Gig Review: Band Quest Kent Metal Heat 2 @ Red Lion - 19/02/10
Tonight saw three very professional bands competing against each other in another heat of Band Quest 2010.
Tempestora (8/10) opened the night with some gnashing, metallica-style thrash metal. For a three-piece they had a solid wall of sound and the solos blared through, gritty and fast. The vocals had a Tom Araya style rasp and the drums beat out some heavy stomping beats to head bang to. Sadly, they did not have a big following, but the audience clearly appreciated their quality, cheering them on between songs. Their only downfall as a band may have been that they really did sound like Metallica and though their songs were tight and well written, they seemed to lack individuality. Don't get me wrong, if you like thrash metal, these guys wont disappoint, but I feel there is a missing ingredient to their sound.
Next on were up and coming prog-metallers Subversi0n (9). With seven string guitars, synths and catchy choruses, the six-piece shred with blistering speed through their complex set. Charlie hops between his synth duties and backing vocals in a full suit, looking like a commuter gone wrong, Kai's chorus vocals shine through and all the band head bang in unison like some obsessive Meshuggah cult. The crowd were more eager for this band, louder cheers and moshing down the front. This would have been a truly awesome night, if only their sound had been set up better. The deep seven string guitars melded with the bass, leaving some of the guitar indistinguishable and a solo virtually unheard. Subversi0n have a difficult sound to calibrate, but it is a sound they have managed to carve anew in the world of metal, at a very early stage in their career.
But the ones who really performed tonight were Splintered Soul (9), a melodic-metal band taking powerful female vocals and dueling solos to another level. Their sound is polished and their melodies intriguing, as though the band had secretly gone through Nightwish’s wardrobe and found a land of ultimate untapped riffery inside. The singer's voice soars over everything, yet when an instrumental section cuts in se doesn't lookout of place, but rather revels in the music, swinging her fists in time to complicated riffs and giving a good rally to the crowd between songs. The audience are thoroughly enjoying themselves now and so is Splintered Soul. While it may be said that with all their musical talent and technical prowess not much room would be left for jumping about and showing off, such a tight band should look up from their instruments now and then and play to the punters. That said the lead vocalist does a good job of engaging everyone's attention on behalf of her fellow souls. Overall this was a superb mixture of metal for the Lion tonight.
Review by Adam Evans