DUNDEE LIVE - BANDS TO WATCH!!
WITCHBLADE + CORE + EXCELLENT CADAVER - Hustlers 31-10-08
Halloween nights used to be the domain of SAZ-organised events. But, with that band on ice, tonight was the turn of Dead Earnest and what ensued was a hard rockin' Halloween Havoc. Costumes aplenty, from a she-devil to a Predator, a couple of pirates to several goth vamps and more, with bands alike capturing the flavours of the evening's visual fun. A sizeable audience also received a treat of three great bands. The evening started with Witchblade, a new heavy metal band from Dundee who were originally touted as a bit like Iron Maiden, but the more they perform, the more they seem to steer a course away from Classic Rock, more in favour of something much harder, in many ways a bridge between that style plus out and out hardcore metal. The songs have plenty of structure to them, but tend to come across more as memorable experiences rather than memorable songs. This means that you hear this huge blast of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals somewhere between hollered and sung, with a rhythm section bursting out of the speakers as though they can hardly be contained. It's a truly solid sound and yet at the end of it, you remember the whole band and how good they sounded, but even after now seeing them three times, it's hard to recall the songs. But it's early days and there's so much potential here, so persistence, you feel, may pay rewards.
Core, however, have no such problems. The trio have a set of songs and delivery that set them apart from every other rock and metal band in the city. Tonight wasn't the best performance I've heard from the band, largely since the sound of the bass drum and the bass sound in general, unusually for Hustlers, was muffled at best, practically absent at worst, and as I'm not technical, I've no idea why. This meant that some of the sheer impact the band has, was lost in the result. That said, they strode through a 35 minute set with power and precision, the bass guitar kind of booming while the lead guitar work, although a bit fuzzy, shone through. Vocally it was fine and the songs erupted as you'd expect. However, the real treat waas to come the following night for the excellent sounding set the band played at The Doghouse (see next review).
Excellent Cadaver headlined and they're rapidly progressing beyond the lack or memorability factor of Witchblade, but still yet to achieve the giddy heights of Core's material. Again, not surprising as the band haven't been around that long, which, when you think about it, makes it all the more amazing that they are turining in such quality performances. With two guitarists including the guy on the left as you look at the stage who tears leads and breaks out of the thing that are positively electrifying, there's a really dense sound to the band from which shards of soloing come flying out of the mass of molten riffing which tears from the PA like napalm fire. Eschewing the cliches of many hardcore and power metal bands, this lot stay on a structured path with roaring vocals that actually sound like real songs are at work rather than just some guy having his throat torn out. There are elements of all sorts of inlfuences at work in the band's performance, but remarkably, nothing you could point your finger towards and say "oh, that sounds like......", which is proabably both a blessing and a curse to the band at this moment, but nothing that's gonna stop the progression. To comment on the songs would be a bit unfair as I was doing the door and sisn't have my full concentration on them, but I liked what I heard even if I wasn't humming any of them later, although once again, you do feel that the realtively problematic sound on the night might also have had a lot to do with the fact that the band didn't seem to have the same impact as they have on previous occasions. Definitely a band on the rise and one to watch.
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