Divorcee
Having seen members of Divorcee many a time in their previous incarnation as local hard core act Senator it was a shame the early stage time resulted in missing the start of their set, however fear not as I was far from disappointed in the rest of their performance.
So with a similar sound to the excellent Senator, these boys blasted through more thrash metal style guitar work with screams that would be sure to scare even the darkest of neighbours. When lead vocals can still be heard without the use of a microphone over a band this loud, then there are some serious vocal chords in action – and this is part of the appeal with Divorcee, so if you’re into music as heavy as this be sure not to make the same mistake as I and turn up to their next gig nice and early.
Monolithian
When a big hairy fella takes to the stage wearing a Cannibal Corpse t-shirt and strumming his bass like a young Lemmy Kilminster how can you not get excited? There were no thrills here, it was all about the bass riffs, backed only by a drummer and with a few doom ridden growls here and there Monolithian are a duo playing with no effects and it works incredibly well.
Check out this boy/girl duo by streaming a number of tracks at http://monolithiandoom.bandcamp.com/ and you will hear just how heavy a two piece can be, after all what’s the point in using six strings when you can make this much noise with four?
Ed Wood
Officially the first date of what’s due to be a hectic European tour, local act Ed Wood kick it off as they mean to go on with their sonic assault on the Edge of the Wedge crowd. In contrast to the slow and sparse vocals of the band prior, Ed Wood have two lead singers in Denman and Growney – the duel vocals mean there is no room to breathe in between songs and the energy spreads through the room as tracks such as “Talking to the Void” are drilled home.
So if you’re reading this wondering what it would be like to see the mighty Ed Wood on foreign shores, take a look into their tour dates below and help get the Pompey music scene firmly on the map.
Flowers of Flesh and Blood
As a result of being stuck in London traffic, the late arrival by Flowers of Flesh and Blood meant a few members of the audience had gone home assuming the nights proceedings had come to an end, however thankfully for those of us left behind these Londoners were dedicated to the cause and managed to arrive just in time to set up and play.
In order to get the crowd pumped up there were threats of revealing your political allegiance dependent on your ability to move (or not), which in turn created the most animation amongst the crowd this evening. This also demonstrated Flesh and Blood’s more punk rock approach to the hard core scene, and with that they managed to play their entire set and fit in a couple of damn good covers too.
With promoters putting on four great bands for only three pounds means you still have plenty of change left to spend on the split EP from the doom of Monolithian and the in your face energy of Ed Wood, out now on Animal Defense Records… although I can’t guarantee yours will come with free eggs.
http://edwarddwoodjr.bandcamp.com/
http://animaldefencerecords.tumblr.com/
http://dstmpromo.tumblr.com/
http://dstmpromotions.bigcartel.com/
www.flowersoffleshandblood.co.uk
Mr Teeth
