Roisin Dubh
30/4/10
PAUL O' REILLY opened up this gig. I've only seen bits of him live on youtube and I enjoyed what I heard, and live I found his set a little too intimate for the size of the room.
a lot of people were talking over him, even those at the front who had gathered during set up, which really bugged me as I found it really hard to make out Paul's set, which was great nonetheless.
MARK LANEGAN came on stage at half nine(ish), at this time, it was basically find your spot and guard it, because the place was absolutely jammed.
Opener "When your number isn't up" from "Bubblegum" started it all nicely, "One way street" and "No easy answer" were great to hear, and "Don't forget me" was fantastic.
Sadly I was stood next to a bunch of loud drunks, badly singing through the songs they knew and talking loudly over everything.
Talk during a full band if you have to, but one fella and a guitarist? For fucks sake.
"One hundred days" one of my most favourite Lanegan tunes, was ruined by the yappy lady and her singing friends, but luckily they had closed their traps by the time he went through "Traveller" from the last/final Screaming Trees album. I was pretty sure he wouldn't touch any Screaming Trees material, so it was a nice, moving surprise.
He closed with the Desert sessions/QOTSA'S "Hanging tree" which got the biggest applause from the crowd, and a singalong, all in all a mindblowing show, Mark Lanegan has to be one of my all time favourite artists, I reckon he doesn't get the credit he deserves, plus I found writing a review of this would be pointless seeing as I can't seem to falt him live or otherwise.
I couldn't afford Dublin the night before, if I could, I would of gone, so it was great to get the second oppurtunity to see him ten minutes from my house, this was a blinding show, and has provided me with a number of drunken memories...
Griff
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Cathedral/Church of Misery/Gates of Slumber
The Village
Dublin
27/4/10
Hopped on the bus with the lovely Nicola for this. Been a long time since I've taken a bus and when I get on one I always end up looking like some kind of lopsided Octopus trying to get comfortable.
We entered The Village during what I could only guess was halfway through THE GATES OF SLUMBERS' set.
Slumber play old school metal, think Venom, Celtic Frost Morbid tales era, crossed with a fuck load of Saint Vitus especially in the fuzzy guitar tone, and the vocals.
I liked them, but they tended to drag on a bit, plus the ropey sound didn't help an awful lot, a lot of the time I found the drums taking over everything.
Watching CHURCH OF MISERY is like hopping into a time machine and fucking off back to the Seventies, these lads clearly have a boner for Sabbath, The guitarist is wearing flares and a large silver crucifix necklace and looks a lot like David St Hubbins, plus the T shirts I saw from them at the merch desk even bare the Sabbath Devil logo.
A lot of their set tended to drag on into the bluesy Doom jam thing, there's a little Sleep thrown in amongst it all, and a lot of Dodgy posing coming from the singer (sure you'll have that) good enough overall, but not enough to keep me interested, I'd probably dig it a lot more on record.
The last time I saw CATHEDRAL was at Hellfest last year, in a massive tent, packed to the rafters, drunk, dying of what I could only imagine was heatstroke and rubbing elbows with a lot of hairy French metallers.
There was a massive build up in my head for that set, seeing as Cathedral are one of my most favourite bands ever, one of the many bands that got me playing in a Doom band yadda yadda so this could be nothing more than genius right? WRONG
To shorten this, the set was half arsed, band didn't seem into it, Nicola pointed out one of the band members yawning, atmosphere was shite, so.........
It was great to see them back on form, leaving out a lot of questionable material, but hearing Lee Dorrian speak the words "FREAKS AND LEPERS STEP RIGHT UP... THE CARNIVAL... BIZARRE!" will rank amongst the happiest moments of my life, seeing as its one of my all time favourite Cathedral tracks.
"Ride" and "Serpents eve" were both epic, and "North Berwick witch trials" was ridiculously rocking, with some deadly stage moves from Dorrian.
The only downer for me was the new material. Ok, I wasn't expecting them to leave any of it out seeing as they have just released a double album, but this gig was the first place I was going to hear it, and frankly, it was a little dodgy.
"Death of an anarchist" and a song I didn't catch the name of, something about cats went down like a led balloon in my head, I couldn't get into it at all.
