons in the Slo Burn/Karma To Burn etc mould. 2: for four blokes who're playing their eigth gig out of ten in ten days they are absolutely bursting with energy. the short haired guitarist especially pogo's like a nutter for the entire duration of the set leaping around the front of the stage area and the band as a whole play like men possessed. song wise, as i've said, i'm unfamiliar with the material but it's all here and every one a hit, occasionally they do stray a little too close to a riff you already know but generally they manage to keep their own stamp on everything and technically they simply can't be faulted, consumate musicians to a man they tear ferociously through the good length set. gradually it starts to feel like it's 'set closing piece' time and true to form the boys build at a steady pace upto a fantastic full on high point and then everything goes quiet rather quickly as for the first time in a long time a band doesn't drag the end of a song out forever with effects and feedback and the lights come back on and the crowd nearly forget to applaud for a few seconds we're all so surprised there's so little messing about.

the Truckfighters themselves look a little dissappointed with the crowds (as ever) rather nonchalent response compared to their own obvious passion and energy but remember boys, this is Swansea and we like to keep a little decorum round these parts but never you worry lads, when the entirity of Monkey's nodding it's head with a big ol' smile on their faces as we all were last night it means you ain't done bad. not too bad at all...

Winnebago Deal/Suns Of Thunder/Sextodecimo/Bomb The Sun@Monkey Cafe, Swansea - 03/05/2006

so this gig was a bit special for me for reasons other than the bands playing as this was the first time at the grand old age of 28 that i've ever been to a gig on my own! Shelley was ill in bed so it was left to me to amble down and partake of the riff-o-rama that tonight promised to be.

i get to the Monkey and feel a bit lost but fortunately the Suns boys are kind enough to look after me until the bands start and we have a smoke and a laugh until the first set opens up the nights festivities.

i've never seen local boys Bomb The Sun before but i've heard lots of good news and i can see why. as they limber up it's all there; the bottom end rumble, the blissed out grooves, the superb musicianship and sun drenched vibes are all in full effect. yep that's right, they're Kyuss through and through. try to imagine all your favourite bits from all your favourite Kyuss songs and condense them into a 25 minute downtempo jammathon and there you have the best description of Bomb The Sun available. this is, however, no bad thing by any stretch of the imagination. the singer definately isn't on a par with John Garcia but his guiatr playing is beautiful and the crowds are enraptured from the first chord to the last solo as these three lads turn Swansea into the southern Californian desert. not necessarily what you could call inspired but great stuff nonetheless!

another quick smoke and then it's oxford based Sextodecimo up next. another new experience and dear god what a wonderfully pleasant surprise! tonight was always gonna be about balls out groove so imagine my surprise when Sextodecimo sound like all the slowest, nastiest bits of Charger and Iron Monkey! Sludged out doom poors forth from the speakers (or at least would do if one of the guitarists could get his amp to work) and along with a howling screamer frontman in place they preceed to show Swansea what the word 'METAL' really means as shuffling-zombie-corpse slow riffs and massive amounts of gain batter the senses into submission. now these are the things that make my days that little bit happier and as the first song gets into its stride and the guitarist convinces his rig to behave itself they're already leaving very good impressions on me. the rest of Swansea, however, appear to disagree. one by one the audience dwindles away downstairs to the bar or out to the balcony and the room is virtually empty by the time the set draws to a feedback steeped climax. i'm actually almost embarrassed to cheer them once silence finally decends in case i'm the only person who does so. shame on you Swansea, you've been complaining no decent heavy bands come out here for ever and when they do you run away like pussies. i buy a cd (from the WD lads i think) and thank the guitarist when i bump into him on the stairs but it's quite clear that i'm possibly the first person to do so all night.

next are the Suns Of Thunder, there doesn't seem to be much point in me going over old ground again as you can just read the Launch Show review to hear me rant about how much i love these boys but, suffice to say, i'm astounded again at how much better these boys keep getting and the crowd are singing and dancing within the first few bars. shorter and minus the standard '...Time Pt. II' jam at the end due to time restraints, the set is no less belting than usual and a casual sense of accomplishment emmanates from Greg and Adam as they and their bandmates give us what we want, including some new songs that are slowly taking shape and getting under the skin. one particular highlight is that 'Tenesee Smile' gets it's first airing in what feels like years with a bit of a rejig to liven it up and make it fit better with the rest of the newer material. lovely.

