17/08/04 – Junktion 7 (Nottingham)
We arrived at J7 early this week, so we’d already made plenty of noise in the car park with our bongos and bugle (until we got shifted, so as not to annoy the idiots that don’t like noise, but moved next to the best live music venue in Nottingham…duh)
and had plenty to drink by the time the competition had started. So we were looking forward to a somewhat slightly more tuneful performance inside.
Birdbrain began this week’s battle, with a heavy mess of guitar and drums, this duo crashed straight into a frenzy of fast, stomping riffs mixed with interesting, funky breakdowns which really catches your attention.
The varied
and powerful drum beats drag the riotous, crunchy guitar riffs along as they switch beautifully into simpler, chilled-out moments. Birdbrain really know how to change moods, dropping the sound down at well timed moments, before bursting back in with
explosions of noise and energy.
The drums really carry the songs, using all the toms and double bass pedal to full effect, like a herd of insane elephants, they pound down vibrating the floors before stopping for air and letting the guitar take
centre stage again.
We don’t often hear instrumental music this heavy but Birdbrain not only have a original edge but also have the variety to their sound to keep it moving and stop it becoming boring. It all flows so well and like a giant snowball
rolling down a hill, it slowly grows until it engulfs everything in earshot.
From ‘I like feeling unstable but it doesn’t worry me’ to complete rampaging madness and doom, watching Birdbrain is a varied, interesting and exhausting ride.
After a really good start, the night was looking up as Long Guns take to the stage. They fire straight in with a deep and dirty mix of grunge and punk, with so much thick, scutty distortion that it is hard to hear the melodies. It’s
a droning mass of power and to be honest, it sounded very very similar to Nirvana’s early work until the vocals come in and sadly this is were the comparison ends.
They use repetitive hook lines to good effect making certain songs fairly infectious
but unfortunately neither the guitarist nor the bassist has a strong enough voice to really hold the songs together and after a few songs it becomes quite dull.
The riffs did have some imagination at times and some songs left a good enough
impression to show Long Guns have potential but they seemed nervous and even though the songs were played with passion, they lacked conviction and by the end of the set they were not flowing, were making bad mistakes and just looked shit scared!
There
was nothing wrong with their style and ideas but they really need more movement. A lively, charismatic and strong vocalist would do them the world of good.
By the time Without Eyes take to the stage, the depleted audience reflected what seemed to be the quietest night so far of the J7 2005 BOTB. Without eyes though provided a welcome punch in the face, and with masses of confidence and
charisma woke up the sleeping crowd.
The frontman had plenty of presence and hypnotised the audience, as the fierce, driving guitar riffs poured out and thumping bass and drums launch into a horde of white noise.
The vocal patterns deviated
between robotic verses, insane cackles and lung-wrecking screams that sounded like a small animal being castrated. This combined with the guitars which played in unison, gave Without Eyes real beef to their heavy, angry metal.
The whole band had
good movement and the guitarist flopped around the stage like he had been shot. It was a good performance and really got the crowd going again reminding us this was a rock gig!
The only sour point was that after a few songs they seemed to lack
variety and Without Eyes seemed to only do one emotion…angry.
Powerful songs played and performed really well, but some tempo changes, breakdowns and build-ups could have added more emotion. Still if you want to smash something up Without Eyes
provide a perfect background track.
After that lively performance, the final band Spirytus had to pull out all the stops, and that’s exactly what they did. Pulsating on to the stage, the lead vocalist has more movement than a pinball being smashed around its machine
by a young gentleman with A.D.D.
The manic drumming mixed with the heavy bone-crushing guitar and bass riffs produce a vortex of power and by injecting some softer moments, they know how to build up their songs into emotional mayhem.
The vocalist
sings with a deep growl that has a nice grunge feel before letting fly into grunting, intense screaming and ranting.
With passion and energy, Spirytus ooze confidence and the well played, flowing songs really capture the audience’s attention. This
attitude mixed with the passionate variety of metal make them really round off the night well and like Michael Schumacher its fast, furious and dangerous and goes up several gears at the perfect time, meaning tonight is going to be a close race.
Battle of the band 2005 Heat 7 winner were………Spirytus.
All the raw unedited images from the gig!.