I don't usually like hearing people after they go to see a band live on the back of a new album and complain when they play all new material and leave out the oldies, but tonight I got a little insight into that, perhaps they could of chosen their setlist a little more carefully, but asides from the newer material, this was fantastic, if only they could come to Galway somehow next time.
We left early in order to catch the Quarter past eleven Go bus and get food. At this time they were encoring with "Corpsecycle" so I didn't really mind leaving. Then I found out they also played Hopkins, fuck my fucking life.
That and the Go bus drove off on us, leaving us on a doorstep in the on and off rain until one, leading to a very delirious nights sleep, good times.
Griff
Dublin
27/4/10
Hopped on the bus with the lovely Nicola for this. Been a long time since I've taken a bus and when I get on one I always end up looking like some kind of lopsided Octopus trying to get comfortable.
We entered The Village during what I could only guess was halfway through THE GATES OF SLUMBERS' set.
Slumber play old school metal, think Venom, Celtic Frost Morbid tales era, crossed with a fuck load of Saint Vitus especially in the fuzzy guitar tone, and the vocals.
I liked them, but they tended to drag on a bit, plus the ropey sound didn't help an awful lot, a lot of the time I found the drums taking over everything.
Watching CHURCH OF MISERY is like hopping into a time machine and fucking off back to the Seventies, these lads clearly have a boner for Sabbath, The guitarist is wearing flares and a large silver crucifix necklace and looks a lot like David St Hubbins, plus the T shirts I saw from them at the merch desk even bare the Sabbath Devil logo.
A lot of their set tended to drag on into the bluesy Doom jam thing, there's a little Sleep thrown in amongst it all, and a lot of Dodgy posing coming from the singer (sure you'll have that) good enough overall, but not enough to keep me interested, I'd probably dig it a lot more on record.
The last time I saw CATHEDRAL was at Hellfest last year, in a massive tent, packed to the rafters, drunk, dying of what I could only imagine was heatstroke and rubbing elbows with a lot of hairy French metallers.
There was a massive build up in my head for that set, seeing as Cathedral are one of my most favourite bands ever, one of the many bands that got me playing in a Doom band yadda yadda so this could be nothing more than genius right? WRONG
To shorten this, the set was half arsed, band didn't seem into it, Nicola pointed out one of the band members yawning, atmosphere was shite, so.........
It was great to see them back on form, leaving out a lot of questionable material, but hearing Lee Dorrian speak the words "FREAKS AND LEPERS STEP RIGHT UP... THE CARNIVAL... BIZARRE!" will rank amongst the happiest moments of my life, seeing as its one of my all time favourite Cathedral tracks.
"Ride" and "Serpents eve" were both epic, and "North Berwick witch trials" was ridiculously rocking, with some deadly stage moves from Dorrian.
The only downer for me was the new material. Ok, I wasn't expecting them to leave any of it out seeing as they have just released a double album, but this gig was the first place I was going to hear it, and frankly, it was a little dodgy.
"Death of an anarchist" and a song I didn't catch the name of, something about cats went down like a led balloon in my head, I couldn't get into it at all.
I don't usually like hearing people after they go to see a band live on the back of a new album and complain when they play all new material and leave out the oldies, but tonight I got a little insight into that, perhaps they could of chosen their setlist a little more carefully, but asides from the newer material, this was fantastic, if only they could come to Galway somehow next time.
We left early in order to catch the Quarter past eleven Go bus and get food. At this time they were encoring with "Corpsecycle" so I didn't really mind leaving. Then I found out they also played Hopkins, fuck my fucking life.
That and the Go bus drove off on us, leaving us on a doorstep in the on and off rain until one, leading to a very delirious nights sleep, good times.
Griff
Monday, April 26, 2010
Musicians wanted
Bassist and drummer needed for Thrash/hardcore/crossover band.
In the vein of Cryptic slaughter, DRI, Poison Idea, Ceremony, SSS...
Must be good enough and availabe to Practice, gig, record, tour etc
Contact
sololamb36@live.com
In the vein of Cryptic slaughter, DRI, Poison Idea, Ceremony, SSS...
Must be good enough and availabe to Practice, gig, record, tour etc
Contact
sololamb36@live.com
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Duncore
The accelerators
Beanz on toast
Neifenbach
Antitrust
Stick around
Forced Under
Dumore town hall
Tuam
All ages
23/04/10
Manged to get to Dunmore in the end with Class D.arren and a drunken Cian in tow, had a few problems with directions but made it in the end to catch the last half of the first band.
