It had been a while since seeing local bands Noyo Mathis and Acres, so given both were playing on the same bill supporting Swedish act Shirokuma it seemed rude not to take advantage… although I did miss the last minute addition of Jesse Wild and the Stallions replacing the Cold Harbour, but I’m sure y’all can forgive me.
The three piece that are Noyo Mathis provide plenty of melodies and hooks that would appeal to a cross section of music lovers, there are a couple of more straight forward tunes for those that enjoy a bit of indie-rock yet Noyo Mathis are at their best on more complex numbers such as “Bullfighters on Acid” where guitarist Toby Savill comes into fruition with some complicated guitar work.
Where the band utilise his finger tapping guitar style to contrast against the rhythm section it could easily start to drift into 70’s prog-rock territory, but Noyo Mathis prefer the short and punchy approach which results in a pleasure to see them across any line-up along with their new EP “Endure” being well worth the wait.
Currently touring up and down the country with Lincolnshire band Climates, Portsmouth based Acres had a day out the schedule and took the opportunity to make a welcome return to their home territory and put on an atmospheric show.
With two bright spotlights pointing towards the crowd frontman Richard Morgan stormed back and forth shouting into the microphone whilst musically Acres continue to grow with layers of duel guitars constantly amongst the screams.
It’s a combination that Acres have perfected as where some bands on the scene will be fast and chaotic these guys slow it down a notch and are tighter because of it, yet the emotion pulled from the music justifies the aggressive nature of the vocals making them ultimately just as heavy as their counterparts.
If it hadn’t been for the post-hardcore of Acres bridging the gap then Shirokuma would have been far removed from where my night of music had started, having travelled over from Sweden the more angry sounds of Shirokuma throw any pre-conceptions out the window of Swedish bands being all inspired by glam and rock n roll and would be more suited alongside some of our home grown punk and hardcore acts.
Shirokuma may not bring anything new to the table and despite not necessarily being as technically impressive as other bands on the bill they clearly enjoyed every moment performing in front of the Edge of the Wedge crowd and were proud to be playing overseas for the last leg of their tour, which in itself made them worthy headliners.
