3rd Stone were due to play this gig as well, but due I think to illness, they had to pull out. Which was a shame, as I was looking forward to seeing them again. But it wasn't to be.
So instead, Chokehold start things off. Seemed like a weird combination to me, Chokehold and Kill II This, and to be honest I was expecting more of a turnout from some punks and for Kill to struggle. But as it turned out, this wasn't the case. As for Chokehold themselves, well they struggled tonight, battling mainly against equipment that didn't want to work, especially the bass, which seemed to want to cut out ever few seconds. Which made for a pretty ragged set, which was a shame, cos the last time I saw them, which was the only time I've seen them, I was reasonably impressed. Even Protest & Survive sounded pretty shabby tonight.
Kill II This have just come off the back of a tour with Bruce Dickinson, playing to pretty much sold out audiences throughout the UK. And so it's back to playing to about a dozen people at the front of the stage, and the rest of us wusses that hang further back, despite the protestations of the band to move up closer. Being that this was a headline show, they get to drag out 2 songs from the debut album, both of which I've now forgotten the name of. So nothing changes there then Dave. But that's not important, what's important is the new material, which has been settling uneasily at times in the stomach. It's good but, as I've said before, there's some niggles. But the more I see it live, the more it's begining to settle and the indegistion is dispersing. There are some good songs on offer here, such as Crucified, Faith Rape, Funeral Around My Heart, and possibly my favourite, The Flood.
But it is going to be interesting to see how this all fares. I mean, it's modern, but it's traditional. People should get the riffs and everything, but how will they react to the female operatic vocals, after all, if say Maiden did that, or Queensryche, it would be considered like pompous and out of date. It's all treading a fine line, but for the sheer improvement in material from the first times I saw them supporting Megadeth, when they did nothing for me, then they deserve the chance to succeed. Though I should point out, as was made clear in the interview that took place later, that only guitarist Mark Mynett actually remains from the line-up that played those Megadeth and Stuck Mojo gigs. Oh, and I was accused by Mynett of being a journalist. Shoot me now someone!
Being harsh, vocalist Matt needs to develop some more presence and moves on stage. When not singing it's just a singular head and upper body rocking motion, which is ok if it wasn't for the work the Mynett does, which tends to eclipse things, and that shouldn't really be the case. Most frontpeople are similar, they have a set of moves and stick with that, but in this case it kind of sticks out a bit. Kill Your Gods finishes off a pretty enjoyable 45 minutes. And about a year ago, I don't think I'd have said that about a Kill II This gig.