Well as usual, a stunning turnout. Bands and friends of the bands outnumbering the paying public, but thats ok. Give them a while and they'll turn up.
Forget the name of the first band, should've brought the flier in with me, but they seemed a bit confused at times. Not sure that they need 2 strightedge signs per person, or maybe they're twice as straightedge, but the music seemed to muscle in more towards probably the Pantera side of things, with a few Slayeresque moments. Not really what i was expecting. The vocalist managed to change things round a few times, although his growls were more tolerable. The biggest problem though was that most of the songs outstayed their welcome. A few had maybe two seperate songs in them rather than one long one. There were some good riffs, but you tended to forget them by the end of the song. Still, if they want to develop, there's some potential there.
dBh sound like Korn. or so Kerrang will tell you. well, closer obediance, does sound something similar, but most of the rest of the stuff is still rooted in hardcore, and stands up more than nicely. New single White God Sent is driven by the bass and begins to stick in the head after only a few listens. In fact, both singles are well worth getting if you can find them in the shops. Alternatively if you go to the gig, you can get them there as well.Live there's a little more intensity than the cd's lead you to believe, especially from the vocals from Andy, but it's still original enough to make it stand out from most of the rest of the hardcore stuff, and with the band apparently only around 18ish, there's plenty of time for them to develop. Just hope they don't develop too much of a Korn fetish, cos as with most things, there'll be bands that jump on the bandwagon, and dBh are too good in their own right to get drawn into that. They also prove, along with Understand, that you don't need to be from New York to play hardcore. If Sick of it All and VOD are looking for a third band for the tour in April, they'd do a lot worse than offering the slot to dBh. Maybe they'd actually get to play to an audience then as well. Still, for 3 quid you can't really go wronng. If you like hardcore, with that little inkling of Korn thrown in, then check them out the next time they tour. The album should be out in the next few months, and the singles, face and white god sent are on dedicated .