Rockfreaks.net

support Foot To Face + Thought Police Brutality
author PP date 07/03/09 venue Forbraendingen, Albertslund, DEN

Forbraendingen, Albertslund is a small venue featuring mostly local bands on tour across Denmark. It's capacity is probably only two hundred people or so, but because of it's rather obscure location in comparison to the capital city, it was possible to count the number of people present for Thought Police Brutality and Foot To Face with two hands, and most of these were friends and family based on a quick look around. By the time the headliners Last Mile went on stage, the attendance had doubled, maybe tripled if we're lucky, so I guess there was no way to expect any mosh pits or an intense atmosphere tonight. I still maintain that it's damn near impossible for a band to score higher than a 7 in our rating scale if there's no-one in the audience, because the crowd feeling just plays that big of a part in a concert experience. So keep in mind while reading this review that there were so few people that it was possible to walk all around the venue without having the slightest danger of bumping into someone by accident.

Thought Police Brutality

Thought Police Brutality were the punkest band on the hardcore-obsessed bill tonight, something that you could also tell from the way the guys poured their hearts into their live performance tonight. I had quite enjoyed their debut album earlier this year, so I was looking forward to seeing whether or not the guys could translate their sloppy-but-tight punk rock energy from the record into a live environment. Despite only a handful of people in the audience, these guys put up a convincing hardcore punk show with the occasional circular jumps and storms across the stage, you know the drill at these type of shows. "Pathology" sounded perhaps even meaner live than it did on record, my initial worry about "Impending Doom"'s melody drowning in bad sound turned out to be baseless, and overall their material seemed like it works just as good live as on record. The cover of Sick Of It All's "Leader" (I think it was "Leader") was pretty cool too. Had there been maybe, say, 5 or 6 times more people present tonight, I'm sure their passionate and tight stage presence would've instigated something in the crowd. That's always a good sign for the future. But when there's hardly anyone watching, any live show feels somewhat tame, even if you can't blame the band for that.

Foot To Face

If Thought Police Brutality seemed passionate about their set, you couldn't even dream of saying the same about Foot To Face, who seemed content just idly moving about on stage, as if they would've rather been some place else. I don't blame them, because they are the epitome of what's wrong with the hardcore scene world wide. Now I'll admit that br00tal hardcore heard live for the first time is never a pleasant experience, so forgive me for saying this, but these guys honestly sounded like breakdown breakdown breakdown and br00tal scream br00tal scream br00tal scream for the entirety of their performance, as if all the ten or so songs that they played were one huge screaming breakdown. I would've fallen asleep watching these guys if it wasn't for a constant urge to rip my own head off over how monotonous and unconvincing their entire performance was (a quick check on Myspace didn't change my opinion). Not only did it seem like the band didn't believe in their own songs the slightest bit, but the few people in the audience didn't either. I don't see these guys ever rising above the grassroots levels, sorry to say.

Last Mile

By the time Last Mile came on stage, enough people had arrived to justify calling the venue half-full, still not a very impressive feat considering the breadth of talent and experience housed by the band. Guitarist Jacob Bredahl has earned his respects as the frontman Hatesphere and Barcode, and vocalist Laurits has previously been turning heads at the helm of As We Fight, another relatively successful Danish metalcore act. And although I must admit not being particularly excited about these guys before the show, you could instantly tell that members of the band have been touring for years and years around Europe from the professional performance that they displayed tonight. While the previous bands didn't get many heads nodding or feet tapping, I didn't see anyone not doing so during Last Mile show, and hell, I don't blame them considering how infectious the grooves and rhythms by these guys are. It was a stark contrast to the Foot To Face set earlier. Laurits showed admirable showmanship, spending his time jumping and moving around the stage screaming his lungs out into the microphone. The guitarists didn't shy away from headbanging and generally good showmanship, elevating the entire performance to a level I didn't think was possible considering how bland their debut album is. Thumbs up.