MAN OF KIN - AND SO IT BEGINS... (Cd Review)

01.And So It Begins...

02.These 4 Walls

03.Disgrace

04.Overthrown

05.Self Righteous

06.The Unknown

07.Silver Lining

Jaz (Vocals)

Rob (Drums)

Carl (Bass)

Jon (Rhythm Guitar)

Aaron (Lead Guitar)

That 10 months from their debut album and the change of lead guitarists can have such a
profound effect on a band as to change their sound to a level of maturity that many
bands would strive for a decade to create is nothing short of genius.

That this disc is simply a limited edition pre mix demo for the fans is amazing when
you consider that the quality of these recordings is far superior than many an
overblown and over hyped release from so called "big bands".

'And So It Begins...' with a nice rhythmic drumming intro into a really punchy powerchord driven rocker with some great lyrics that nail the current philosophy of the band, "and take this all to where it should have been", perhaps proving a point that the band have now found their feet.As if to underline this new confidence and to herald the new sound we get to hear vocalist Jaz sing for the first time, sure the agression is there but half way through his coice sings out and he has a great voice, but thats not all for the soulful guitar work of Aaron just lifts the song to new levels.

The next song 'These 4 Walls' keeps the pace going with a drum driven metal onslaught and some neat little bass lines creep through.

If you want an anthemic fist in the air headbanger with a superb shout it out loud chorus then 'Disgrace' delivers on all counts, this would make an ideal single and has potential "hit" written all over it.

Evoking the moody thrash/metal of Megadeth and the mighty Judas Priest comes 'Overthrown', "it comes from the soul" screams Jaz and its an angry one but boy does it drive this motherfucker along!

The fastest track and the one that has most anger and swearing is 'Self Righteous', some great backing vocals on this as well.

'The Unknown' is an instant foot tapping head nodder, it just has this rhythm to it that gets to you straight away, its odd because the clean vocals on it make this sound like a Stone Sour song, which is no bad thing trust me.The second single i think.

Finally we come to 'Silver Lining' a fantastic melodic thrash song, again great vocals and superb guitar work come to the forefront of what has turned out to be a truly stunning cd.

Yes its the same band who gave you 'Primitive', 'Swear To God' etc but this is a totally different band in terms of writing, vocal approach and musical structure.The finished product will be out next May for everybody to buy, and it might just turn out to be one of the best british heavy metal albums you will hear.

STU

Rating 10/10

For Fans Of : Pantera, Megadeth, Stone Sour, Slayer, Judas Priest, Evile

MAN OF KIN, MAXDYMZ, KELLERMENCH, KARYBDIS Live At The Underworld 11.12.09 (Gig Review)

MAN OF KIN
MAXDYMYZ
KELLERMENCH
KARYBDIS

Underworld, Camden 11.12.09

KARYBDIS
Generic death metal performed with quality musicians and delivered with real enthusiasm.

KELLERMENCH
Danish alternative rock group may be big stars where they come from but frankley they bored the hell out of me, mixing styles with piano and violins can be done well but not by this lot, just boring!

MAXDYMYZ
Industrial metal band without live sampling, so just a straight metal band then?
Not bad in terms of performance and the songs were fairly catchy but nothing to rave over.

MAN OF KIN
Ahh thank fuck a good band to watch at last!
This was something of a transition gig for the london metal band, for their headline show they opted to perform a set of new songs bar one 'Russian Roulette'.
Very few bands can pull this off, when you headline you normally give the fans the ones they know, but mainman Jaz was convinced he could put the new set over and backed by top notch musicians the confidence was high.
Well i have to say it was an impressive set and it went down an absolute storm and whats more the audience were actually singing along by the second chorus of each song!
The new songs are really good and judging by the reaction will be a huge hit with fans all over the country.

STU

KARYBDIS

KELLERMENCH

MAXDYMZ

MAN OF KIN

SEPTEMBER GIG FLYERS

Right straight after this gig go to the scala and you will catch mallory knox,nemhain,generation graveyard and feral.

