Gig Review

Revoker
Holy Grail, G.U. Medicine, A Poetic Yesterday
Birmingham, Academy 3
16th March 2011

                                                                                               
Revoker                 Holy Grail                     G.U. Medicine         A Poetic Yesterday
                  

A Poetic Yesterday open up tonight’s show, bit out of place on the bill but never mind. They have a sound reminiscent of early Funeral for a Friend material but try and add heavier and some alternative elements. As a massive FFAF fan, I can tell you now that they are nothing on them. Nevertheless you have to appreciate that it’s still not a bad sound for a band and on stage they seem to know what they are doing; apart from maybe sometimes the singer takes things a bit too far flinging that guitar around and sometimes it’s quite cringe worthy. Either way I’ll say that they didn’t really excite me tonight but they definitely have some potential if they just sort out some of what they do on stage and get themselves booked onto more fitting gigs.

G.U. Medicine take the stage with a gritty dirty hard rock sound that fits right into the style of the following 2 bands. Although their songs are pretty damn long they are great to listen to and get the energy in the room ready for the other bands to come onto. Not really much of a big performance on their part but a much needed change in energy in the room. Aggression is their main attitude; the way they talk to the crowd, the movements they make on stage and the way they play their instruments it’s just the type of band they are and it gives off a good vibe and a much better atmosphere. Some laughs, some tunes and a change of pace into the right direction is a great warm up.

Holy Grail are completely out of this world! Best band of the night; they come onstage to a small crowd but definitely a lot bigger than the last time I saw them. They just tear through their set of raw heavy metal and thrash infused tracks with such passion and explosive energy that was quite astonishing to watch. One of the guitarists really aggressively gets into their set and loses his mind, jumping off things getting on the barrier and head banging his heart out. The singer also loves his head banging whether he’s singing or not matters not he just carries on! Holy Grail have given an amazing performance tonight with some superb showman ship. The music these guys make is very damn special and they hit every note with extreme precision and make it look effortless. These guys definitely need to come back the UK again very soon.

Revoker have a damn lot to live up to after that! With no studio album releases so far just 2 singles, very few people actually know much of their material so it’s more of a showcase of songs from their as yet unreleased debut album “Revenge of the Ruthless” in hopes that people will buy it and come out to see them again. As they bagged a place on the Rob Zombie tour they announced a headline tour to follow it in hopes the impression they left on that tour would encourage people to come out for a full headline show. However there’s not really that many people here and when the singer asks “was anybody at the Rob Zombie show?” only around 3 of us actually were. As some have now left makes it an even smaller crowd and in all honesty there wasn’t a great deal more at any point before, but the band take anything they can get. They are my favourite new British band and they put on a mighty fine show. An extremely heavy yet brilliantly fun set, playing songs from their debut album “Revenge of the Ruthless” including their 2 recently released singles “Stay Down” and “Thief” which are both definitely some quality metal tracks. They aren’t too serious either which is always good for an upcoming band as they don’t get the big crowds and reactions so it’s best to be able to take it all in their stride and have a good laugh with it. Playing the intro parts to some cover tracks winds some people up but I find quite funny; “HOW ABOUT SOME SLAYER? Well we’re not good enough for that so no” nobody can say they don’t have a sense of humour. Some tracks they play are too quick for me to head bang along to especially with but that’s definitely a very good factor in a song for me. All in all, I preferred them at Rob Zombie but they did put on a good show and leaves me now drooling with anticipation for the release of their debut album! Roll on May!

A Poetic Yesterday 3/5
G.U. Medicine 4/5
Holy Grail 5/5
Revoker 4/5

Review By James Webb

 Revoker


Jamie Mathias
Chris Green
Shane Phillips
Jack Pritchard

 Holy Grail


James Paul Luna
Eli Santana
James J LaRue
Blake Mount
Tyler Meahl

 G.U. Medicine


Lee Storrar
Ryan S Senior
Dale G Evans
Richard Murray

 Band Related Links
Revoker Myspace
Holy Grail Myspace
G.U. Medicine Myspace
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?