Whatever you think of the music, you can't accuse Maniac, the final band, of being pedestrian rock. I was worried at first, when during the soundcheck the guitarist showed off his knowledge of blues and jazz riffs, while a Yorkshire voice to the right of me ventured that in his opinion, Rancid were “just sublime”. A surreal moment. However, soundcheck over and the guitar went back to the standard deathtrashcore metal chugga-chugga-chugga-wheeeeeeeep! Game on.
I have to say the songs kinda merged together for me. Maybe this was because they were all shouted in an indeterminate language, or maybe the beer was starting to take hold. Anyway the main thing that struck me was their energy and passion, which was especially noticable after the previous band. The audience was appreciative as well, and there was a mini-mosh in progress before too long.
Musically they were hard to pinpoint. The main theme was a death metal thrash, with its attendant sudden chord changes and non-standard time signatures. However at points they wavered off into Thin Lizzy territory, and one of the songs was a cover of Radiohead's Creep, which was bound to please me. In the end, this kind of music is more about the emotion than the lyrics, and they definitely pulled that off well.
All in all a very interesting Underground, and one that spanned the full range of musical expression. There was probably something for everyone there, and it reminded me why I come back time after time.
Zoot