July 21, 2004
Balance Of Silence kicked off the night without hesitation, and within seconds you realised that their description of "tech metal" meant technical rather than technological. There were no samples or ridiculous effects, just awesome, grinding, kind of like 36 Crazyfists but much more complex, metal. Fast, and ever-changing bass filled drums, and long, typically American metal guitar solos, ensured that this band were the true definition of everything rocking. One disappointment was that the vocalist screamed through the majority of the songs, and although he was very good at this, it would have topped off their performance to hear some more singing, having said that there was some, but I don't think he concentrates training his voice for those parts, if you know what I mean. But with good crowd interaction between songs, plenty of movement from the frontman, and breath taking musical talent, these guys put on an excellent show, that, although being angry and aggressive, somehow managed to get you nodded you head, tapping you feet, and grinning stupidly, due to being in admiration at the sheer quality of the music.
Switch NX were up next with their punchy punk verging on emo, that you'd really love if you were 16 again. Complete with thrashing low hung Fenders, and repetitive simple bass lines, Switch are well structured, energetic, 3 chord punk. However they seemed to have a strange and anomalous seriousness to their performance and the lead guitarist didn't seem to be enjoying himself too much. The drummer put on an excellent show, with not a single mistake as far as we could tell anyway. The backing vocalist worked very well with the frontman and this filled a few gaping holes in their sound. Heart felt lyrics emphasised their serious edge, and with possible influences including Pulley, these guys have a gritty but not necessarily fresh sound.
Bringing on an attack to the senses Swound! are riot stirring, fast, bouncy, pounding punk rock perfect for a drunken shin-dig. With the three guitarists playing for most of the time as one, the drummer slapping in plenty of fills, and loud, distinctive, chunky bass, you haven't got a chance of ever making yourself heard above the noise violently vomiting forth from the amps. These guys may not be the best musicians around, but quite honestly I don't think they could give any more of a toss. That doesn't seem to be what Swound! are trying to achieve. It's all about the sheer quantity of entertainment that they can possibly conjure up and throw into your face. With strange attire and not one member that ever stopped moving, brilliant crowd interaction, and a frontman that so obviously thrives off being up there on stage, these guys are party all the way.
No Existence were the last band of the night, and kicked off with, loud thunderous bass and drums, thumping distorted guitars, but also the odd 60's style clean bright solo thrown in for good measure. Emo-esque and very good technically, but a little flat and uninteresting, their sound lacked creativity and variation, what they had was strong, just a little too monotonous. These guys seemed to have a decent sized following, and were popular with the audience. As for stage presence the frontman had ample enthusiasm, and managed to get the crowd going whenever the movement and noise seemed to subside, its just a shame that the rest of the band didn't appear to be supporting him and just stayed still, with the occasional glance in a crowd-ward direction.
A bit of a tough decision tonight, but it's Swound! that go through to the semis, bloody shirt and all. To see more pictures from this gig click here Review ~ Steph Photos ~ Andy 'Pyro' Butler
Written By Steph
Photos ~ Andy
