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Live Review from Underground Heavy #3:
Setlist:
1. I Could Be Your Lawyer
2. A Song for Them
3. The Machine
4. Bind Us To War
5. The Cats and the Dogs Reception and Training Resort
6. The World is Undersized
The special guests of the night came along, all three dressed in Wanch tees, and the bloody heaviest basslines of that night. Having the classic hardcore lineup, their sound resonated with every bit of the anger that the metal-hardcore genre was invented to represent. The set opened at breakneck speed with I Could Be Your Lawyer, featuring some very cool Paul Gilbert-y, pacy metal melodies. The crowd, though initially somewhat stunned, clued into what they were doing quickly, and headbanged to the best of their ability. But, there was only so much you could do, because things were happening in the songs so quickly, it was almost impossible to keep up. The band had remarkable coordination between them, not one second of airtime was dead, as they filled it very ably with some elastic chordwork, moving from rhythms to leads at the drop of a hat, weighed down by the lead-weight bass, and backed up by simply phenomenal drumwork. It’s fair to say that I’m missing out on a lot of what happened during the songs – however, I truly don’t think I can be blamed here, because it was absolutely impossible to keep up with the speed with which these guys made things happen.
And yet, never once did it seem like they were repeating themselves, as each song had its own character (with some due to the difference in composition chronology, no doubt). The metal was all there, with its typically epic-sounding overtones, as in A Song For Them, but it was nuanced, unafraid to stray into different areas, from Judas Priest-esque overtones, to a Pantera-feel that was in some songs, played most rapidly, re-emphasizing the adage (that I freshly coined) that “genres are for morons”. The rolling tune of The Cats and […] was composed of an awesome hook, some fiery drumwork, leads both up and down the fretboard, and bone-rattling bass. The World is Undersized featured a deceptively calmer, yet still-powerful rhythm, that almost teased the crowd in its stasis. But, it gradually ramped up into what was certainly the most monster-riff played that night, played with a remarkable concision, complemented by a blistering solo in the most classic mould of metal. They finally slowed it down to a plodding rhythm, ending the song, and the set, with a rhythmic burst, that certainly left the crowd wanting more. –Shashwati
Live Review from Djizoes in Hong Kong:
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
“With the dedication and spirit we saw in the Underground, there is no doubt that HK will be the next LA” – Ales