tonight, however, is (and was always going to be) all about Winnebago Deal. these two oxford boys have certainly done well for themselves, both as two thirds of Mondo Generator and with a legion of devoted fans in their own right there's simply no denying the sheer levels of energy they generate. i remember the first time i saw WD a few years ago, it was my birthday and BigJon was up to visit and they blew me away. i also remember waiting at the end of the set for the bassist to leave the stage before realising they didn't have one. tonight they are no less astonishing and the crowd all feel the RAWK flowing out into the room and respond appropriately. songs from debut cd 'Plato e Plomo' in particular are met with sing alongs and pumping fists although again i'm slightly dissappointed that the room seems notably emptier than when the Suns were on. Swansea appears to have a very insular opinion of bands as even BTS appeared to have a better crowd than the headliners who were far supperior without even breaking a sweat (although, as ever, the WD boys certainly sweated!). i know it's late and a school night but how often do you get to see a band like this in a venue this tiny? seriously, i dispair...

anyway, the Winnebago Deal lads wrap it up and despite having just rocked Monkeys very foundations the crowd all call for more but everyone soon realises when the house lights come up that the whole reason The Deal are as good as they are is because they don't hold any back for the encore! i toddle home very happy with the bands but rather dissappointed with the crowd...

Discharge/Disorder/Black Eye Riot @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff - 30/03/2006

well well well... i'd been looking forward to this for a while simply coz BigJ was coming up and we'd get to hang out with the BER boys in person for a change but remember now folks, i'm not much one for punk so this is more a social occasion than a real gig (review) in my mind.

i meet BigJ from the bus stop after i finish work and we drop our stuff off with H to take back to the house and leg it off to the train. about 45 minutes later we're in Caaaaaaaaaaaardiv and it takes us about 25 minutes to find the sodding gig even though you can spit from the trainstation and hit it where we promptly bump into Dor from BER (or rather, whilst reversing the van he nearly bumps into us...) only to find out that Lee is ill and can't make it and the rest of them have only just turned up so we've got a bit of time for dinner.

a bugerking and 2 pints later and the doors open so we pop in. Dor has sorted the guestlist in Lee's abscence and we head for the bar at which point we bump into Stu who gives us the cd's with their latest studio recordings on from Lee. i'm far too chuffed, however, to notice that my case is empty whereas BigJ's has a cd in it until Dor points this out... we all have a laugh about this being typical of Lee to forget to put the cd in and typical of me to be the one who cops the empty case at which point we bump into BigBen and are astounded by how unbig he is these days and have a chat about him putting on The Evens in Swansea on monday and then i notice at least half of BER legging it in to the loo which is a sure sign they're about to go on stage as (like the true professionals they are) they all like a pre-emptive slash before a gig...

so Black Eye Riot get on stage whilst the club is still reasonably empty and (wether as a result of the whole Swansea/Cardiff thing or not) most people aren't paying a lot of attention until they open with 'Bitch Slap' from their recent split 7" with Charger and despite Lee's abscence get on with what they do best... putting the fear of god up un-expecting casual observers. me, BigJ and some random young lass are immediately fists in the air screaming along despite the fact that clearly none of us know many of the words and the shambolic Oi-Sludge-Doomcore preceeds to tear Cardiff the preverbial 'new one'. now i rant furiously about how much more Hardcore these boyo's are than most other bands saddled with that label these days but something i haven't mentioned is how much heavier they keep getting as well, even without Lee on second guitar they've still damn near pummelled the audience into submission within the first few songs and the rest of the audience is forced to start paying attention. add to this the great comedy that is The Willis and Dor Show (W: "this is a song called 'First Blood'. it's about my favourite film 'First Blood'." D: "It's fucking Saturday night fever Willis, you're not fooling anyone..." ) plus the bands inenviable ability to be doing everything right and it to still go wrong (most notable example being Stu hitting the Wah for his feedback solo only for it to suddenly all go a bit weird and proggy leading Dor and Willis to do a true comedy genius synchronised double take mid fist-in-the-air-comedy-punk-pose and Stu's resultant look of first abject confusion leading to mild embarrasment. priceless!). still, as the (fortunately quite lenghty for a support slot) set belts past them at full tilt including all the other tracks recorded for the split and a few of album 'No Hope, No Future, No Worries' highlights ('Bite The Snake' and the utterly monsterous 'Instinct' amongst them) before closing with their all time (for want of a better word) anthem 'The Cunt', the crowd are now paying a lot more attention. all in all, heavier, nastier, faster and above all else, more fun than most other stuff out there at the moment. fantastic.

Disorder... hmmmmm... how best to describe them... imagine you're in a east london squat somewhere in the region of twenty, twenty five odd years ago, there's a party and some lads have begged, borrowed and stolen equipment to play a few agit-prop-UK-hardcore-punk songs for the evenings entertainment. now keep the band exactly the same, give them a record contract and dump them in the here and now. doesn't sound like too good an idea, does it...? it wasn't. the main problem i have with bands like this is they do exactly what i've just described... ignore the last twenty years coz if they don't it means they never achieved anything from all they've tried to do. the fact that they clearly used to jam on Discharge songs doesn't help highlight their short comings. they're not bad per se... just... oh you get the idea. they have a few cider lovers dancing throughout but it's far from the beginnings of The Revolution they seem to be after. the fact that we missed their first few songs because we didn't notice any difference between the cd's being played inbetween bands and them is about the most level criticism i can manage.

