PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Sometimes, you just know it is going to be one of those days…
Well, we had known for some time that this particular day was going to be one of those… and it was nothing to do with this Essex ‘post-hardcore’ (will somebody please explain what in the name of all the gods of Valhalla that fucking means?) quartet’s debut visit to Belfast: after all, it was hardly ‘hotly anticipated’… as we’ll reveal in a minute!
The anticipation in the city air revolved around the small matter of a parade. But, not just any old parade: this one, held way outside what is referred to as “the marching season” over here, was being held to mark the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Ulster Covenant – a document which, in a roundabout way (I’ll not bore you with the history lesson), led to the foundation of what we know as Northern Ireland. To mark the occasion, tens of thousands of loyal citizens took to the capital’s streets to celebrate their heritage and cultural identity (again, I’ll not get into the whole argument about the most obvious symbol of this being streets ankle deep in half-finished Buckfast and WKD bottles!)…
Whether or not the ensuing traffic chaos dampened the promoter’s expectations of valuable walk-ups at the door, or just the totally piss-poor promotion having resulted in even more piss-poor ticket sales, but WATO’s first ever visit to Belfast was quickly downgraded from the impressively refurbished main bar to the miniscule Bar Sub – basically, a bit of a spare area between the Mandela Hall concert venue and the secondary Bunatee bar (it had been used by Dragonforce to store their kit just two nights earlier), that is somewhat laughingly named as it doesn’t even have room for a bar itself! Even then, despite only have the capacity for around 70 sweaty bodies, it was less than half full…
Main support Giants – the traffic chaos meant the PM team missing the opening act – far from lived up to their name, their dwarfish metalcore sound lame and unimpressive even for a genre that I struggle to like at the best of times… even the Ryder Cup on the new HD TVs in the upstairs bar proved more attractive to two of the very few spectators old enough to be able to seek the sanctuary of a pint.
Now, I really wanted to like WATO. Honestly, I did. Their recorded output to date has been reasonable, and certainly hasn’t gone straight in the envelope for the CD recycling factory along with the vast majority of the output from their counterparts in this particular sub-genre. Yes, they can play, quite well actually, and their songs are pretty reasonable – and Liam Cromby (having stepped up to vocal duties following the departure of Dan Brown earlier this year) is a decent enough frontman: he did quickly develop a rapport with the tiny crowd and did his best under the very trying circumstances (the tiny room also meant that the sound was complete shit).
But, all things considered, it wasn’t the most auspicious of debuts, and the quartet’s best efforts were not enough to prevent your reviewer leaving early to ensure being on time to catch the totally awesome Las Vegas hardcore mob Hemlock rip the pub down the street a new one: maybe the Ocean boys also should have quit early, followed our example and gained a lesson how to get an audience to take up your invitation to “headbang till you fucking throw up” – with the result being one of the most manic responses I’ve ever seen during my nigh on 30 years of watching bands down my local…
We Are The Ocean’s third album, ‘Maybe Today, Maybe Tomorrow’, is out now on Hassle Records
