Live review from Underground Heavy #5
Setlist:
1. Fung Yin
2. 21
3. Awake
4. Yik Lan
The show moved on to Trash21, for whom (I’m given to understand) the Underground has been waiting for quite a while. The second they started, you could tell why this was – theirs is a rare type of Noughties’ metal, without the unnecessarily polished feel or its largely myopic tunes. However, the decreased influence on solos and greater focus on the collective production of something hard-hitting are both there in their sound, and it brings to mind bands like the lostprophets during the best era (during Fake Sound of Progress and just before Start Something…any arguments?). There’s also quite a lot of groove in them, along with some patently thrash solos as well; the difference being that, the guitarists were able to finesse these bits in, with sufficient development to the contrasting bits. However, they seemed to overuse the headbanging rhythm-break, which began to seem very contrived after a while, as on21. Awake used some powerful shredding to create a highly dramatic soundscape – not a technique and result that often pair up. Its jazz-funky feel was a real shock to the system, and was a great way to keep your attention on the song, as they offer a much better contrast than metal-subgenres; a method also used by local metaleros Sheperds the Weak. Yik Lan was even more of a departure, with some fast hardcore-style drums, even more of a jazz influence, and a more Paul Gilbert-esque method of shredding. While it;s difficult to say much concrete stuff about a band that you’ve only seen 4 songs from, it’s clear that they are good. Hopefully, we’ll see them again at the Underground some time soon.
– Shashwati
