HELLCAT MOLLY, FROM GREAT HEIGHT, RAGE DC, RAPID HEART BEATS Live At The Gaff 14.12.09 (Gig Review)

HELLCAT MOLLY
FROM GREAT HEIGHT
RAGE DC
RAPID HEART BEATS

The Gaff, Holloway Road 14.12.09

RAPID HEART BEATS
Very talented rock duo, not a duo by choice as they lost their bassist, but they do make great music.

RAGE DC
As opposed to ruts dc??
This is typical old school proper punk rock, think ruts,damned and uk subs.Short sharpe punchy songs delivered with true conviction.

FROM GREAT HEIGHT
New drummer Tim has really helped push the band forward in terms of music and performance and despite being on such a mixed bill still pulled off a superb set.A great warm up for next weeks big xmas gig at the bull & gate.

HELLCAT MOLLY
Sort of hair metal but without the hair, a really good band fronted by David D'andrade a vocalist in the Coverdale style and with a great stage presence.A good fun and entertaining band with a lot of potential.

STU

RAPID HEART BEATS
RAGE DC

FROM GREAT HEIGHT

HELLCAT MOLLY

CAVALAR, VIRUS, FERAL, XENOCHORD Live At The Gaff 13.12.09 (Gig Review)

CAVALAR
VIRUS
FERAL
XENOCHORD

The Gaff, Holloway 13.12.09

XENOCHORD
Hells teeth!
Stunninng death metal with a progresssive edge, a perfect match of agression and
melody, truley awesome power is displayed on songs like 'Sunday Morning' and 'Absinthe'
and one of the coolest bass lines ever on 'delirium'.

FERAL
Playing one of their most relaxed and fun sets i have seen sometime, the melodic
thrashers and really coming into their own now, great songs flow with catchy riffs and
outstanding vocals.

VIRUS
Exactley one year ago the reborn Thrash legends Virus took to the stage at the rock
attic in streatham a little nervous and a handfull of old songs.So for their first anniversary they once more take the stage, this time full of confidence and armed with some new songs.

In many ways this is a different band, now the musicianship has found its level of
professionlism, they looked comfortable on the stage and put on their best performance
to date.
Whilst the old songs like 'Testify To Me' and 'Lunacy' remain crowd favourites and
classics of the genre it is the new songs such as 'Skulls Of My Enemies' which have
their attention now and the ones which define the band as a major force on the current
scene.

CAVALAR
When vocalist Luca takes to the stage he always manages to turn the room into a
stadium, its maybe a little difficult to explain but he is just such a fantastic
frontman (without a doubt the best frontman in rock full stop!) he gives this larger
than life performance.
Backed by the powerhouse drumming of Arn, fantastic bass playing from Max and jaw dropping guitaring from Dan, cavalar remain the best in their field.

I would like to add a personal note here and thank every member of each band for
playing this gig as part of my sons birthday celebrations, thank you guys it meant a
lot to me!!

STU

XENOCHORD

FERAL

VIRUS

CAVALAR

DEMAGOGUE, FIVE SECOND RULE, NEMHAIN Live At The Unicorn, Holloway 12.12.09 (Gig Review)

DEMAGOGUE
FIVE SECOND RULE
NEMHAIN

Unicorn, Holloway 12.12.09

This was a gig held for the joint birthdays of James (Chaosanct/Cradle Of Filth) and
Amber (Nemhain), hosted by Laura London.

NEMHAIN
The rock n roll plague acoustic version and what a version.This was nothing short of stunning, the acoustic arrangements of the rock songs really worked, I dont think i have ever heard Ambers voice sound some emotional before, she put over every song with pure class.
Both Lakis and Sam excelled themselves on guitar, Adrian managed to restrain himself
from hitting the drums hard and Lisa's mellow bass lines punctuated each song with
ease.

Perhaps the stand out song here was the cover of CCR's 'Bad Moon Rising' usually an
upbeat tune but now turned into a dark and moody downbeat goth/doom song with some
outstanding slide work from Sam who also did some amazing backing vocals as well.

