August 23, 2006
Sideshow
So the first 7 weeks have flown by and we are at the last heat of this years Battle of the Bands, the beginning of the end, and to kick Heat 8 off we have Sideshow. Sideshow are another band who fell at the first hurdle last year so will be hoping to do better this time around, and from the start I can see their sound has improved! The powerful drumming and deep brooding bass lines give their songs a lot of kick and beef and with the guitarist providing more dynamic moments they mix a dark grunge sound with elements of metal and punk, not to dissimilar to Foo Fighters but with a darker edge. They seem to be much tighter that last year and with some catchy riffs, they have improved massively. The vocalist mixes up Kurt Cobain style growls with more metal influences (the backing was shouty and had a Deftones and System of a Down feel at times) but it could of been more dominant, as it got lost in moments and lacked power. The bassist moved around quite well but I thought the guitarist had little presence and after a few songs a lack of diversity was evident, with many songs having similar structures and tempos. Sideshow have improved quite a bit since I saw them last and are now a tight and powerful heavy rock band with some very catchy tunes but they still need an original edge and to work on their stage act, still this was a good performance and should give them heart and a chance of going through.
Deny the Charge
Next are Deny the Charge, a band who I am told are playing there first gig here tonight. It starts off a little messy with fast, furious punky riffs and hardcore booming bass lines flying all over the place, but as the tight drumming sets the pace and the lively female singer starts to take centre stage this band start to grab our attention. The guitar and bass clatter along but are pretty tight and it is hard to put any label on their sound (which is a good thing I think). The vocals got drowned out a bit by the dirty guitar riffs at times but by using some interesting vocal patterns and building their sound up in energy and atmosphere they have power and kick. In some songs the vocalist uses a violin with some weird effects on which gives them a sort of Post-hardcore feel but once more they change tempo and dynamic so the style is truly quite unique. This band are quite interesting and I think this is what I liked about them, their riffs were messy, vocal patterns seemed random, them changed style and dynamic at random and all the instruments were fighting for centre stage….but they had power, presence, originality and the vocalist had one awesome scream! I really enjoyed Deny the Charges set, a band with real imagination and character.
http://www.myspace.com/denythecharge
Ambidextrous
Following that bout of energy we have a more chilled feel from 3 piece, Ambidextrous. The guitar riffs are really ambient and mellow with a atmospheric edge added by plenty of reverb and with the bass lines linking nicely, they build emotion well. The vocals mix a eerie style which sounded a bit like Placebo, Wannadies or Smashing Pumpkins but more chilled! Their riffs are well written and mix nice picking with catchy melodies and hooks, almost in a progressive way at times, again this band is hard to put a genre to, with indie, progressive, ambient, gothic, pop rock all being mingled together. The songs are based round simple ideas and structures but for a 3 piece they interlock their instruments quite well, sadly though at times it lacked depth and feeling. I felt Ambidextrous had about 3 or 4 very good songs which build well and had a catchy and original edge but I felt that half their set was made up of ‘album fillers’ which lacked any emotion and weren’t very tight, they also started sounding very similar and repetitive, hence I got bored. Given more time though the ideas were here and if they can get a little tighter and more confident then this band could become quite a unique and original, catchy band.
http://www.myspace.com/ambimusic
Hallow Ruin
Finally we have a thrash band from Mansfield, it is Hallowed Ruin. The fast, powerful thrash riffs kick in and the head banging starts but sadly I felt this band lacked umph for a thrash metal band. The influences were there, Metallica, Slayer, Maiden, Pantera but their sound didn’t have the beef I would expect. The vocals were a little boring and the patterns didn’t really inspire me but they used the backing fairly well. The riffs were good with obvious but powerful grating kick but I felt both guitarists played the same riff to often and more solos would have been nice, especially since when they did do their lead breaks they showed some great talent! The songs weren’t very tight either and the drummer looked scarred as he took to his kit. The set did get tighter as they went but there was nothing new about this band and sadly I have seen other thrash bands play this style with more vigor, passion and skill many times before. If this band want to go far they need to work on a more original edge and become much tighter, having said that the riffs were chunky and the lead breaks impressive but this was a very average thrash metal band which even the die hard head bangers got bored of and left before the end of their set.
The Winners of Heat 8 were Deny the Charge.
Reviewed by: Gaz and Steph
