PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Beholder arrived in town as part of their Weekend Warriors tour recently with Cambion as their touring support band and with two local 
bands also on the bill. Just to make it an even better night one of the local support bands is 15 Times Dead featuring none other than PlanetMosh’s very own Scotti I was fully expecting a good night of heavy metal music.
First on tonight’s bill at Ivory Blacks was progressive metal band Burning The Dream who though new to the scene is made up of ex members from Diementia, Beckon and Panisia etc. Which clearly shows as the guys were tight and clearly accomplished with their chosen roles in the band, as they played through their set. ‘One Shot One Kill’ opens the proceedings with it’s deceptive quiet opening before the main chugging riff of the track kicks in, Motive to Kill follows opening at a more frantic pace with several changes of pace as befits the current progressive music scene. Final track from the lads had me laughing at it’s title ‘Strongbow Headache’ as it mentions my favourite pint and I may of suffered from a few headaches from overconsumption of the famous arrow shooting bow in my time ;-)
While this genre of music isn’t really my cup of tea the guys performed well and had a tight an well executed set which held the audiences attention.
Burning The Dream Setlist:
- One shot one kill
- Motive to kill
- Who are we to judge
- Dark Waters
- Reap the rewards
- Strongbow Headache
Burning The Dream are:
- Paul Kelly – Vocals
- Richard Paton – Vocals/Guitar
- Iain Doherty – Guitar
- Rowan Petch – Bass
- Martin Gazur – Drums
Next on stage is a band I’m very familiar with 15 Times Dead, though if you haven’t seen them recently you might not recognise the line up. Andy, Tom and Dan have all left, Scotti has returned, Colin Walls ex Attica Rage is now on bass duties and Rab Duffy is the second guitarist in the band. Got that? The upshot of all these changes is that the band sound more like the band that recorded their début album ‘Metasultra’ in 2012 with the return of Scotti to vocal duties, which is were all of tonight’s tracks are culled from in their set.
Opening with the powerful ‘Driven by hate’ the new line up of the Dead are in fine form and none the worse for the line up changes. Willie an Big C creating a powerful an solid base for Scotti’s an Rab’s guitars to drive the songs powerfully forward in the familiar Dead style of no holds barred metal. Personal favourite ‘Through these eyes’ follows as the Dead power through this and other tracks from their debut album led by the charismatic clear vocals of Scotti to prove why they have been such a mainstay of the Glasgow Metal scene. Hopefully now that the band seem to have settled on a new line-up we can look forward to new material to expand their excellent début album Metasultra songs.
The Dead’s set finishes with crowd favourite ‘Bullethead’ about the corporate greed of the Western world, but before the Dead finally depart the stage there is one last thing to be done and that is to present Big C with a birthday cake and sing Happy Birthday to the big man. Even birthdays don’t stop the Dead performing a tight and powerful set for their fans.
15 Times Dead setlist:
- Driven by hate
- Through these eyes
- Girth giver
- Deception
- Dying
- Bullethead
15 Times Dead are:
- Scotti Watson – Vocals/Guitar
- Colin Walls – Vocals/Bass
- Rab Duffy – Vocals/Guitar
- Wullie Brownlie – Drums
Next up on stage was the first of the touring bands Cambion, who I must admit I hadn’t heard before but add been told to check out and I must admit I wasn’t disappointed. Opening with ‘Virus Part 3- Death’ from their 2012 Virus EP Cambion proceed to give a highly proficient display of the fine art of a Tech metal band. Like the first band Burning the Dream, this might not be my preferred genre of metal music but there is no denying the very high standard of the musicianship on display tonight. Tight intricate riffs and passage are all pulled off with aplomb by this Exeter 4 piece, who make it look simple which I’m sure it isn’t.
Dreadlocked singer/guitarist Elliot asks the audience if they would like to hear some new material which is destined for their forthcoming début album, the crowd responed with a rousing yes as the band play ‘Vultures’ and then ‘Mechanics of ExTInCTION’ neither track disappoints and promises that their début album should not disappoint when it gets released for these Tech metallers.
