Wow! Hey Djizoes loves The Underground! Woooohoooo! Thanks to everyone who turned up despite it being a Tuesday night, brilliant debut from COCKfight (yes I’m biased!), awesome show from Darkness Pool and so much energy from Gong Wu and of course our special guests from Switzerland DJIZOES – it was all worth it to be here! Thanks to Angus our new photographer at The Underground and thanks again to Club Cixi for hosting this great night!
love Chris B xx

COCKfight

Starting off with a distinctive punk-hillbilly flavor, they quickly moved to late 80s rock with quite a bit of edge to almost a metal-like sound, all the while keeping the “out there” silly but strong hard rock theme, with a hint of country leaking out now and then. Think Bon Jovi’s atmosphere crossed with Meredith Brooks’ sassiness, a huge giant middle finger, and a double dose of excited and ready to go. Very vibrant and engaging. Both lead guitar and drums are highly skilled and entertaining, only not blending and flowing together as smoothly as they could (which is hardly unexpected for a debut performance with only a handful of songs).
Amos

DARKNESS POOL

Deep, moody, rip your throat out, throwing stones at you from all angles of hell. They would be the perfect background track for a walk through some horribly scary haunted woods, being chased by slow-moving but insanely angry spider-hornets. Plenty of restrained screaming and growling, but not high speed like hardcore or thrash. It’s more of a continuously pound you deeper into the ground style. The second song was a bit slower, dragging you through prehistoric tarpits past dozens of hopelessly trapped unfortunate souls screaming away in despair. all around very halloween-like but violently angry too. Some bits approach Slayer intensity but with much more attitude and musical range. Their Pantera cover, while great, was nowhere near as creative, varied, and rich as their original songs – but only because their own are that good.
Amos

GONG WU

Their tunes are hard, rough, and rolling, reminiscient of Nickelback (but without the don’t give a shit attitude) but way harder, and more “with you” and driving. The vocals are fantastic, and are loaded with expression of passion and understanding. Altogether very tight and polished. The soundscape they create is very lush, making you play hopscotch through the tunes and rhythm like a zig-zag roller coaster, constantly accelerating you this way then that. The requisite slow song was decidedly boring in comparison. They only really stand a mile apart from the crowd in their faster, more intense tracks – the rest does not expose their absolutely superior skills and style. The vocals are really good (and it’s worth saying twice)
Amos

Djizoes (Switzerland 瑞士)

They have the irreverance of “System of a Down“, the swaying and head banging grandness of Metallica, just a touch of death, and their own distinctive slightly mushed meatiness. It’s a constant pulling noise with lots of detail without any particular buildup or interruption. The slower songs were not at all relaxed which i appreciated. Smooth yet bumpy rocky road ice cream comes to mind with its richness and nuggets of goodness. Captivating and slightly worrying melodies combined with drums that always seem one step ahead of you but somehow pushing you into them, all the while riding on a slow swinging base rhythm that you can easily get lost in until the next complex drum burst grabs your attention and twists hard.
Amos

photos © Copyright 2008 by ANGUS LEUNG
Poster by Mimi