Trigger The Bloodshed

support Bleed From Within + The Dead Lay Waiting + Biolith
author AP date 31/05/10 venue Railway Inn, Winchester, UK

Apologies for posting this review so late – the show took place during my final exams leading up to the award of my degree, and since then time has been scarce amid moving into a new apartment, entertaining guests from abroad, and participating in various festivals and festivities. Better late than never, however, is a philosophy I subscribe to, and thus I bring you this review of a Rising Records showcase featuring Trigger The Bloodshed, Bleed From Within, and The Dead Lay Waiting. The show was surprisingly booked at the miniscule Railway Inn in Winchester, rather than one of the more renowned venues in neighbouring Southampton where a third of the Rockfreaks population resided at the time. This was unfortunate, because the venue is essentially designed to kick-start small local acts, and is ill-equipped to accommodate bigger names like these. Nonetheless, off we went, eager to witness three exciting British metal bands as a welcome break to hefty revision.

Biolith

Despite our best efforts, the Rockfreaks delegation arrives at the venue just as the evening's first local act is wrapping things up. The fault is not ours, mind you, as we actually – for once – manage to be not only on time, but a few minutes early to the advertised doors. Thus the first warm-up act, for us, is Winchester-based Biolith. Not a bad choice, considering the extreme metallic headliners, and while Biolith certainly deserve the opportunity to showcase their product in a live setting, it is impossible not to think that these boys could have used a few more hours in the rehearsal room. Musically all is well, the instruments are handled with admirable precision, but the performance is absolutely appalling. Apart from the vocalist, who has a bit of movement to spare, the remaining musicians stand completely still, with the bassist even facing away from the audience in some kind of ultra-shy I-don't-really-want-to-be-here pose. If this weren't de-motivating on its own, the sound quality is atrocious, too, meaning that much of the band's intricate shredding drowns in a wall of thundering bass. What a disappointment, when one has come to expect the finest local bands at gigs like these.

4

The Dead Lay Waiting

Some of you may remember my review of The Dead Lay Waiting's debut album some time ago. I stand by my assessment, but the choice of words could have been more professional – and unsurprisingly the amount of hatred I dispelled against the band through it earned us a verbal retaliation by the band's friends and fans. It was mentioned in the comments that followed, that while the album deserved harsh critique, this had nothing to do with the band's live performance, which said friends and fans kept pointing to in their arguments, as something to behold. And without further ado – they were right. This band has an immense amount of energy on stage, and none of the three of us present can argue against awarding The Dead Lay Waiting an excellent grade for their performance. Not ones to take criticism too seriously, the band's vocalist Luke turns my words against us, singling us out in our blue t-shirts, demanding that we stand at the front, and forcing BL and NB into violent moshpits with him. Admittedly the performance feels somewhat tailor-made for us, with the songs that I particularly hated from the album crossed out from the setlist as soon as we had been spotted in the crowd and replaced with new, as-of-yet unheard songs which, against all odds, sound much better, and, if nothing else, far more mature. Not bad indeed.

Bleed From Within

Bleed From Within then take things in a more extreme direction with a performance no less energetic than their label mates. While not the most technical band on tonight's bill, Bleed From Within take things up a notch in musical terms, which naturally demands that the various musicians have little capacity to throw themselves around in the manner that their colleagues in The Dead Lay Waiting just did – except for vocalist Scott Kennedy. This genuine Oli Sykes look-alike addresses the crowd with a thick Scottish accent in between his maniacal screams, providing a few giggles among those of us less accustomed to such manner of speech, but his real charisma arises from his hyper-energetic stage presence. At any given moment he is dangling from scaffoldings in the ceiling, showcasing some hardcore dancing moves in the moshpits, or crowd surfing across the floor, never running out of breath or resigning to the spoken word-style vocals Oli Sykes so often resorts to after expending too much of his inner strength. The only issue with this performance, for me personally, is that Bleed From Within songs have a tendency to blur into one another. Although the intricate guitar melodies are enough to keep me interested throughout, there is no way to remember these songs without having some prior knowledge about the band's music. Still, a worthy feat from an up-and-coming Scottish metal band.

7

Trigger The Bloodshed

Trigger The Bloodshed are on stage what I perceive to be the stereotypical death metal band. What this basically translates to is that Jonny Burgan delivers spot-on screams and growls, one leg resting on a monitor, with his lengthy locks hanging before his – without a doubt – serious face expression, and remains in this position throughout. His band mates resign themselves to similar stances, as the technical nature of the band's music undoubtedly demands, meaning that there really isn't a huge difference between listening to this band on record, and watching them live. If anything, Trigger The Bloodshed's performance tonight is but a testament to their instrumental prowess; proof that yes, they can also pull the shredding off live. Much of the surprisingly brief setlist expectedly comes from the group's new outing, “Degenerate", which was conveniently released on the day of this show, and this, in my opinion, improves the experience considerably. This band has, after all, become better and better with each release, culminating in the aforementioned “Degenerate", which earned reasonable marks from me. Likewise, despite an immobile presence, there is no reason not to award decent marks for this performance.

6

Setlist:

01. Hollow Prophecy

02. Dead Vein

03. The Great Depression

04. The Soulful Dead

05. Laceration

06. De-Breed

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