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Live Review from Underground Heavy #3:
Setlist:
1. Poison
2. Don’t Leave Without a Sign
3. Dream
4. Dawn
5. Borderline
[NOTE: The song titles are translated from Chinese by Dawn]
Following Djizoes was probably an unfair proposition for any band, but DoM took it on with gusto. Perhaps appropriately, Poison began with a near hypnotic riff, hypnotic and loaded with wah. Then came the shock opening, with the song reaching its peak pace within the space of a few beats. They purveyed a brand of renegade metal / hardcore, with a singer that actually sang and a terribly interesting musical interplay between the guitarists. There were melodic breaks in between songs, that ventured into eerie alt-rock territory, but played at express speed. The moshing was quite heavy by now, and the audience made it clear how much they were enjoying the songs. Their typical song-structure seemed to involve melodic breaks within songs, without going down the worn path of actual pace-changes. They even had a bit of a lighter riff at the start of Don’t Leave Without a Sign, followed by a unique twist of character in the song being effected by the drums!
Dream had an excellent melody on the guitar, topped off by arpeggiations, which filled out their sound very well. However, their songs always retained a jumpy, moshing character, which the crowd enjoyed to the fullest. A guitar-strap was broken during Dawn, which was remedied by bringing out one of Greg’s bee-yoo-tee-full LP Goldtops. The song was unique in the way that it had a typical metal base, but a clever pattern of strumming on the lead made the song sound different from what it usually would have. By Borderline, the crowd had thinned, but those who remained were headbanging their souls out. Some Tom Araya-like screaming contrasted with a nearly nursery-rhyme melody on the lead made for an immensely interesting song. Fittingly, after taking a break, the song went to an even faster speed, and the crowd followed suit. One of their few pace-changes brought the end of their set, definitely moving out on a peak, after a long night of many-splendoured rock (and otherwise).
– Shashwati
