Bedford Alternative Music Presents: The Thursday Showcase.
Cosmic Blaze, Ascension, To Light An Abyss.

Bedford Esquires Lev 1 Thursday 17th March 2011.

More videos of these bands on this night on the Video Page.

Photos (c)Bedford Alternative Music 2011.

There cosmic, there blazing, there COSMIC BLAZE if granted two words to describe, I would go for classy rock. Together for three years now and could easily headline in their own right on a more rock oriented line up. Giving us the mature calm before the storm, Cosmic were the milder of the three acts on tonight allowing what we like about these showcase nights a touch of variety.

There certainly a tight act with amazingly rhythmical drumming pinning down some good rocking tunes, along with strong guitars and vocals, strangely reminding me of how I would imagine Michael Kane would sing. One of their songs towards the end shifted tempo to a faster go getting level which stood out and which I liked enormously. There was quite a diverse age range to the audience. I dont think Cosmic bought a fan base but it was pleasing to see the people there showing attention and giving a good response, which ranged from people moving up front, to people actually coming up and saying These are quite good! I think they would quite suit the popular Dannys bar Sunday afternoon shows as well. Splendid fellows also.

When ASCENSION woke up this morning, little did they know that they would be playing a gig this evening. With Lay Siege and Echovirus pulling out, reliable, enthusiastic and gig ready popular Bedford band Ascension was pleased to fill the breach of main support. Im so glad they had an awesome up and ready for it crowd to play to, much deserved and helped them deliverer a proper show.

Tight hard hitting drumming, gorgeously intricate and heavy guitars and hard working bass ads to the sound structure. Missing was one of their guitarists who sometimes does and sometimes doesnt play in the band which didnt seem compromised without him and was a proper first rate show. Guest guitarist Steevee Dee provided bass on a track and another guest Mr Josh Cato added guest vocals on another track adding to the sets entertainment. Both band and crowd work off each other, making it a fast swirl of movement on and off stage. I wonder if their recent lack of practice and next to no notice added an aditional spark of spontaneity which furthered the vitality of what must be admitted was a rather good performance. Im sure they enjoyed playing and thanks for a good one chaps.

TO LIGHT AN ABYSS was one of those bands that blew me away when I first saw them two gigs ago, - one on lev 1 the other on lev 2. They put everything in to the performance, looking the part and throwing the contempory bands shapes and poses, looking every inch a signed up full on metal act. Good instrumentation all round and some cracking good tunes to their songs. I suspect more are covers than I actually know about and would like to know which ones are the actual covers and which are theirs, mostly their own though and delivered in the same tuneful melodic way with added brutality for this tough metal unit. I kind of guessed their surprise cover might be a Lady Ga Ga cover by the way their charismatic singer introduced the song as being hard to guess and hard to believe they were going to do it, added to my memory of last years Enraged Horizons Ga Ga cover of a different track. It had the tune along with the sheer brutality.

I cant help smiling because of just how good they are for their actual age and the spectacle they put on for a live performance, making me think this was a much better ticket than the lev 2 gig going on at the same time. I think my only mild critical advice would be, although the singers performance qualities are spot on, I think too much is being put in to the energy needed for the shouting growls bellowed and not enough in to getting it out on tune; with a little honing in that area I think another ten percent could be added to their already 100 percent level of a band fast becoming one of my favourites.