GRIM RAVINE
The early stage time had Grim Ravine starting proceedings shortly after doors opening, but with the crowd dedicated to checking out one of the newest bunch of metallers on the local scene they were still playing to a decent size audience and certainly made one hell of an impact.
Tonight was always going to be a loud affair and Grim Ravine have a front-man who’s vocals hit you in the chest with just as much power as the musicians standing behind him, occasionally disappearing to the back of the room the growls would then blend in to the slow yet heavy bass-lines coming from a band who may well only have a couple of gigs under their belt but are more than accomplished in the world of doom.
D:ROID
Another local Portsmouth band were up next, citing the Melvins from across the Atlantic as one of their main influences this is pretty much the closest direct comparison as you’re likely to get, noisey and deliberately messy D:Roid have the grunge aspect of the Melvins covered.
When not playing actual riffs front-man Damo is on his knees utilizing the natural feedback of frantically waving his guitar in the direction of it’s amp, working nicely against the more musical fretwork of bassist Chris as Trudy pounds the drums.
On record the three piece also have a few well chosen samples which were missing from the live performance and although the vocals tonight were a little high in the mix they are however sparse enough for this to be forgiven, as whilst D:Roid may not be technically perfect I’d happily watch these guys as an instrumental act.
THE SLM
It’s not the first time I’ve seen the SLM, but their unique mix of zombie shark-core is always a pleasure and with the on stage banter and song introductions being naturally amusing as always, tonight was no different in a fast and furious set.
Starting with “Zombie Shark” (where a shark gets bitten by a zombie) the SLM sound like NOFX on speed until inviting Simon Walker from Monolithian to join them for “Tail of the Shredder” who unexpectedly provided high-pitched wails rather than his usual deep voice much to the entertainment of both crowd and band alike.
The rest of their performance was all about the upcoming new album, played in its fifteen minute entirety, including “Sword of the Dragon” which despite several false starts successfully brings together vocalists/guitarist Rob’s passion for skate punk and 80’s power metal.
DARK MOTHER
Hailing from Nottingham, with one half via the United States, this two piece are currently on tour with the evenings headliners and help get things back to where the night started and all things doom and gloom.
Musically the riffs and drums were nice n heavy, initially the vocals took a little getting used to although that was however until singer/guitarist Holly announced a new track and asked we go easy on them for it, but in fact everything at that moment fell into place and from there on in Dark Mother were pretty brutal and a duo you wouldn’t want to mess with.
MONOLITHIAN
The world lost a legend last year when Lemmy passed away, yet it would seem the spirit of his bass guitar could quite easily live on hanging around the neck of Mr Walker from Monolithian – the distortion ringing out like a caged animal just as Mr Kilminister’s would from backstage at a Motorhead gig prior to taking to the stage.
It’s this level of assault that doesn’t need to warrant the use of any other guitarist in Monolithian as his bass literally speaks volumes, giving room for huge drum fills as the Cornish pair deliver an impressive and evil slab of doom in all its moody glory.
So as Monolithian broke up their set with Holly from Dark Mother taking up vocals on an Acid King cover it was then down to the big dark sounds of the two piece to leave the foundations of the venue shaking, whilst your ears knew they’d taken a beating from all five bands this evening in what was a triumphant night for dark metal with a slight delve into noisey grunge and less serious punk rock along the way.
Photo’s courtesy of Sam over at Loud Noises/Pantha Photography
