Note: Right folks, I'm (Ryan) going to start doing reviews and other notations on my gig outings!  Also, it won't be all "these were great", but if that's what review you want let me know and i shall just type "they were great".

To glorify our podcast hosts i shall be indiscriminately taking pictures of them and showing you who was there! mainly to show my utter disregard for their personal lives.



So, to the night:

Echoes of Dystopia

In a typical Ozzy dominance fashion he scared everyone to move to a comfortable front which made the night start off well, especially as they were the first band up.  After which a good strong performance came blasting from the stage, as well as some terrible fucking feedback every so often.  As the set moved on from the 'older' tracks we were treated to trio of new songs, one of which was severely hampered by the feedback.  Although it was still good, i couldn't hear past the occasional feedback - which was a shame really.

There was some awesome crowd interaction from both sides, which for the first on can be a difficult thing to achieve.  Second song in to the trio and no more feedback! Although a very sweaty t-shirt came off to the sounds of whistling - as is tradition.  Following a very strong sounding set Echoes Of Dystopia closed on an even stronger last song.

"It was one of our best gigs, instrumentally sound, there were fuck ups but nobody seemed to notice" - Ozzy,  It was also mentioned that the vocals were loose at some points during the set, however for me it was no different to most live gigs i have been to.

 

At this point I when on the hunt for Joe, he has a way with words you see.

Q. How is it so far Joe?

-Interruption from a conversation leading to "I can load up the gear now and take you there?"

Joe : "by gear do you mean drugs?"

- "no, i mean the amps"

Joe : "ohh, i got excited there for a minute" - this was said with such sadness a kitten died.    After which i had all i needed, because i love showing Joe in the worst light.

 

Next up, after an excessive changeover including a bajillion cymbals and stand, was:

Immension

First to be mentioned was "that dudes hair is huge",  after that Immension played a very tight and polished set, they were fast but it just wasn't my genre, they were very 'guitary' for me, they were good, a decent set but and they did play well.  Listen for yourselves, they have their EP coming soon so check out their website.

Don't let me be the end all of listening to these guys, Jake(vocals) did mention there was a decent crowd "for a TUESDAY".  I caught up with Tim and Hasan for a couple of words - "we were alright, 6/10,  7.5/10, we lost a power supply for my pedal board so that didn't help" i must add that they were being modest.

Go listen to their EP!



So next up we had :

Opinicus

This featured the last gig for vocalist Carl, who, wearing a Septic Fatalityt-shirt provided some very strong vocals ahead of an awesome sounding band.  The sound was spot on, the crowd by this point are at the very front.

I must mention here that there was a normal appearance from Duayne, honestly its like wheres wally when at a metal gig except its Where's Duayne?.

Anyway, Opinicus, these, as is the trend played a very tight set, invoked a moshing followed by a slight cringe inducing pit.  Although i was stood away from the front so i cant comment much, the last song i preferred from the set, mostly because there was much more vocals.  A decent set from a decent band, let's see who drops in to Carl's slot (all puns intended).

I did take a couple of pictures but my photography skills are worse than Helen Keller, so there are no images from me! - gig review faux paus.

Now, because it was Carl's last gig there was a lot of people coming to see him off, this meant that quite a chunk of the crowd left during the long changeover time.  Also, Joe by this point has turned into alcohol.

To finish we had:

Utopia Lost

To open they had an 'atmospheric' intro, which worked very well when everything kicked in.  It's just a shame the energy from the crowd set was very low.  These guys still played with all they had, which caused the remaining crowd to get back into things.  Utopia Lost played fast and angry, stirring up enough enthusiasm from the crowd to get a 'west street wheelbarrow'.  I don't have the words to describe what it was, except entertaining.  If there is one thing i would ask of them, it's shorten your song intros, you play fast and hard you build up energy and then it cools off during the song breaks.

To see them play like they did after seeing half a crowd of what was, is impressive.  They did have a tribute to a friend that had passed recently, someone who had been at a previous gig, something i find worth mentioning because he helped support the scene by seeing bands and we need our audience just as much as we need everything else.

 

To finish:

Don't miss Asylum IV

Also,