Discharge step up next, confident that this is their crowd and they're right. from the off everyone is smiling, shouting along and dancing that little bouncy shimmy dance that old school punks are so fond of as they blast through what (i assume, i have no prior knowledge of either them or Disorder) is a much loved back catalogue of crustpunk classics with all the appropriate sneers and sloganeering and it's all more interesting than Disorder... er... just. basically, as i said at the start this really isn't gonna be a fair review as i have no real appreciation of this style of punk rock, or indeed, any old school UK punk rock for that matter. 'Never Mind The Bollocks... Here's The Sex Pistols' never changed my life, my dad wasn't a Clash or a Jam fan, basically... punk was, is and always will be a rather staid and uninteresting second cousin to Metal for me and frankly if i keep going i'm just gonna end up punkbashing for the sheer sake of it against two bands that have earned their stars well and had a genuine effect on (at least certain) parts of the UK musical landscape. i guess i really should remember that BER were all dancing to Discharge and Charger's logo is just Discharge's with the 'Dis' taken off and and extra 'r' stuck on the end. as a result i shall end by saying that Disorder were ok and Discharge were good but to remind you all, fair readers, that i own pretty much everything BER have released and nothing that Discharge have...

Suns Of Thunder Album Launch @ Monkey Cafe, Swansea - 08/03/2006

fair do's... it taken it's own sweet time coming mind, so has it been worth the wait... ?

after a good two years worth of struggling with line up changes, mastering and remastering the album only to then remaster it again and so on and so forth, finally 'The Last of the High Rollers' sees the light of day.

the launch is looking good as there are already a few people there when i turn up at 8 to meet Shell who's working the door tonight. after a slow start the door seriously picks up and it's awesome to see that after the Suns have been away for so long they can still pull serious numbers on the door at £3 a head.

the bands start a little later than expected (what... did you think they were going to get everything sorted on time?!) and Jecano open up and show us what they're made of. unfortunately, it appears they're nolonger made of any of the really good stuff they used to be. i was given a copy of the 3 track ep these London boys released about 2 years ago now and thought it was brilliant. massive grooves, heavy as you like with some frankly impeccable guitar work and when they played swansea early last year to a very appreciative crowd i was again much impressed. something unpleasant, however, appears to have happened in the mean time as tonight we're presented with a sub-standard Clutch clone trying to use gain and a slightly more shouty singer to compensate for the fact that they aren't, in fact, Clutch after all. this is not to say they were rubbish, far from it the musicianship was as exceptional as i was expecting with driving grooves aplenty. the set opener was impressive and the last song (predictably from the old ep...) is a belter culminating in a sludgerriffic two minute jam which is easily the best part of their set. it's such a shame for such promise to be wasted on lazy plaguarism though, the second song of their set in particular being almost note perfect to Clutch's '(In The Wake of) The Swollen Goat'. well presented definately but really must try harder.

now i haven't seen the Suns of Thunder in nearly a year now between me being poor/lazy and them playing once in a blue moon so personally i'm seriously looking forward to this although i'm also slightly worried by the fact that because they play so rarely at the moment it might show a little. add to that the possibly disasterous confusion that could arise from the use of dual-drummers throughout the set as Jake (original SoT drummer, now of Hondo Mclean) joins them for old times sake as additional drums backline.

the boys start slowly and they do appear slightly rusty and yes, sure enough, within minutes the two drummers appear to be confusing each other but the love Swansea has for these songs immediately stops worry in it's tracks and the crowd welcome these old friends back into their lives with a warm smile. within the first song and a half the two drummers have got this synchronisation lark sorted and the rest of the band can relax into what they do best: putting the 'rock' back into 'stoner rock'. there appears to be a real trend in a lot of 'stoner' bands nowadays to shy away from the full-on balls out approach (Jecano again seem stuck in this trap) whereas the Suns have never been affraid to put their money where their mouths are and kick out the preverbial jams as only God himself intended. swaggering comfortably through the material they're here to promote (and frankly they fucking should do considering how long these songs have been around now...) the boys are having lots of fun tonight and i honestly don't think i've seen them quite as on form as they are tonight, which is praise indeed considering the Suns really don't do bad gigs. clearly my belief that they were 'killing time' was deeply misfounded and they've been very active behind closed doors getting themselves ready. the keyboards are now a fully incorporated part of the soundscape and Adam and Gregs guitar work continues to improve and the interplay between them is also more cohesive than ever before as the one works with, rather than just around the other.

