Bedford Alternative Music Present: THE 'A' TEAM ENSEMBLE: Atopia, AR, Avenge Me, Anti-Hero State.

Lev 1 Esquires Bedford. Friday 8th March 2013.

ATOPIA With their tassel headed vocalist looking every part the band showman up front and cavorting around with growling effective vocals and utilising the off stage area as well as on, to bring us an entertaining set. Good, heavy and often melodic guitars sear through their songs, ranging from very early material to the newest of the new and even a cover which I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t even heard the original, so the whole set seemed fresher than a newly opened wine bottle.
If relentless growling and inaudible lyrics are not your thing, the meaty melodic riffs make up, making Atopia on the scale of things a brutally decent metal band.
It was so good and appreciated of Atopia having finished their planned set to continue further with encores which people up front were baying for. Unplanned tracks were risked that were not practiced or anticipated but still retained the same delivery standard, making it a worthwhile bonus to the set.

To me AR seem one of the most stupidly tightest bands around, to a point of knowing exactly when to continue after abrupt stops and starts to inject a total unpredictability to the proceedings of their song structures. Quirky song titles and I imagine lyric meanings form their material between the just as quirky crowd interaction banter. AR are a band that you would recommend to both fans of their style of music and non fans, a strange thing to say you might think but it’s the sheer fun they have while playing which enthuses over, mixing both well crafted skilled playing with a fun approach to the on stage delivery.
Some of their songs are long and meandering with a mix of dark spooky rhythms and a tongue in cheek Primus like feel to them.
Random words, phrases and call outs are shared with the audience adding to the tongue in cheek banter, making this band one of the more entertaining on the live scene. Yes they can defiantly play their instruments well, so let’s have a bit of humour thrown in, seems to be this bands order of the day!.

It’s great when you put on bands like AVENGE ME to see how much they have improved since last time they were here, admittedly I have also caught them in both Luton and Shefford venues in-between and watched them go from strength to strength. First having played an early gig on one of our showcase nights in the bar and are now ready to storm it up another notch.
The improvement I think is more noticeable in their front man who both sends out a power house of vocal delivery while engaging with the audience, proving himself a consummate front man, it would be a bit of an injustice to make him have to be imprisoned In to holding a guitar in addition to singing, when it’s obviously better to keep this metal beast untethered to sing, entertain and chew all the furniture in sight.
Two main guitarists stand either side, one – demontarating professionalism (with black hair) giving us noticeable guitar playing skills who I felt should have escaped the admittedly poor lighting on the set and come out of the shadows showing us just how well he is playing. The other (with blond hair) not quite the profeshionalism as you would expect, turning up late, getting pints of water on to the stage instead of bottles provided, not watching any other bands on the set and legging it off to the hills as soon as the set is over, without even a goodbye. Musically though a capable band, no room for soft melodies, just rougher than a grave yard dog with teeth gritted metal. Their drummer is evidently no beginner, giving us a hard hitting well timed high ranking performance throughout.

The night opens with one of my newest top rated bands, ANTI-HERO STATE they blew me away when I first encountered them in Luton. Their singer puts so much passion and presence in to the performer that his eyes screw up like little X’s on a text emotorcon or like when South Park characters get angry!
We know their hedge haired drummer from his well played previous band (Kill The Image). Amazing to watch – spinning the sticks throwing and catching them towards the drums, just when you think he has lost a stick, it double summersaults, flies through the air and is caught as if on an invisible piece of string. Oh and he plays the drums mesmerizingly well also!
Their sound seems fresh lively and exuberant creating a kind of excitement to their live gigs and added a different dimension to the gig being a slightly different type, not strictly metal as such but I seriously think this added welcome variety and in no way clashed with the other bands. Definitely a fun band with the necessary skills plus talent and one to look out for.

Atopia 1 Vid

Atopia 2 Vid

AR Vid

Avenge Me Vid

Anti-Hero State Vid