FIVE SECOND RULE
You know what you are going to get when the guy in the white hat shouts "time for some
fucking rock n roll", you get a 30 minute party!
Tonights set was a little chaotic but the songs just carry through and get everyone
dancing and singing, the venue went crazy on the final song 'Ambition'.

DEMAGOGUE
A mixture of thrash/death metal but with some huge melodic elements make this
headlining set quite something to see.Demonic vocals and massive amounts of riffing created a wall of sound that had everybody headbanging.

STU

NEMHAIN

FIVE SECOND RULE

DEMAGOGUE

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

DECREPID - LIVE AT THE PURPLE TURTLE (Cd Review)

01.Born To Die

02.Sins Of Sodom

03.Avoiding Humanity

04.Devoted To Death

05.Kill Or Be Killed

06.Bloodlust

07.Sins Of Sodom

Cris Bassan (Vocals)

Danny Price (Guitar)

Steve Brennan (Guitar)

Marni (Bass)

Michael Dumett (Drums)

This band formed in 2005 as a thrash metal group but in 2008 they switched to a death metal style.This cd was recorded at the purple turtle in camden on the 24th of june this year, track 7 is a studio track recorded the previous month.

First thing to say is what an excellent quality recording this is, very well mixed.The music itself is typical of the genre but well executed, from the opener its full on with power laden riffs and fast drumming and screaming death growling vocals.

The studio track is relentless onslaught of agression, it simply does not let up for a second. perfect!

Rating 7/10

For fans of : Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under, Chaosanct, Infestation

STU

CARNAL RITES - REBIRTH (CD Review)

01.Take My Life

02.Serious

03.Manhunt

Simon Rice (vocals)

Robin Kirby (Guitar)

Neil Fraser (Guitar)

Rob Folkes (Bass)

Andy Bramley (Drums)

Reformed in january 2007 the band proclaim "We're a metal band from London that blends all types of metal together to produce a true, pounding metal sound. We are dedicated to our music and spreading the word of British metal".

'Take My Life' has a big sound, take melodic thrash metal, harmony backing vocals, maidenesque guitar riffs and solid vocals.
'Serious' is by far the best song here, with a punk/metal crossover feel and a catchy as hell chorus all backed with some furious drumming.Song also has some awesome guitar solos!
By 'Manhunt' i definatley get that feeling that this is quality metal with punk vocals.The shout it out "we're not gonna die tonight" is typical fist in the air stuff.

Rating 8/10

For fans of : Warfare, Megadeth, Children Of Bodom, Anti Nowhere League

STU

AFTER DEATH - EULOGY (Cd Review)

01.Rite Of Passage

02.Beyond Suffering

03.We Are The Now

04.Seeking Salvation

05.In Ruins

06.Spawned

Ken Do (Vocals)

Leon Villalba (Guitar/Keyboards)

Barry O'Connor (Drums/Vocals)

Marc Yacas (Guitar)

Timothy Kennelly (Bass)

Not the florida based black metal band but a london based metal group.

Formed by Marc, Barry and Leon in 2005, all of whom studied together at St Aloysius Secondary School and shared a great understanding of each others musicial interests.

In August 2009 After Death was joined by a fourth member Kendo who made a great addition to the band; bringing untold energy and intense screaming vocals and finally Tim joined on bass in september.

Awesome ambient fx and keyboard intro of 'Rite Of Passage'leads into a full on in your face onslaught, it actually borders on Black metal riffs and drums before blasting into metalcore/post hardcore metal.
The screaming vocals tear through you, but it is the powerhouse drumming and stunning backing vocals that sets this above the competition.

'We Are The Now' has a great anthemic feel to it, very catchy with the line "we're Running Out Of Patience" and the shout it out title, this has great commercial potential and should be released as a single or at least do a promo video for it, i think this song would be the one to get them noticed.

'In Ruins' is another stand out song, full of melody and with a defining riff throughout, sure its got screaming in it but again its the backing vocals that give it depth.

I had to smile at the last track, it just reminds me of Cradle Of Filth with its Dani like vocals, musically it has quite a bit in common as well, the song is about 2 minutes long as well.

Rating 7/10

For fans of : Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, Slipknot, Johnny Truant

STU