Kain.

Lev 1 Esquires Bedford. 5th February 2010.

REVIEW ONE BY Martin Stapleton.

Tonight's band in the bar is KAIN. Please pause and reflect on the name. In 2010, it is spelt without an "e". Kaine maybe history, long gone and forgotten, but judging by tonight's show, Kain perform loud and clear. The axis of the band's dynamics are still very much the same. To put it simply - Kain rock!! The bar is busy and the liquid refreshments are flowing copiously. A convivial atmosphere and twin spotlights of red and green make the ambience perfect as it splashes across the quartet.

Kain open with "Diggin", a somewhat jammin' intro which, according to the band, sounds faintly reminiscent of the opening theme tune to old television programme The Munsters! Similarity between said TV characters and band members are thankfully not mentioned! Armed and ready to unleash some heavily compressed psyche rock n roll, "Hellz Kitchen" is the first of two songs that put the emphasis on an ear-catching riff. "Something Missing" incorporates an intro that owes much to the fierce and focussed guitarists Jules and Sid. Vocalist Ralph amusingly describes the latter composition as "an imagined account of a real situation"! With a thespian background, this tall rakish young man goes through all the taut anguished sub-plots of 'frontman rock posture'. In fact, my only criticism is that he is tad too nice. A nasty mean and moody arrogance is all that is missing. Some out of town gigging experience in front of a few sullen, surly strangers will soon toughen him up. His charisma is undeniable as he introduces "Faithless" as a "core poem for the catholic church"! Perhaps when his holiness the Pope arrives in Britain later in the year, he might like to take in a Kain gig and decide for himself!

Without the immature tediums of pubescent youngsters, Kain offer full-on brutal, furrowed brow rock. Arrow straight with a general air of unasumed and utter confidence, they are anchored by the solid backbone of drummer Alan. His rapid fire beats have a certain magnetic pull. With hair shaking and sweat dripping from his wiry frame, the songs owe much to this muscular sound. Although Sid admits after the performance that he had a few technical problems, most of the jollied up crowd would not have noticed. It's early in their band reincarnation, but Kain really keep things relatively uncluttered. However, I feel that they haven't yet nailed the memorable self-stamped tune that the set cries out for. Word from the lads is that there are several new songs in the pipeline and they are excited about them. New ideas pulse from these creative minds.

On "Dog God", a storming crescendo is preceded by the sight of Ralph shaking the mic vigorously and shouting with force "Do not know who to believe". "No!" is a cue for some all-round audience participation. The song title is shouted out in collective unison. The night draws to a close with "Pure Reason". Super charged, it builds up to an epic climax. Such is the applause that an encore, much to the band's surprise, is vociferously demanded. I sense that they are caught completely on the hop. Kain hastily reprise "Hellz kitchen" to answer their fans' requests.

REVIEW TWO BY Steve Norman.

Hard rock has become a pretty generic term that's used for pretty much any non-indie guitar band that isn't quite classifiable within a specific sub-genre of heavy metal, and so in itself is not particularly descriptive any more, but I have to say that I'm struggling to think of a more fitting term to describe Kain; they really epitomise hard rock.

Their musical style has clearly evolved into a something almost exclusively of their own, with some obvious influences but little to compare with; kind of a heavy contemporary grunge, with a nod to Soundgarden and also a nod to Metallica, but there's always something else, and I think it's an undercurrent similar to Pantera's Ð not so much in the sound itself, but in capturing an almost sludgy garage-blues mid-West American essence.

And they are tight as hell, which you'd probably expect from four musicians of their collective backgrounds, but given it's still relatively early days in their current incarnation, is definitely impressive.

And when you're this tight, with the added benefit of a few drinks behind you, you get a confidence that just let's you focus on having a good time on stage, and refreshingly this was clearly Kain's objective tonight, and if they could bring the audience with them then all the betterÉ and that they did too.

Singer Ralph is a great front man; part-intimidating but mostly thoroughly likeable, he even carries his well-practised stage moves into his between song-banter, which, as someone once also guilty of doing the same, I thoroughly sanction as the mark of a great front man!

Drummer Alan's smile never left his face throughout the set, and for good reason Ð a clever pedal set up that extended the kits reach, combined with what was effectively a drumming master-class would bring a smile to any drummers' face - good to see a drummer is still that easy to please!

I'm looking forward to a studio release from Kain, because I noticed that whilst spending most of the gig looking like he was up to no good, guitarist Sid had some really interesting riffs up his sleeve that were subtly woven into the body of several songs, that might be easy for many to miss in the live environment. And bassist Julian just looked like there was nowhere he'd rather be, delivering a kind of back-of-the-stage authority that held the whole thing together.

Great band that I challenge anyone not to enjoy when they're in the kind of form they were tonight!