after what feels like a joyous lifetime of groooooooooooooooooooves the night reaches it climax in the shape of 'Under The Control Of Time Part II' and the lads are joined on stage by the oh so very lovely Maria to add her 'wailing pipes of doom' (as described in the liner notes) to this doom tinged tripout behemoth. now the boys normally play this as an instruemental and it's damn good then but i've also seen this done in it's true form (ie with Maria) once before and it damn near blew my tiny little mind but tonight it's simply on a different level and the entire audience is lost in the void for well over fifteen minutes of feedback and effects drenched glory as Maria does her very best impression of Bjork getting saucy with Electric Wizard, dazzling from start to finish.

the lights go up and everyone in the room is screaming the word 'more' at the top of their lungs but Adam's managed to knacker one of his cables and they've already played for plenty long enough so noone really grumbles when there's no encore and realistically i don't think they could've topped '...Time part II' anyway.

so the evening is over and i amble home for a quick smoke and then bed and whilst (if i'm honest) this may well be what i do most nights i think after the show tonight i may never quite be the same person again...

Corrosion Of Conformity/Clutch/Stinking Lizaveta @ The Coal Exchange, Cardiff - 15/01/2006

Once more into the breach my friends as Shelley's Christmas present to me creeps up on us unawares and suddenly we all have to jump in Foz's car and fuck off to Cardiff to have our respective socks rocked off us by three absolutely incredible bands.

but hold on there... i'm getting ahead of myself so let's start at the top shall we?

Foz, Shelley, Adam and myself make the drive to Cardiff in a cloud of weed smoke with BigJon's old stoner tape blaring to get us in the mood and despite not having the faintest idea how one actually get's to Cardiff bay, find the gig in decent time. just as we pull up (car parking like, right outside the venue, mind!) we see JR who informs us the que's fucking silly and as it's fucking freezing, everyone's in the pub just round the corner. we pile in and Shelley nearly faints when four pints cost her £12. we drink those with no real rush then amble into the gig probably about half way through the opening set.

now i for one have never even heard of openers Stinking Lizeveta before so have no idea what to expect but three near-fifty year olds including a female drummer playing crazy Zappa/Hendrix rock like it's doom and as if their very lives depended on it certainly took me by surprise i can tell you. the songs are all about ten minutes long and it's just mad, mad virtuosic instrumentalism from three people who clearly live their lives for this, played at full pelt start to finish with the three of them showing more life and passion than most bands half their age manage. jaw droppingly brilliant and definately well worth getting there early for though i would have to say that the highlight of their set was in fact the end of it as the guitarist hops off stage and grinds his guitar on the railings for feedback before giving his guitar over to a guy in the crowd. the guitar gets passed around a few blokes who bang it on stuff to make noise before it gets passed to Adam (who, as you may or may not know, plays lead guitar in Swansea's own groove monsters Suns of Thunder) who after a seconds deliberation straps it on and flies off into a fully fledged piece of axe heroism that not only fits in with what the SL guitarist had been playing but also (arguably) improves on it for a good five minutes with the other band members happily going hammer and tongs along with him. sensational stuff and easily one of the coolest things i've seen in many a year!

now don't get me wrong, but i have to say this... it may well say CoC at the top of the ticket and there are indeed an awful lot of CoC tshirts to be seen around the place but this is Wales and this is a stoner gig which means by default, it's Clutch's crowd.

from the second our heroes get on stage you can see they're ready for this. Clutch are arguably one of the only American bands i'm aware of who always play Wales every tour and tonights extravaganza is the opening night of said tour and as they launch into 'Exodus/Robot Hive' opener 'The Incomparable Mr. Flannery' it dawns on me that even though i have somewhat dismissed that album as a bit of a dissappointment compared to the previous three and have probably barely managed to listen to it about twenty times i'm still word perfect on almost all the songs they play tonight from it! the New World Samurai's themselves are nowhere near as stoned as the last time i saw them and it's all guns blazing as they do their timelessly glorious, glorious thing. as usual the set list is a perfect balance of old classics and new pretenders and the level of quality material is simply staggering, not once are they dull or pedestrian with narry a beat missed nor heart and soul not poured into every line, helped in no small way by the genuinely superb job done by the sound engineer giving a near album perfect sheen of quality to the already wonderful noise these southern gents are producing. the crowd response as the boys storm through such musical wonders as 'Pure Rock Fury', 'Mice and Gods', and the ever popular 'The Mob Goes Wild' is as rabid as ever and the handful of emo's and general teenagers scattered around the place all clearly shit themselves as they realise they're the only ones in the room who don't know every single word and there is much fun and dancing had by all. the set is a good length and ends with an extended 'Cyprus Grove', the now almost expected (but none the less brain meltingingly good) 'Big News I and II' medly/jamfest and all topped off with a blistering rendition of 'Elephant Riders' and the Neil Fallon-slide guitar-tastic 'Gravel Road'. as Fallon thanks the crowd and moves off stage the crowd is near orgasm and you can hear the sentence "CoC better do something impressive to beat that!" from more than one set of lips as you move around the hall.

