I don't know what happened to Cynical Smile, who thought they had the tour, but well, they weren't here. Instead, after being hit by the ridiculous heat when I walked in (a full blooded right hook to the body), Kill II This were, I guess, approaching the end of their set. Didn't really do much for me, but not enough time to really judge them.
Psycore on the other hand, I've seen a few times now. Up until now they've not overly impressed me. Tonight didn't make me want to rush out and buy anything, but, it felt like it was begining to hit home with me. I think some of the press they've been given recently is a little excessive (a nagging part of me says they were on the bill because of backing from the label, though I must emphiasise that is what I thought, and I have no evidence of it being the case). They're good, but .... Medication and Chocolate Milkshake, the final two tracks, are still the hightlights of the set. As yet, nothing else is really sticking in the mind.
And so Stuck Mojo. I don't know. There's sometimes a thin line to be crossed between parody and quality, sometimes they cross it. I find the entrance with the Wrestling belts held high above the heads to be a bit cheesy. It kinda reinforces a stereotype within my mind. The machismo of metal. Musclebound and machsimo. Yet the music and the vocals of Bonz destroy that.
I guess there's an element that, say like Pantera sometimes, it's trying too hard to prove how hard and metal it all is. The best don't have to force anything. Still, people seemed to lap it up. The place was heaving. Given the heat, it should've gone upstairs. But maybe then it would've lost some of the magic.
Only had the album a few days, don't remember all the songs, but they played a few off it. Rising is the one that does stick in the mind the most. Metal Meltdown, off Pigwalk, just kind of reinforces my worry. The cover of Paranoid is great, but Rich doesn't need the growl vocal effect. The surprise of the night, I guess, was the backing vocals of Corey. Excellent voice. Born too be Wild.
Snappin' Necks, and a few others from the first album (which I still haven't bought!) and Pigwalk finishes it. How and heavy. A crack at Morat from Kerrang! for his review of the album. As much as I have a crack of Kerrang! myself, if you don't like the album, you don't like it. He gave a constructive review. A crack at a band that couldn't be named, for their dislike of tour buses, and things are over.
I still don't know. They cross the lines both ways, sometimes too often.