MAN OF KIN, KYRBGRINDER, FERAL, LAND OF KANE Live At The Underworld 30.07.09 (Gig Review)

MAN OF KIN
KYRBGRINDER
FERAL
LAND OF KANE

Underworld, Camden 30.07.09

LAND OF KANE
The band features Aaron from Kyrbgrinder on lead guitar, they realy warmed up the audience and threw everything into their set.With a really good vocalist who reminded me of Paul DiAnno and Dave Wyndorf, as well as a solid rhythm section, all helped push their take on traditional heavy metal well above the average and worth checking out again.

FERAL
Bassist james quit the band the night before, should have been a disaster right?What happend was nothing short of brilliant, Man Of Kin's bassist Carl learned their set in a couple of hours and was note perfect, in fact his style of playing gave the songs a new edge that may have surprised everyone including the band.They played a short set but it was one of the most intense performances of their career to date, not one fuck up from any of them.

KYRBGRINDER
If its entertaiment and pure professionalisim wrapped up with top rate musicians and perfect melodic hard rock songs you want, then you need look no further than Kyrbgrinder.
Its a crime that so many shitty emo/alt bands get the publicity in the press when real talent such as this is ignored.
Every songs kicks and the audience loved every second, a stage invasion from the other bands for a mass headbanging session rounded off a stunning set.

MAN OF KIN
A year ago you would have said "Who?" tonight you would would have said "Wow".Their performances are always full of energy but tonight they excelled and proved to be a world class act that deserves major label attention now.From the opening drum beats to the final guitar chord they slayed a packed underworld, their groove/thrash metal turning normal headbangers into slam dancing crazies, add to that 2 circle pits and moshing you would think Devildriver were playing.
Vocalist Jaz introduced another new song to the set and put some real singing into the mix of his ususal screams and growls.
Having completed their set they were called back for an encore and finished off the crowd and venue with their metal medley.

STU

LAND OF KANE


FERAL

KYRBGRINDER

MAN OF KIN

A Couple more gig flyers for July

AFFLUENZA, 9BLIND, FROM GREAT HEIGHT, MAN OF KIN,D.MONIC Live At The Gaff 03.07.09 (Gig Review)

AFFLUENZA
9BLIND
FROM GREAT HEIGHT
MAN OF KIN
D.MONIC

The Gaff, Holloway Road July 3rd

D.MONIC
What a way to kick off a friday, this is some serious punked up metal fury delivered with some style.Take early AFI and mix it up with the Misfits and early Nirvana then give it that unique "London" twist and you have one helluva band.Caked in blood (Which i didnt notice at the time due to poor eyesight and wearing shades!!).They blew the place away and got everybody rocking from the first chord to the last.

MAN OF KIN
They may have been on earlier than they are used to but they still delivered a headline quality set, almost every song in their set is now rapidly heading towards the phrase "classic" and with audience participation throughout, it would seem that (at the moment at least) they can do no wrong.They do a great covers medley again (with the exception of bloody metallica) and the new song 'Sequence Of Lies' is growing on me already.

FROM GREAT HEIGHT
They may have shocked a few tonight, their brand of Metal is clearly marked Prog with vocalist Adam paying his respects to Peter Gabriel, but fuck these guys are good, and i mean really good, not only do they excell at what they do but they do it with a class that sets them way above any in their chosen field.
But dont think that this was all 'intresting' (As my black metal loving friend Kyron said) or "too intelligent for a metal gig" as i overheard someone else say, because they entertained and there was some headbanging (hooray :).
We got a new song debuted tonight called 'It Died A Quiet Death' and they ended their set with the awesome "Initial".