Now as i've said already, playing after Clutch is an inenviable position to be in at the best of times so Corrosion of Conformity always stood a chance of being, at least to some degree, a dissappointment and this is not much helped from my point of view as i will always have a serious problem with this band, namely: 'Deliverance'.

now i love most stuff i've heard by CoC but i can't get past the fact that more or less every album they've released has had at least four or five songs in the middle that you can happily skip without missing too much. every album... except 'Deliverance', that is. that album, on the other hand sits oh so very comfortably within the warm bosom of my top ten albums of all time and is, in my opinion, damn near perfect from top to tail. as a result, CoC suffered from playing a very 'In The Arms Of God' heavy set despite clearly knowing that's not necessarily why people were there with Pepper himself commenting "C'mon motherfuckers, you all know the words to this one" for both the magnificent 'Albatross' and the rather unecessarily extended 'Clean My Wounds' (featuring a good ten minute long jam, bearing in mind how punchy a song that is i really can't see why they thought that was an appropriate juncture to noodle and after how effortless these breaks felt in both Clutch's and Stinking Lizaveta's sets it felt rather pained in the midst of an otherwise face melting classic such as this). none the less they throw themselves into it with true grit and although everyone's clearly still reeling from the Clutch juggernaut they get a respectable enough pit going throughout the majority of the set. there is a lot of support shown when Pepper briefly begins to discuss New Orleans and CoC are obviously also very happy to be back in the UK after such an extended leave of absence but i just couldn't shake the feeling of disappointment as, marvelously chuggy as it was, most of the set feels a little stunted and certainly not helping is the fact that the sound was nowhere near as good as Clutch's with Peppers beautifully soulfull (and totally underated) voice utterly mired in a barrage of unnecessary effects.

despite all my griping, however, CoC are still excellent and finish the night with the huge 'In The Arms Of God' title track, then the lights are on and it's time to leave.

so then it's back in the car for some more smoke and the enjoyable experience of Foz driving on the motorway at night. this is enjoyable coz Foz drives the way your mates cool dad did when you were a kid: considerate, careful and (on average) twenty to thirty miles an hour over the speed limit. i got home to find H miraculously still awake and watching a film so hooked up for one more joint then bed.

all in all, i'm about as happy with that as i could be...

ASBO Tour @ Camden Barfly, London - 06/11/2005

i've been looking forward to this tour ever since it was first arranged/announced and features the considerable talents and fine UK metal heritage of no less than three of my very favourite bands Charger, Black Eye Riot and Lazarus Blackstar, all of them Undergroove bands so please, understand that in absolutely no way is this an impartial observers review.

phew! glad i got that off my chest, now i can rant like the sad little fanboy i am, ha ha ha...

we turn up a bit early and make sure Ives has put us both on the guestlist and grab a pint, still chatting to all the other UG forum members/band members at which point BigJ knocks Mammoths pint flying and by the time we've sorted that it's upstairs for first band Lazarus Blackstar.

important fact #1 about LBS: they've produced one of the finest albums of the year in 'Revelations' and arguably one of the best doom albums for as long as most people can remember. important fact #2: the band is a victim of serious over-genre-isation, being referred to as 'crust', 'sludge' and fuck knows what else so let's not dick about here people... LBS are DOOM, pure and simple. slow, bassy as fuck, misanthropic and about as groovalicious as it comes. one term you tend to hear far too often in reference to heavy bands these days is 'bowel loosening' but even that doesn't do the boys from Bradford justice. try something along the lines of 'structurally damaging' for a more accurate mental picture. seriously, it's just as well these boys don't stand a chance of ever getting bigger than their own scene (BOO!!!) as they'd level cities in minutes with a serious sound system behind them... so anyway, as the set starts with the lolloping drums and bass line of album opener 'Revelations pt I' it's clear to all that noones gonna be able to hear the rest of the bands after these guys have finished. within these opening seven odd minutes i'm rocking out so much i already know my backs gonna be fucked again the next day. UK Metal legend Paul Catten's vocals are as impressive as ever above the wall of bass and guitars and he's clearly enjoying the freedom and room to manouvere that this slower material is allowing him compared to the other multitude of bands he's involved with. the boys crawl, iceburg slow, through a further three songs, all album highlights in the shape of 'Defaced Photograph', 'The tradgedy of the Monochrome Man' and finish on 'Revelations pt II' and as the wall of feedback heralds their exit the (disgustingly small, like worse than Swansea!) crowd all seem to snap out of some strange trance and look around rather stunned as if they don't know how they got here. truly glorious stuff.

