Gig Review

Sylosis
Malefice, Anterior, Chapters
Birmingham Institute
30th September 2011


Sylosis              Malefice                  Anterior                          Chapters
                       
Chapters have been given the task of opening up this night of chaotic brutality. Things have been very hectic for all the bands today with people being late and copious amounts of sound problems to fix; unfortunately for Chapters when they hit the stage these problems aren’t quite ironed out. I was ridiculously surprised with how much I enjoyed their set, to sum it up it was a tremendous display of talent from some extremely gifted musicians. The band didn’t really help themselves with the sound problems to be honest; the bassist kept knocking his lead out, the guitarist knocked the drum mic over and they had wires overlapping everywhere causing more problems. Maybe next time they’ll have a bit more luck in Birmingham.

Anterior have succeeded in finally separating my head from my shoulders. These Welsh bandits have come in and injected a dose of comedy alongside their brand of tech metal destruction. Vocalist Luke Davis always uses the word “cunt” to add dramatic emphasis to his jokes and statements which I think that’s amazing and it is apparent that the rest of the audience agree. Their set for the most part is composed mostly of songs from their new studio album “Echo’s of the Fallen” with only 2 coming from their debut effort “This Age of Silence” the band give it their all to try and provoke some kind of reaction from this surprisingly dull crowd with a small degree of success, this band will show the world how to use harmonies to their fullest and the world is going to be a much better place.

Malefice lay waste to the once motionless mass of zombies put before them, from the very second that intro track rolls off and those thunderous drum blasts ring throughout the venue, an explosion of energy sprays all over the room. I haven’t took a beating like that for a long time, those pits were energetic and due to spilt beverages quite lethal. Lead vocalist Dale Butler has absolutely no hesitation on telling it the way it is “Birmingham, this city has always been good to us, you don’t want to be the worst crowd on this tour do you?” amongst other provocative comments. They play a solid set closing with the title track from their new album “Awaken The Tides” leaving on a high note having picked up the pace and lit a fire under the crowds act for the headliner’s to play with.

Sylosis; new tour, new facial hair, new songs, same old shit. Whilst this time around Josh may have somehow managed to be a little less depressing, he’s still the same dull front man that the band seem completely oblivious to. Their set list contains a few differences from their quite frankly identical previous tours but there’s literally only 2 tracks changed so it’s not a rebirth. The thing that’s kept me interested in Sylosis is the music, it’s a thing of beauty because they are some of the most talented musicians in Britain; tonight even that parts been ruined by ridiculous amounts of feedback and various other problems. The lighting should get a mention it definitely encompassed the mood of the music, it’s a shame that nothing else really goes right tonight. All the bands have had problems today so I’ve been a bit lenient with my comments but when all 3 support bands entertain me more than the headline act then something’s gone horribly wrong.

Chapters - 4/5
Anterior - 4.5/5
Malefice - 4.5/5
Sylosis - 3/5

Review By James Webb

 Sylosis


Josh Middleton
Alex Bailey
Carl Parnell
Rob Callard

 Malefice


Dale Butler
Ben Symons
Alex Vuskans
Tom Hynes
Chris Allan-Whyte

 Anterior


Luke Davies
Leon Kemp
Steven Nixon
James Britton
James Cook

 Band Related Links
Sylosis MySpace
Malefice MySpace
Anterior MySpace
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?