Saturday 8th September 2001, Bedford Esquires.
After a month of mainly commercial music and indie rock nights at Esquires (hence no reviews - why review something that's destined to get a bad review in advance and doesn't rock?) the Bedfordmetal night came as welcome relief to the local alternative community. This was our most successful night so far as near 200 people turned up to get pissed and rock out to the bands.
Unitus opened the night with their energetic stoner rock, drawing influences from Black Sabbath (well, obviously - they're a stoner band for fucks sake!) and modern UK doom and stoner bands such as Cathedral and Orange Goblin. They got quite a good crowd response for a band that was first on the bill, considering the cult nature of their chosen musical style. Unitus may not be ready to headline a night on their own and need to have slightly more varied song structures, but they were far better opener than most that I have seen down Esquires.
Peanukle arrived onstage to the usual ecstatic response from their faithful crowd, but I felt that they were not up to their usual standard. Completed by a newly recruited horn section, their new material was bit too poppy for my tastes. They used to play energetic ska punk with emphasis on the punk, while now they sound like a very commercial ska punk act but without the songwriting of someone like spunge. However, when they played their old material they still rocked - I just wish they had improved on their original formula instead of doing a very different style that didn't suit them all that well. The crowd loved them though, and they are still much better than your average local band.
As Dark Cell's intro theme began, it was immediately obvious that they were not going to play a set of happy commercial nu-metal. A small but brutal moshpit immediately formed in front of the stage, and did not stop until the end of their set. Dark Cell have improved no end, and seem to have acquired a far more brutal and original sound. They used to sound like a second rate version of Sepultura, but now they blend in a lot of different modern and old-school metal influences to create an energetic and quite original sound. The songs on their demo (reviewed on this site) sounded dated and weak compared to the rest of their set. Even though there is still a bit of work to be done on the arrangements and dynamics, Dark Cell are near the standard of a signed band, especially in the live setting.
This was a highly enjoyable night, and I would like to thank the bands and people involved for making it such a special occasion. I would also like to thank all the people that turned up for supporting the local scene and coming to see unsigned local bands which deserved this support. Roll on the next Bedfordmetal night!
Pete Burov