i nip to the bog and promptly meet BER's Dex who has the coutesy to wash his hand before shaking mine (hand... shaking my hand!) and then Black Eye Riot in totallis get going on stage. now it should be remembered at this point that the boys are playing their fourth gig in four days which is more than they generally manage in an entire fucking year so they're all looking rather shattered and the wonderfully manic energy that Dex and Willis are renouned for is a bit lacking but non-the-less they start to get into it and those of us who know them well are fists pumping and shouting their lungs out before too long although i'd have to admit i'd have never thought i'd see a BER crowd look generally less interested than Swansea! crashing shambolically as per normal through a few newer numbers the set mostly draws from the bands belting 'No Hope, No Future, No Worries' cd including the absoluetly faultless 'Instict' before ending on crowd favourite 'The Cunt' from the older Taint split cd joined by Jay Charger and another guy i didn't recognise on vocals and everyone screams/air punches along with glee. now it would be irresponsible to not mention the main reason i love this band so much at this juncture so here goes: as everyone knows there is a massive ongoing debate as to what constitutes 'Hardcore' or one it's multitude of sub-genres nowadays and people rarely refer to BER in these terms which i think is a crying shame as i personally think their closer to what that word means than almost any of their contemporaries as they live and die by one simple premise: passion over proficiency. when hardcore punk started it was all about stripping back to the bare minimum and cutting out all the posturing and image to enjoy the pure blood and guts beauty of punk rock. BER stay truer to this ethos than any other accepted 'Hardcore' band around so remember that next time you're arguing with your mates about who's more scene/hXc than who. anyway, back on track. i'm glad to report that by the time they stagger off to the bar the huge beaming smiles usually seen on people leaving BER gigs are finally in place and the crowd is slowly starting to fill out to a more acceptable size.

final act of the night Charger start with the expected but no less impressive massive wall of feedback that evolves into new song 'The Amputee' and preceed to grind their way though a set of new gems and old crowd pleasers almost exclusively from 'Confessions of a man (Mad Enough To Live Amongst Beasts)'. somewhere between the last time i saw him halfway through BER's set and now, frontman Ives has apparantly gotten very drunk and looks deeply mean for the duration making everyone more than a little uncomfortable although the effect is somewhat spoiled by the fact that his flies are undone for the entire first song before he realises! much as i'd feared, personal favourite 'Carbon Wings' doesn't get an airing but there's no denying the ferocious intensity these boys display and the much loved Ives-wit rears it's ugly head once or twice, met with nervous laughter by those who don't know him that well (was that an Aids gag i heard there Martin?). after a good forty five minutes of sludgy, grindy riffing beauty the boys close with another newey, 'For All Intents And Purposes (You Are All Already Dead)' from the Birds of paradise split, showcasing them at their most doomy and Ives spends almost the entire song displaying once again how supple he is for a big lad in an almost impossible position on the floor amongst the ever more nervous crowd. it's a tribute to his abilities to be able to comfortably front a band perceived as having such a 'nasty' sound and/or vibe as Charger are that he can instill this reaction in well over fifty people after replacing a very well established singer (Tim), especially as the two splits only released days before the tour are the first recordings featuring him as vocalist and closes the show brilliantly.

as the lights come on, everyone looks around looking happyily all rocked out and whilst the bouncers are keen to kick everyone out you can tell that lots of us don't want to leave regardless of monday morning looming on the horizon and a deep sense of community is evident between bands and fans as each band has made great pains to state how much they've enjoyed the tour and all announce they will definately be doing this all again for longer next year.

on a personal note, i'd like to say again how cool it was to meet everyone from the UG boards at long last (bands and regulars) and i for one will definately be there when it all kicks off again for ASBO mark II. hopefully they'll play a little closer to home next time though...

Subverse All Ages Gig @ Camden Underworld, London - 06/11/2005

don't get excited, i haven't gone all scene on you...

this was billed as Architects and Shaped by Fate and was gonna be a nicely metal way to kill some time before the ASBO gig later that night just round the corner at the Barfly so me and BigJon turn up ready for a bit of hardcore goodness.

it's worth mentioning at this point that unless they went on first (unlikely), Architects didn't actually play which was a shame as everything i've heard has impressed me greatly but there you go.

anyway, there's a massive que of scenester teenagers outside when we turn up so we go for lunch first and as we walk in Shaped by Fate take the stage and fire into their set with gusto. i don't know a massive amount about the band other than what's on their MySpace page but the kids are instantly bouncing around and the band themselves are full of energy (although i can't deny i was dissappointed to see them all doing Hardcore-Dancing style scissor kicks etc throughout the set). sounding like a death metal tinged Botch, the welshlanders rage around for a good half hour or so of well constructed tech metal though i'd have to say nothing really grabs you by the balls in the way that all the bands i could mention as obvious influences would but then they do all look rather young so maybe they'll grow into it and what's on display is all of a high quality. arguably more enjoyable, however, is watching all the kids stage *ahem* 'diving' throughout the set. this envolves waiting til they reckon the crowd will catch them then laying down ontop of the outstretched hands. this did, however, lead to the highly satisfying sight of one lad standing there for ages til he was certain he was gonna be safe to promptly get caught, flipped over the top and pile-drivered face first into the floor. dear god i laughed for hours over that...