Closing their set with two more tracks from their Virus EP parts 4 & 5 ‘Afterlife’ and ‘Resurrection’ it’s patently clear that with a bit of luck hopefully these guys can go far, as there is clearly no lack of talent from the 4 members of the band. Cambion I wish you all the luck and hopefully I’ll get another chance in the future to see you play again.
Cambion setlist:
- Virus Part 3 – Death
- Salem
- Death March
- Vultures
- Mechanics of ExTInCTION
- Virus Part 4 – Afterlife
- Virus Part 5 – Resurrection
Cambion are:
- Elliott – Lead Guitar / Lead Vocals
- Marc Randall – Guitar
- Jonny Walker – bass guitar
- Frank Dennis- Drums / backing vocals
Finally it’s the turn of headliners Beholder taking a break from being in the studio to take to the small Ivory Blacks stage. Fiercely independent and out spoken the quintet from the Midlands took to the stage and delivered a triple whammy of tracks from last years excellent ‘Order of Chaos’ album ‘Toxic Nation, Black Flag and Killing Machine all thunder out from the band as they take control of the proceedings. Larger than life front-man Simon Hall bedecked in a Buckfast t-shirt as a nod to where he is playing is taking no prisoners as he growls his way through the opening tracks.
Next up is ‘The Heretic’ from their Awakening album which still hasn’t lost any of it’s power to rock. We are then treated to first of two new tracks with the working title of ‘Pariah’, though as Simon points out it may or may not make it to the new album and it may even be called something else even if it does go on the album! Pariah doesn’t disappoint and sounds at home in the set list as does the other new track ‘Frozen Steps of Utoya’ which deals with the massacre on Utoya by Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik in 2011.
By now the audience were well into the Beholder set and there was even a small pit going, the reason it was only a small pit was because this excellent 4 band gig was very poorly attended by the fans. Maybe because it was close to Easter and people were away but what ever the reason Mr Hall had a justifiable rant about the poor attendance at the gig which I could only agree with.
Back to the music and the Beholder guys are laying it on thick and heavy just how they like it, when I suddenly became the centre of attention as I’m dragged on stage by Simon who promptly pulled up the skirt I was wearing (yes folks you did read that right I was wearing a skirt while shooting and reviewing this gig as part of Fede’s Hairy Ball Challenge) and flashed the audience my underwear, just as well I wasn’t commando as I’m sure I would have scarred the audience for life! Beholder finish their fine set with ‘Footprints’ and leave the stage with shouts for more but sadly times up and it’s the end of the night.
Tonight’s gig had been excellent music wise with all bands playing well and in quite different styles so there was defiantly something to suit all fans of heavy music on show tonight. It was just a crying shame that for a Friday night gig in a major UK city that the audience tun out was so poor, as they say if you don’t use it you’ll lose it. The number of live venues for up and coming heavy bands is dwindling almost by the day if people don’t start going to gigs again there soon won’t be a music scene let alone a heavy metal music scene, is that what you want? I for one don’t so get out there and support the likes of Beholder, Cambion, 15 Times Dead and Burning the Dream they are the future of our scene.
Beholder setlist:
- Toxic Nation
- Black Flag
- Killing Machine
- The Heretic
- Pariah -(working title)
- Here I Stand
- Morphine Serenity
- Frozen Steps of Utoya -(working title)
- The Awaking
- Splinter
- Razorline
- Footprints
Beholder are:
- Simon Hall- Vocals
- Scott Taylor – Guitar and Vocals
- Martyn Blackwell – Guitar and Vocals
- Si Fielding – Bass and Vocals
- Chris Bentley – Drums
Links:
- Beholder http://beholderuk.wordpress.com/listen/
- Cambion http://www.cambionofficial.co.uk
- 15 Times Dead http://www.15timesdead.com
- Burning the Dream http://Burningthedream.bigcartel.com