9BLIND
The third Enfield act on the bill tonight and representing a different musical genre as well, this time shouty in-your-face hardcore metal.These guys were like a bomb going off, you see after FGH everything was nice and calm then "Bang" people jumpimg around, mosh pits and lots of shouting.Performing with hi-energy songs they seem to play for a single purpose "FUN" and they deliver 100%
They ended their set with a cover of (Bloody) metallica's 'Memory Remains' and they did it very well and got everybody singing the Marianne Faithfull "La La's".

AFFLUENZA
Headlining set from the band who never put a foot wrong, tonight they started with a new song, normally a dangerous move for this lot, no problem.Just another great performance, it was however noticable that singer Al was somewhat possessed tonight by "The Claw" he did however manage to find the demon and pull off his best on stage performance for sometime.
Just love those songs "Dead Days","Affluenza Strain" and "Scorched Earth Policy" every time i hear them played, the guitar, bass and drums is just perfect.

STU

D.MONIC

MAN OF KIN

FROM GREAT HEIGHT

9BLIND

AFFLUENZA

MAN OF KIN,FERAL,MUTED,HOSTILE DAWN,FINISH HIM Live At The Gaff 28.06.09 (Gig Review)

MAN OF KIN
FERAL
MUTED
HOSTILE DAWN
FINISH HIM

THe Gaff, Holloway Road 28.06.09

FINISH HIM
Alternative/hardcore is the last type of music that i would ever bother listening too, but these guys have a "something" that puts them a mile above that enter shikari crap.They are entertaining and very 'in your face' with all band members (except the drummer) heading off into the audience.We were treatred to screams, occasional blastbeats, sing-a-longs, hip hop/disco samples and water pistol fights!!!!

HOSTILE DAWN
Heavy as fuck and armed with some serious slabs of riff laden metal tunes to make you bash your head and drink beer.
Its energetic and delivered with precision and rounded off with some good (for a change) shouty vocals.Tonight saw the debut of a new song beautifully titled 'Mouth Closed Money Shot' and if you will excuse the pun it went down well.

MUTED
There may have been a little tension within the band on stage, but their performance came over well to the audience who loved every thrash drenched second of it!Plenty of headbanging and cheers greeted each song and they put themselves over really well.

FERAL
Tonight they decided to throw away the set list and just play some songs in any order.They played well, the new song sounding better than the previous day and they ended with a great version of 'Roadhouse Blues'.

MAN OF KIN
The prospect of "Smooth Banana" showing its ugly head had cast a shadow for me before they even took to the stage, but i was still prepared to give them a fair chance.....

I have no idea what happend on that stage tonight but Jaz and his metal mobsters were totally "on fire" it was without a doubt a stunning performance and a masterclass in entertainment.

From the opening song 'I Swear To God' the crowd was inspired to headbang, mosh, dance, stage dive and form human pyramids!!!!!

A new song was unveiled tonight called 'Sequence Of Lies' and it shows a definite progression in all respects from music/writing and more intrestingly vocals, for this song has a slow atmospheric start with Jaz actually singing softley and he has a great voice, one which i hope he will use more in the future, aggressive shouty vocals are fine but think Burton C.Bell (fear factory) or Dave Kutcha (chaosanct) and the possibilities are endless.

Later in the set we are treated to a medley with the obligatory (And getting VERY boring) Metallica cover but on a better note Motorheads 'The Game' and rather cheekley Ferals 'Truth Is Lies'.

This is followed by 'Dont Let The Bastards Grind You Down', now this is a great song, but it has been ruined by a yellowish cult (No not Spongebob!), im talking about "Smooth Banana".Someone even brought a fake banana and gave it to Jaz, and sure enough during the song the entire venue except one : ME! joined in singing the evil mantra.

Order was restored for the final song when joined by Martin from feral on stage for the anthemic modern metal classic 'Primitive'.
A flawless performance and the best show i have ever seen them play.

STU

FINISH HIM

HOSTILE DAWN

MUTED

FERAL

MAN OF KIN

JULY GIG FLYERS