the next band i think were called Shortcut to Newark. they looked like The Ordinary Boys, they sounded like The Ordinary boys, needless to say the kids loved 'em and needless to say, me and BigJ went to the bar. as we came back in for their last song they had about twenty kids dancing on stage but this doesn't excuse them for being thoroughly fucking gash in my opinion...

final band on are called The Priscillas, all girl and all about 35 years old, it's not looking good. The singer looks like a poor mans susie sioux and the rest look like tubby courtney loves. predictably they sound like substandard Kenickie but are enjoying themselves and the girls in the audience are as well. strangely, their songs are very catchy and by the end of about the third song (about zombies! good effort that girl!) i'm enjoying myself a lot. they stroll confidently through their material and the set ends with a ticker tape cannon being fired across the stage/audience making everyone laugh and smile. much more fun than i was expecting and the whole thing was worth the effort simply for the looks on the 14 year old scenester girls faces as they were confronted with themselves in twenty years time. i'm fairly sure that at least a couple of them must've cried themselves to sleep that night.

all in all, i wasn't that gutted at having paid £3 to not get to see Architects...

Eden Maine/Lack @ RM's, Merthyr Tydfil - 28/05/2005

first of all, never trust directions off the internet to get you to Merthyr. lies, all lies...

still, we get there in the end after at least two major diversions, walk into the gig and are promptly told by a rather sheepish gig promoter that the bands haven't turned up yet but the pub downstairs is open if we'd be kind enough to hang about for a bit. mildly panicked by the idea that they're not gonna turn up after we've driven over from Swansea (yeah, i know it's not that far...) to see them we get a pint in and settle as best we can in the, it has to be said, deeply uncomfortable bar.

about an hour or so later with a crowd that has now swollen to the intimidating throng of a full fifteen people including myself and my two friends, Undergroove newbies Lack take to the stage. i'd never heard any of their stuff before and the news of their signing had been met with distinctly mixed responses on the UG forum so i wasn't sure what to expect. the words 'not getting my hopes up' would probably be the most appropriate.

the first song starts ok but certainly doesn't do all that much before it finishes some minutes later and that's probably the best summary i can give of the entire set. don't get me wrong, they're enjoyable enough and all the songs are well written but just really don't seem to go anywhere fast. that coupled with the diabolical sound in RMs (vocals? rythem guitar? hello...?) means that the set is enjoyable in nothing more than the most general, head nodding kinda way. that said, the only actual 'low point' of the set comes not from the music but rather from the vocalist first trying to flog their album then suddenly going off on an entirely uncalled for 'your taxes are paying for the bombs being dropped on Iraq' rant. baring in mind that me, my two friends, the five members of Eden Maine and possibly one or two of the bar staff are the only ones in the room old enough to actually pay tax it was a bit of an own goal... the long and short of all this is that i think i'd need to hear the album or see a decent gig before i can form an educated opinion.

Eden Maine, however, i'm very fond of and 'To You The First Star' has been on heavy rotation on my discman since finally getting round to buying it about two months ago. unfortunately they encounter problems before even playing a single note as the PA, albeit rather briefly, decides it doesn't want to play anymore. after the sound guys have spent a few minutes doing the whole 'shining a torch at it usually works' thing everythings back on and my first question of 'will they play 'The Hunter and The Hunted' is immediately answered as it opens the set. this makes me very happy as that song is about as good as Hardcore based music gets in my opinion, why so many bands end up sounding like Dillinger or Converge when they could write music like this will baffle me til my dying day.

tight, precise and putting in the effort despite the abject lack of an audience, the EM boys tear through their set sounding exactly the way a good live band should, ie, like the album but with the extra energy of a live show. tragically this is somewhat sabotaged by the again absolutely fucking horrendous sound. i don't know if the engineer was local or brought in with the bands but he was having serious problems either way. on top of all this, the only people there enjoying the show are me, my two friends and... er... Eden Maine (who themselves are understandably rapidly losing interest with playing to what realistically equates to an empty room) as, believe it or not, the crowd actually gets smaller after they start playing!!! now i'll admit i've never been to Merthyr before but from what i've seen and been told there is nothing better to do there on a saturday night than go the RMs rock night even if there isn't a band playing, let alone one as good as Eden Maine, so what the fuck was going on with this is beyond me.

after about five/six songs the sentence 'this is our last song' is muttered, far too early for my liking, into a microphone and they finish with album closer 'Disinformasia'. with one big final push they throw everything at it despite the total apathy that meets each chord and it builds and builds to a monsterous climax that leaves me ever so slightly shell-shocked but happier for it. predicatably, the first crowd enthusiasm shown all night comes from three teenage girls who descend on vocalist Adam the instant he steps off stage. mind you, having said that, my mate Shelley had admitted she was having difficulty concentrating as a result of those ridiculously tight jeans he was sporting...