This was FORCED UNDER'S first gig, you could tell they had the jitters but they pulled through it all nicely, there was a Blink 182 cover I'm glad I missed because the rest of the set went off into a more Oi, street punk direction, they also threw in a Cut the Reins cover that got everyone dancing, not bad as far as first gigs go, plus the singer had a fucking voice on him.
the sound was a lot better for STICK AROUND this time which was good because it gave me a chance to get a proper listen to the arrangments of their tunes, singer Dave dedicated a song to "anyone here who has a girlfriend or a boyfriend" which made me feel bad for the single folk, or anyone who had just been dumped.
ANTITRUST were up next and suffered a little at the start due to lead problems but got moving soon after, sadly at this point a lot of the crowd had fecked off outside.
NEIFENBACH played to a full room, which pretty much dispersed towards the middle of the set, Dunmore musn't like their heft, they were tight as always and tore through their set pretty quickly I thought, maybe it was the booze.
BEANZ ON TOAST dragged everybody back inside two stepping and dancing to their rocking, happy out blend of Street punk and roll.
I hadn't seen these lads since their set at the last Nuns island gig which I thought was a little ropey, but it was nice to see then back on form.
I wasn't too sure if I was going to like THE ACCLERATORS that much, I had seen one video on you tube, their song "I'm not sorry" which I now love, it made me think a lot of another wasted night era Gang green, but I had trouble finding a myspace or any proper recordings, but once they got going the whole room pretty much exploded, which was good, because they soundchecked to about three or four people.
From what I remember of the set it was pretty much good old school punk rock, catchy, reocking, some nice choruses, the rest of the set for me was spent up in the air corwdsurfing, moshing, and pretty much acting like a kid again, good times.
I've always enjoyed every Dunmore, and this was no different. It's good to have at least one all ages venue in Galway that's easily approachable, and doesn't make you feel like a dirty old man for wanting to come along and watch some bands (I'm looking at you Gaff)
The back room also made the whole thing a little more intimate, I'm definatly looking forward to the next one.
Griff
Beanz on toast
Neifenbach
Antitrust
Stick around
Forced Under
Dumore town hall
Tuam
All ages
23/04/10
Manged to get to Dunmore in the end with Class D.arren and a drunken Cian in tow, had a few problems with directions but made it in the end to catch the last half of the first band.
This was FORCED UNDER'S first gig, you could tell they had the jitters but they pulled through it all nicely, there was a Blink 182 cover I'm glad I missed because the rest of the set went off into a more Oi, street punk direction, they also threw in a Cut the Reins cover that got everyone dancing, not bad as far as first gigs go, plus the singer had a fucking voice on him.
the sound was a lot better for STICK AROUND this time which was good because it gave me a chance to get a proper listen to the arrangments of their tunes, singer Dave dedicated a song to "anyone here who has a girlfriend or a boyfriend" which made me feel bad for the single folk, or anyone who had just been dumped.
ANTITRUST were up next and suffered a little at the start due to lead problems but got moving soon after, sadly at this point a lot of the crowd had fecked off outside.
NEIFENBACH played to a full room, which pretty much dispersed towards the middle of the set, Dunmore musn't like their heft, they were tight as always and tore through their set pretty quickly I thought, maybe it was the booze.
BEANZ ON TOAST dragged everybody back inside two stepping and dancing to their rocking, happy out blend of Street punk and roll.
I hadn't seen these lads since their set at the last Nuns island gig which I thought was a little ropey, but it was nice to see then back on form.
I wasn't too sure if I was going to like THE ACCLERATORS that much, I had seen one video on you tube, their song "I'm not sorry" which I now love, it made me think a lot of another wasted night era Gang green, but I had trouble finding a myspace or any proper recordings, but once they got going the whole room pretty much exploded, which was good, because they soundchecked to about three or four people.
From what I remember of the set it was pretty much good old school punk rock, catchy, reocking, some nice choruses, the rest of the set for me was spent up in the air corwdsurfing, moshing, and pretty much acting like a kid again, good times.
I've always enjoyed every Dunmore, and this was no different. It's good to have at least one all ages venue in Galway that's easily approachable, and doesn't make you feel like a dirty old man for wanting to come along and watch some bands (I'm looking at you Gaff)
The back room also made the whole thing a little more intimate, I'm definatly looking forward to the next one.
