TeamHero

Live review from Underground 101:

IMG_0411wtmk.jpgSetlist:

1. In Your Eyes

2. Pointless (OneLastFall cover)

3. If Only

4. The Anticipation

5. My Hero’s Dying

After a long hiatus away from the music scene, TeamHero’s debut saw the very impressive guitarist from OneLastFall, Faro, back into the swing of things with a new band. Good thing too, ‘cause they sounded pretty damn good. With their heavy, highly melodic, late 90s-style metal they took over the room instantly with the first notes of the anthemic In Your Eyes. Another thing this set made clear was exactly how good a vocalist Faro is – excellent, as it turns out, with a particularly rich voice that sounds great at higher pitches. This, combined with the Queensrÿche-like elegance of the two guitarists’ style made for a great listen. Pointless saw OLF singer, Sheila, do a cameo, and she was note-perfect as usual. The guitar acrobatics and vocal flourishes combined, I must admit, made me miss OLF somewhat. But, with the very next song, I was reminded how good this band is too. Excellently arranged, If Only harked back to the winding melodies of 80s metal without being the slightest bit cheesy, which is really hard to do.

The two guitarists styles were like the less cheesy side of Steve Vai’s style and a strongly Randy Rhoads feel of almost-classical tuneage mixing into an epic-sounding mix, backed up by a firm rhythm section. One thing I particularly liked was how they were able to sound heavy without abusing or overusing distortion, which allowed the songs to sound warm at the same time, significantly accentuating the melodies. This was most clearly heard in My Hero’s Dying, which sounded almost like Rainbow (with Dio). To top it all off, they refused the encore ‘cause they simply didn’t have any more songs. A non-wanky no-nonsense approach to back up metal of a similar kind, and they’re only gonna get better – well-worth checking out whenever they play next.

— Shashwati Kala

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Performances by TeamHero: