KHODA + DRESSED TO KILL - Doghouse, Dundee 09-03-08
To paraphrase the guy who said it originally, "reports of the death of heavy rock are greatly exaggerated" as tonight's packed Doghouse, amply illustrated.
The main attraction was Dressed To Kill, a tribute band to heavy metal legends Kiss. Now I know there are those of you out there reading this who won't have the faintest idea who Kiss are (yes, after 35 years, they still play on). Well, Kiss came to prominence in the early seventies, playing commercial metal songs, but famous for their stage act in which all four members of the band were dressed almost as cartoon rock superheros, with faces completely painted to add to the effect. Their biggest breakthrough came when they released their first ever live album, at the time a double vinyl set, that not only sold by the million, not only still remains one of the classic metal albums of all time, but also paved the way for every metal band under the sun to want to release a live double album as a mark of acceptibility and respectability in the rest of the seventies. A while later, they had chart hits as singles, some of which became rock anthems, unmasked, remasked, reinvented and so on. Dressed To Kill are four guys who recreate the seventies glory days of Kiss, and do it absolutely immaculately. Across nearly two hours of full-on seventies rock, they play the pop anthems, the metal warrior classics and the purely Kiss gems, so that legends such as the strident "God Of Thunder", the driving "Detroit Rock City" and most of the first two sides of that live double album, were played with absolute respect, feeling and excitement. As well as the dresing, the band unleashed the customary effects - towers of fireworks, fire-breathing (which actually set off the venue's fire alarms!!), spitting blood, flames shooting out of the lead guitar and more. All in all, as spectacular a live set as they come and, visually, and to a degree, audibly, in a league of its own. That they return every year to a massively expectant Doghouse audience and never let them down, is a mark of their quality and playing.
Supporting them this time, were Dundee band Khoda. Due to spending a fair time being chatted to, I didn't catch all the set, but what I did catch sounded great. They'd seemed to have slowed things down a little, allowing the more stoner rock elements of what they do, to come more to the fore. This means that the vocal presence now really towers over the songs and you notice the quality even more, while the instrumental work spends a lot of its time in atmospheric metal mode, with the harder rocking dynamics making the more attacking parts sound even more potent. As a support to a Kiss cover band, they were way wrong, but as a band in its own right, still superb!