McLean's (The Pentre Club), Chemistry Lane, Pentre, Queensferry, CH5 2DA
Thursday 25th February 2010
Pictures by Holly Griffiths, Shan Woodward & Dave Mounter
Review and additional pics from Richard Hibbert of Academy Images - http://www.academyimages.co.uk/Blog/Blog.html
Heavy Rock & Metal
Her Silent Silhouette
From “all over the place” but brought together through their association with Chester College, Her Silent Silhouette - http://www.myspace.com/hersilentsilhouette were first on stage. This was I believe their first visit to Pentre, and Dawn Tweedley – Vocals, Dan Campbell – Guitars, Jack Bicknall – Guitars, Oscar South – Bass, Alex Mitchell-Fox – Drums brought their ‘Post Emo / Applecore’ set to life with eight tracks, Heartstrings(*), Dreaming(*), Static, Sinister(*), Knives, Butterflies, Sky and Messiah, three (*) of which are on their demo E.P. which was available for the asking. So what of their performance – vocals are well delivered by Dawn that was a little like Kate Bush meets Blondie in style, whilst Alex’s throaty accompaniment provided an interesting contrast. Instrumentally all three guitarists were very accomplished, both Dan and Jack producing some very intricate riffs whilst Oscar’s bass playing was again approaching virtuoso levels. Drumming was awesome, distinctive and very powerful. What was a little disconcerting at first was that all four seemed, at times, to be playing riffs and beats which didn’t seem to match in either tempo or timbre with what anyone else was doing! Normally one would expect this to be a recipe for disaster – not a bit of it, the expected discord never came, what did come however was a unique sound, which was impeccable timed throughout the myriad of changes, and with which I will be experimenting in a semi-darkened room listening through some expensive headphones, and wait for the ‘head pictures’ to arrive. This was very skilfully woven music, which transformed my opinion of it from ‘Oh Dear’ to ‘Yes Boy’ in very short order. A little more polish to the stage performance, with more separation of instruments and vocals, and these guys will be even better. Clearly it was not only I that appreciated their performance, as the crowd gradually grew as their set progressed – no-one left until the end!!
Ruins
Rebranded from Laid To Ruin – Ruins - http://www.myspace.com/laidtoruinuk with Manchester / Chester based Ry – Vocals, Chris – Guitar, West – Guitar, Dale – Bass and Matt – Drums gave us a very loud and energetic 5 track set – Intro, Hands of Time(*), Siren City, Punjabi Nightmare and Last Hope (*) all delivered at full throttle and at full volume, with the guttural, brutish vocals which are de rigueur for this groups preferred genre. It is well known that this style of music from the heaviest end of the ‘rock’ spectrum is not my favourite – however – putting personal taste to one side, and taking a very objective view of their performance, there is no doubt, that they are a tight, well rehearsed outfit, that can really play. They cajoled the audience into some very animated, appreciative moves, and their set was very well received. A visit to their website will allow you to hear a couple of tracks from this set (*), as well as view their extensive itinerary over the next few months – a really good set with which anyone into Metal would not be disappointed.
Calling Shotgun
Flintshire and Pentre favourites and headliners for the evening Calling Shotgun - http://www.myspace.com/callingshotgunband closed out the evening with a set right of the top drawer. With a free E.P. (*), as a bonus, Shotgun fans were treated to a a six track set of their favourites – Oxygen Thief, It Wasn’t Enough, Rattlesnake (*), We’ve Lost Control, Time (*) and Rip Out Your Lungs. Having seen these lads several times now, one is naturally looking for improvements from their last observation. In this respect they did not disappoint. Instrumentally they were right on it, both Chris and Rich gave masterly performances on six string, and despite having two less to play with, Jack once again demonstrated his infinite skill on bass. A more controlled, refined and intricate performance on drums from Kieran this evening. This is not to intimate that he had any less power or enthusiasm for the task, far from it, 100% again, it was simply even better than the last time!! Not for a long time have I heard the Pentre audience DEMAND an encore – even demanding the track they wanted to hear, so “Vampire Song” or more accurately - Undead Lives (*) it was. One last bonus – Ad Loz (Tha Repetitionz) took little persuasion to make his vocal contribution to this finale. A really good leg stretch before they re-appear in this year’s Battle of the Bands (Heat 4) competition here at Pentre on 18th March. If they perform this well in March, they’ll take some beating!!
Another excellent evening from Panic Promotions at McLean’s - well done to all three bands - all different - all good.
Audience