i meet guitarist Phil and bassist Nick to thank them for the gig and i'd also promised to buy Phil a coke for reserving me tickets (oh the irony, how we laughed) and they're lovely guys which makes it that bit nicer again. i apologise on behalf of my adopted country's frankly pathetic turnout and they tell me it's exactly this reason that they'll only be doing supports for a while. i start getting misty eyed about how good 'To You The First Star' is and have to make my excuses and leave before i embarass myself any further.

in summary: Eden Maine deserved better than tonight. better sound, better support and a much better crowd.

i shouldn't really complain mind, it rocked whilst it lasted and at least they bothered to come out this fucking far in the first place, eh?

Clutch/Five Horse Jonson/Taint @ The Bierkeller, Bristol - 22/05/2005

tonight was many things, the first thing it was (for me at least) was closure.

until now i've successfully failed to see Taint support Clutch twice; once three years ago when Clutch played Swansea but turned up too late for Taint to open and then again about a year later when they played in TJ's at Newport but the trains don't run after 10.30 coz the welsh like to get drunk and fight each other at the weekends so we couldn't get back.

so after all this time we finally got Taint and Clutch on the same stage, Taint were as brilliant and focused as ever but played a ridiculously short half hour set (Jimbob would tell us later that they actually overran by a good ten minutes as well!) finishing with the exceptional twin barrells of 'I'm going to kill Henry Ford' and 'I Fulfil I'. the more i see this band the more i realise how incredibly singular Jimbob's vision of where the band should be is. it really is difficult to make a connection to another band around at the moment moving within the post-hardcore/doom scene that is handling the material in a similar fashion. great stuff, but we knew that before they'd even started playing.

Five Horse Jonson were a blank canvas to me before this as, despite hearing many a good word, i'd never had an opportunity to hear any of their stuff. tight, fun loving and with a fantastic piece of near virtuoso harmonica, they casually straddle the musical middle ground between Sixty Watt Shaman's straight ahead rawk and the more booty shakin', sometimes gospel, Black Crowes end of the Southern Rock spectrum and were very well received. there was, however, one small problem:

they aren't Clutch.

after Taint, who's technical ferocity bares little resemblance to the headliners musically, and before the New World Samurai's themselves, a good ol' Southern Rock band like 5HJ were only ever going to be very enjoyable filler. my foot was tapping and my head was nodding all the way through the set but i still couldn't help thinking that they should just do a Tim from Spaced and "Skip to the end...!". considering how long their set was as well i think Taint could've played another song or two without cutting into their time all that much. still, minor preference grumbles against an otherwise thoroughly solid performance.

and then Clutch came on, firing straight into Blast Tyrants opening gambit of 'Mercury' and 'Profits Of Doom'. immediately several hundred people were bouncing up and down, nodding their heads and singing along, word perfect to a man (or, indeed, woman, as the ladies were also in strong numbers). it goes to show how much this band have played these songs live and their confidence in themselves and their fans that a guaranteed crowd pleaser like 'Texan Book Of The Dead' with it's utter gibberish and yet still massively sing along (even by Clutch standards) chorus can be frittered away on the 3rd song of the show and noone be even remotely dissappointed.

tearing through one of the most wonderful back catalogues in rock (they didn't even bother to stop in between several of the songs for us to cheer!) the set was one triumph followed by another. 'Pure Rock Fury', 'Mob Goes Wild', 'Cypress Grove' and 'A Shogun Named Marcus' were all present and correct within the first half of the set before the boys from Maryland started breaking out the slower, more jam friendly songs in the second half. 'Ghost', 'Big News I & II' and, most notably, set closer 'Escape From The Prison Planet' all received the jam treatment, several of which spanning over twenty minutes.

the truly wonderful part of all of this being that at no point were they showing off. unlike other bands that have a tendency to do this sort of thing to prove a point, Clutch clearly jam simply coz they love their music and play it an awful lot so need to keep it fresh. it's easily a testament to their prowess that i couldn't remember til just before getting back to Swansea at half two this morning that the last song was 'Escape From...' because the jam was so long and free flowing i'd completely forgotten in the mean time.

only two complaints can be levelled at the Clutch live experience and neither is their own fault.

1. the vocals were far too quiet for most of the set.
2. it ended.

Special Mention should also go to a certain JP Gaster for the drumming perfection that he was displaying for both Clutch and 5HJ!

i've been looking forward to this gig for well over a month now, bouncing up and down with excitement like a child on christmas eve and i certainly wasn't dissappointed. i just really hope i don't have to wait another three years to see them again now is all...