'One For The Underground Presents:
Sacred Mother Tounge, Loosing Sun,
Immicus, Wolf Law.
Bedford Esquires Lev 2.
Friday 24th November 2006.
Review 1 Keith. www.bedfordmetal.co.uk Revirew 2 Martin Stapleton www.bedfordesquires.co.uk
After a Thursday Showcase in Danny's Bar and a gig at the George n Dragon in
Bedford WOLF LAW get their premiere gig upstairs at
Esquires. More like lambs to the slaughter than wolves at first, but the quality
of the songs and tight and practiced playing ability soon compensated and their
six song set, soon demonstrated their melodic, well-played tunes. Starting with
'Voices On The Street' they put on quite a successful first act. Songs such as
'Swing The Bottle' and 'Hardwired n Hell-Bent', going down particular well.
Their guitarist/singer/frontman being the mainstay of the band, putting in an
amount of effort, talent and energy. The other two guitarists seemed to have
more of a back seat, concentrating more on their playing than putting too much
in to a moveable on stage performance, but both taking a shot at backing vocals
also.
Good ol British rock n roll is their style with a meaty bit of drumming - quite
session style in places but one part of the gig I enjoyed the most, was when one
of their songs suddenly burst in to a fantastic enthused gallop, in true Maiden
style.
Obviously this band need a bit more experience and practice, being relatively
new, but you couldn't fail to not like this band. A few lupine wolf howls from
the audience led the band in to their encore 'Obey The Law'. The finest Bedford
band this side of a bottle of Newkie Brown. - a great start and I hope this band
do well!
One of my favourite Luton bands next with IMMICUS.
Hard to believe they have a manager, when they seem to do all the promotion,
merchandise and all the hard work themselves. All members of this band are
totally accomplished musicians in them selves, coming together to form something
that little bit special. Their six string bassist with all the energy and
movement to keep the stage rolling, whilst the action is amplified by the
movement up front in the pit.
Possibly the only complaint being their singer's preference to always wearing
that jacket of his on stage, but an amazing singer nonetheless, what a range and
front man flare. Proper guitar work is utilized by this band - none of the
boring up down strumming fare, more like intricate skilful playing to their
songs which also have atmosphere injected in to the mix. All played with a
passion for what they do. I think the slower milder songs although demonstrative
of their range, don't seem to work as well as the more bar brawl speed of the
higher energy stuff which they have to a fine art and just seems to go down
better with a live show. Immicus are just a pure class act, uncorked and poured
for this appreciative Bedford audience.
LOOSING SUN last seen at this years Cravenfest,
although good at what they do, just don't seem to do anything for me. True that
they are competent at everything but you could put them along side any other
good band with their style and they would all be just another high quality band.
I'm not saying there is anything wrong with their songs or playing ability, they
just don't seem to pull anything out of the hat, to lift them from the common
ground of bands playing stages this size all around the country.
Their singer obviously puts every effort in to the vocals, bent double and
straining every neck muscle and also engaging at times with the audience and
being a great front man for any band.
SACRED MOTHER TOUNGE Another band comprising
individually of people who are all mighty fine musicians, with a few from
another top rated M.K. band 'The Enigma', I remember when I first saw the talent
and stage presence of their bassist, hoping he would stay with it and here he
is, leaping round the set and on top of the speakers using every dimension of
sound and space. Their singing is fairly standard in style over the usual
growled sounds from a lot of heavy bands at the moment. Is this band signed? If
not it should only be time. I know that the guitarist /backing singer is a
dedicated hard working guitarist with various other projects around his music.
Well; sung vocals and for most of the time exquisite guitar work instantly
standing out as opposed to just blending in well with the material.. If Immicus
are the class act of Luton then S.M.T. are the class act of Milton Keynes.
REVIEW TWO BY Martin Stapleton.
The One For the Underground gig tonight featured, amongst others, the first appearance on the Level 2 Stage for the Bedford four piece WOLFLAW. Wow, what an impact and impression they created. The sound, their look and demeanour and general all round musical skills benefited enormously from the spacious surroundings. Backed by a raucous fanbase, Sean (vocals), Roy (guitar), Antony (guitar) and Phil (drums) gave it their all and swept everybody away with their turbo-charged post punk sound with a Wildhearts influence. Each song is enthusiastically received. With the almost self proclaimed anthem 'Obey The Law' best capturing the essence of Wolflaw's set. Even a hoary old cynic like me couldn't fail to be lifted by our very own strong arm of the law!
A ram rod metal spine ran through the rest of the evening, which featured firstly IMICUS. Incredibly, this was the Luton bands first appearance at Esquires. Long awaited for most of the crowd, as they have quite a glowing reputation in Bedford. New songs 'Invisle' and 'An Isolation Dawn' immediately grab us around the throat and the grip never loosens. With a bruising vocalist and incisive guitars, detonation drumming, their metal mantra is powerful and to the point.
To follow were Welsh metallers LOSING SUN, who return here for the third time this year. However, I always feel they get a raw deal from our crowd, and tonight is no exception, as the partisan fans fail to respond to the bold explosive sound perpetuated by our visitors. It's a great shame as Losing Sun have shown in a short time a great affinity with the venue.
Headlining tonight, after injury forced them to cancel earlier in the year, were the wild and wonderfully monikered SACRED MOTHER TONGUE. Even playing with a replacement guitarist does not dent the snarl and intensity that the bands fierce and dynamic sound projects. This is a band who are not going to perform in front of a static crowd as the vocalist asks for more movement prior to 'Something Isn't Right', which is at least partially reciprocated. One of the newer songs 'Don't Suspect Your Own' is now beginning to fit more comfortably into their repertoire. With a new EP 'Revenge is Personal' in the pipeline, things are looking good for this band. As the evening draws to a close the crowd are urged to go crazy for one last time as Sacred Mother Tongue's final song 'Force Fed' cranks up the volume.