Friday 30th November 2001, Bedford Esquires.
A great night for music - with a tribute to one of my favourite bands backed by a group that’s fast becoming one of my favourite local bands – Alterica. These people deliver a unique sound of their own, confident, professional, and each showing skill in their playing ability. With such a good sound, what a band like this needs is a really good singer... Fortunately, they have one, - with an ability to complement the energy generated from the bands own style. There’s quite a strong vocal range throughout the songs, comprising predominantly death growling vocal structures. The crowd did not seem to respond as well as other times ive seen this band, with the mosh pit not really getting going until the middle + end songs. Also the stage banter from the front man did not quite have the authoritative weight when talking to the crowd. This band is now able to successfully headline. They have quite an extensive set list and have been known to do the odd cover to good effect when they do a longer set. Some of their lyrics sound a bit unusual nevertheless this is overshadowed by the skill and intensity of the band's unique sound.
True Metal but defiantly not sad best describe “Sad But True”- named after the Metallica song used to open their set.
You have to be good guitarists to tribute a band like Metallica and these were no exception. They galloped through a range of material which got better as the set went on. Sad But True had the ability to stir a mosh with the thrash songs, but they were also able to carry off the more melodic harmonies. There was a bit of a ‘Garage Days’ section with a cover of Thin Lizzy’s – Whiskey in a jar, which incidentally is usually covered by Alterica who do it blinding justice. Sad But True also performed the Black Sabbath pieces incorporating one of my favourite riffs of the evening, which also includes the quick burst of a Pantera track performed by Alterica earlier on. The classic songs ‘One’ and ‘Enter Sandman’- (their closing encore song) were well executed, and went down well.My only gripe is that I think ‘Last Caress’ would have been a welcome addition to the set.
Keith Pickering