Griff
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Neifenbach- Reason will falter
Neifenbach are a five piece (insert your mash up of genres here)core band from Galway city, they have been on the go since late 2008 and have taken up slots with the likes of Bane, Gama bomb and The Ocean.
Reason will Falter is their first offering, a seven track stomper that crosses Thrashy, crusty hardcore and metal respectively without it turning to lame metalcore drivel.
Openers "Trapped in life" and "Hidden in plain sight" mix epicness and hardcore with the greatest of ease, whereas "30-05-04" and "A.F.R." delve into a little bit of beat down hardcore nastiness.
"Rats in the walls" boasts a mental all over the place riff that takes over towards the end, "House of lies" is a perfect closer, with a delicious blasty moment that makes me think of Tombs, it has everything you could want, including a little sneaky forty second screamer at the end.
The vocals ditch the constant scream found in a lot of modern hardcore bands in favour of a more direct, spiteful growl, with lyrics that are deep, imaginative, punchy and at times sad and as far away from the crappy self help sloganeering, tough guy hardcore as you can get.
My only gripe with the recording would be, at times a few of these riffs come across as Only fumes and corpses cast offs, not a bad thing, I just find it a little distracting.
This is a recording that does their energetic gigs every bit of justice, if they are playing near you soon, go and see them and pick this up.
www.myspace.com/neifenbach
Griff
Reason will Falter is their first offering, a seven track stomper that crosses Thrashy, crusty hardcore and metal respectively without it turning to lame metalcore drivel.
Openers "Trapped in life" and "Hidden in plain sight" mix epicness and hardcore with the greatest of ease, whereas "30-05-04" and "A.F.R." delve into a little bit of beat down hardcore nastiness.
"Rats in the walls" boasts a mental all over the place riff that takes over towards the end, "House of lies" is a perfect closer, with a delicious blasty moment that makes me think of Tombs, it has everything you could want, including a little sneaky forty second screamer at the end.
The vocals ditch the constant scream found in a lot of modern hardcore bands in favour of a more direct, spiteful growl, with lyrics that are deep, imaginative, punchy and at times sad and as far away from the crappy self help sloganeering, tough guy hardcore as you can get.
My only gripe with the recording would be, at times a few of these riffs come across as Only fumes and corpses cast offs, not a bad thing, I just find it a little distracting.
This is a recording that does their energetic gigs every bit of justice, if they are playing near you soon, go and see them and pick this up.
www.myspace.com/neifenbach
Griff
Death to Galway
Desecration
Them martyrs
Legion
Sally longs
21/04/10
LEGION opened this gig to a few of shouts of "Play a song"... The last time I saw them was when they opened for Drainland in Richardsons not so long ago, there was a lot of arsing around before the set (mostly to do with the drums) and tonight was no different, but they've never failed to impress anytime I've seen them and tonight they were on form.
They play what is ultimatly Death metal but take it beyond the generic constant blast beat thing and add a groove that makes every song stand out, the only downside is these lads have no recordings outside of myspace material which is pretty old as I'm told.
These lads could easily be the best metal band in galway if they worked a little harder and didn't play so sporadically, I say best metal band in Galway, I think there's at least three...
THEM MARTYRS were added to this at the last minute and played a typically deadly set, the newer material keeps getting better and better, I can't wait to hear it once it's all laid down.
DESECRATION I wasn't too fond of, then again I'm not really the biggest Death metal fan so anything I say will wind up in me embaressing myself, so I'll just end this with the generic "they're good at what they do, but it's not my cup of tea" comment.
Them martyrs
Legion
Sally longs
21/04/10
LEGION opened this gig to a few of shouts of "Play a song"... The last time I saw them was when they opened for Drainland in Richardsons not so long ago, there was a lot of arsing around before the set (mostly to do with the drums) and tonight was no different, but they've never failed to impress anytime I've seen them and tonight they were on form.
They play what is ultimatly Death metal but take it beyond the generic constant blast beat thing and add a groove that makes every song stand out, the only downside is these lads have no recordings outside of myspace material which is pretty old as I'm told.
These lads could easily be the best metal band in galway if they worked a little harder and didn't play so sporadically, I say best metal band in Galway, I think there's at least three...
