Oxjam - Flapper & Firkin - Thursday 19th March 2009

A series of gigs to raise monies for Oxfam, culminating in a closing show at the Robin 2, Bilston, this particular evening featured...

Half An Eternity. Just about describes how long they appeared to be on stage. Imagine a fledgling band appearing at a school disco and you'd be close – utterly awful. This wasn't the time or place to be having a sloppy rehearsal. On the couple of occasions when they did get it together they sounded OK in an old school chuggy thrash way. Vocals were teeth rattlingly bad from all involved. A clear case of get into a rehearsal room and don't grace a stage again until you can all play the same tune... at the same time.

Detralate from Redditch, however, played a storming set of brutal death metal. Dual guitar work was solid throughout with chunky riffing and lengthy shredding; a left and right hander made the stage look symmetrical too! Bassist started a bit hesitantly but settled quickly and the vocals/death grunts were suitably vicious. Their drummer wasn't comfortable at all blasting, the loss of hand speed was more than slightly alarming, although his technique apart from the warp factor work was fine. They've got a new EP out which sounds like it could be worth checking out (hint, hint fellas...) and are definitely one to keep an eye on. “Oblivion” was the stand out track of an entertaining performance.

Sienna seemed to be a fine bunch of musicians, although as the good lady had to hotfoot it across town to another photo shoot we only saw their first couple of tracks. Rhythm section is tight; bass had a nice tone and fluidity, and the drummer combined power hitting with good hand speed (cool stick twirling too..). Not sure how I'd take to a full set of screamed and clean vocals but they were more than adequate. There's something about them though, their stage presence was head and shoulders the best of the night.

Hopefully this series of gigs will be both a good showcase and fund-raiser. The line-up for the final show looks more than promising. Good to meet the hosts for the evening, Angela and Pete, thanks for the lengthy chats throughout the evening. Mixed night, I'll be monitoring Detralate's gig schedule closely and hope to see a full set from Sienna soon.