Cinders Fall, Kid Cosmic.

Lev 2 Esquires Bedford. 30th August 2007.

Tonight saw the launch of "Extreme", a regular Thursday event dedicated to all things alternative and loud! Danny's Bar is the setting, and for those of you counting the pennies, the admission is free.

To get things underway we welcome KID COSMIC. A three piece punk band from St. Albans who comprise Mike (Fatman) Foster, Jim (Ram-man) Bennett and Dan (Micra-man) McDougall. The set starts with 'Drown The Sky which incorporates some energetic and nifty guitar work. It is on 'Glory Mind' that "The Fatman" becomes really quite agitated with his guitar as he vehemently plucks and lashes at his strings, while at the same time gurning some quite contortional faces. Kid Cosmic also offer some good vocal variation as all three members chip in. Humour is very uppermost in this band's armoury which is demonstrated prior to 'Lighting Matches' as Mike tries to engage the audience in a "sing it back" chorus participation, which went something like - "Making the pancake, making the booty sing, throwing the doggy out the window"! Apologies if I haven't got it quite right, but that's what I was singing! The set also contains 'Connection' which starts with a minutes spoken word introduction, while 'Crash' sees Mike play skilfully on one string.

Contrasting the evening are CINDERS FALL, a six piece metal outfit from Southend. With influences ranging from In Flames to Chimaira, this is a band trying to force themselves into British metal's premier league. They have recently released an EP 'The Bridge Between" and tonight Bedford metallers gave their judgement on this young band.
A brutal vocal assault is perfectly complemented by a deep lying synthesized bass sound, allied to a cranking up of twin guitars. The drummer also pounds rhythmically, all so in tune with their gargantuan sounds. However, the choreographic headbanging nearly comes a cropper when the keyboardist almost headbutts his instrument!
Although totally relentless in their pursuit of power, Cinders Fall combine to produce a tuneful uniformity to it all, as the vocalist cries out prior to 'Live on a Minus' "Do this the Essex way"! 'The Beauty and the Fury' fully captures the essence of this unrelenting volume. In fact the woodchip wallpaper that covers the walls of the bar is near to being stripped by the aural barrage that is Cinders Fall.
'In Those Five Seconds' is a chance for all the evil knights in the crowd to ride their horses into battle for this cum-soundtrack. While Defy the Action' turns the volume down for a brief couple of minutes before Cinders Fall return to give us a full-blown finale to conclude the evening.