THEM MARTYRS were added to this at the last minute and played a typically deadly set, the newer material keeps getting better and better, I can't wait to hear it once it's all laid down.
DESECRATION I wasn't too fond of, then again I'm not really the biggest Death metal fan so anything I say will wind up in me embaressing myself, so I'll just end this with the generic "they're good at what they do, but it's not my cup of tea" comment.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Thrash over galway
So Gama bomb, SSS and a rake of other bands played Galway last night.
This gig was fantastic, I usually drink for most gigs and feel like a spare prick if I don't but this was one of the best I've been to in a long time, well, since The Ocean last week.
Support came from STICK AROUND ex and current members of Cut the reins and Beanz on toast whose riffs are based around pop punk but also have an old school hardcore vibe about them that I really enjoy, the sound was a little muddled for them making it a little hard to make out the drums in parts but once that all settled they were great.
EVIDENCE OF DECAY were savage, dirty hardcore crust with ridiculous solos featuring ex and current members of so many bands you'd need several pairs of fingers and toes to count them all on.
It's nice to see solos getting thrown into some of the newer hardcore bands, as long as it doesn't go all Dragonforce, we're alright.
One of the main thing I think both bands have going for them is the multiple vocals thing, when it's done well I really like it, and there is a good shriek and growl mix going on between guitarists Mayte and Dan.
REBORN were up next, and I have to say, I did not enjoy them at all, the songs were too drawn out and had no variation, plus I seemed to enjoy it less and less when a mate beside me starting pointing out all the Dave Mustaine moves the guitarist seemed to be stealing.
I managed to miss VISCERAL ATTACK due to a food errand that took a little longer than expected but I heard nothing but good things.
But from seeing these guys before, they are mental, old school thrash metal with a hardcore(ish) side.
SSS played ten minutes after I came back in, and blew me away. From what I had heard online I wasn't too sure about, I felt like there was something lacking. But live they are solid and great to watch, if I wasn't so sick I would of gone for a bit of a mosh, oh well, there's always Municipal waste, highlight of the night for me by a mile.
GAMA BOMB I'm not too keen on, which is strange because I love the bands they're clearly paying homage to, but it's just not my cup of tea, and to be honest I was a bit confused as to why they were stuck on after SSS.
But they managed to work the crowd well and stir up multiple crowd surfers, pits and pyramids, I don't know, maybe I'm just an aul dry shite.
Griff
This gig was fantastic, I usually drink for most gigs and feel like a spare prick if I don't but this was one of the best I've been to in a long time, well, since The Ocean last week.
Support came from STICK AROUND ex and current members of Cut the reins and Beanz on toast whose riffs are based around pop punk but also have an old school hardcore vibe about them that I really enjoy, the sound was a little muddled for them making it a little hard to make out the drums in parts but once that all settled they were great.
EVIDENCE OF DECAY were savage, dirty hardcore crust with ridiculous solos featuring ex and current members of so many bands you'd need several pairs of fingers and toes to count them all on.
It's nice to see solos getting thrown into some of the newer hardcore bands, as long as it doesn't go all Dragonforce, we're alright.
One of the main thing I think both bands have going for them is the multiple vocals thing, when it's done well I really like it, and there is a good shriek and growl mix going on between guitarists Mayte and Dan.
REBORN were up next, and I have to say, I did not enjoy them at all, the songs were too drawn out and had no variation, plus I seemed to enjoy it less and less when a mate beside me starting pointing out all the Dave Mustaine moves the guitarist seemed to be stealing.
I managed to miss VISCERAL ATTACK due to a food errand that took a little longer than expected but I heard nothing but good things.
But from seeing these guys before, they are mental, old school thrash metal with a hardcore(ish) side.
SSS played ten minutes after I came back in, and blew me away. From what I had heard online I wasn't too sure about, I felt like there was something lacking. But live they are solid and great to watch, if I wasn't so sick I would of gone for a bit of a mosh, oh well, there's always Municipal waste, highlight of the night for me by a mile.
GAMA BOMB I'm not too keen on, which is strange because I love the bands they're clearly paying homage to, but it's just not my cup of tea, and to be honest I was a bit confused as to why they were stuck on after SSS.
But they managed to work the crowd well and stir up multiple crowd surfers, pits and pyramids, I don't know, maybe I'm just an aul dry shite.
Griff
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