I Am Colossus - Barfly - December 28 2007

Three quid advance or four on the door to see 4 rock bands at a good venue during the festive season would surely mean a heaving venue and total mayhem? Well...

Forlorn. Smethwick lads with superb bass player and competent guitarists but with the worst sounding snare drum in the history of rock. Didn't endear themselves to me from the off; ok it's Christmas but seeing an elf and two Santas take to the stage wasn't their brightest idea. Musically they were ok if very predictable in a modern doom way - and please destroy that snare now!

Walking Corpse. Name says it all, death/grindcore band who desperately need to add another guitarist to beef up the sound and allow a guitarist to solo. Good enough musicians but hugely predictable - standout of their set was a cover, says it all really. Another whinge at the drummer - tinniest high hat I have heard in a long time - swap it for a crash immediately!!

Last Chance At Rampton. Pre-gig mutterings were not to expect too much from them tonight as they were still waiting for the new guitarist to settle in. Predictable they weren't although confusing would probably be the kindest way of summing up their performance. Kicked off the set as a hardcore band, then drifted into modern prog, back to metalcore/hardcore and finished up with feedback led almost Hawkwind-esque material. Good enough musicians (again great bass player) need to identfiy what genre they are going to play and stick with it - way too much feedback between songs as well.

So far, so ordinary... very low turnout of very subdued rock fans witnessing three unspectacular bands. Could the headliners make amends??

I Am Colossus. First of all thanks to Daz for the ticket - cheers fella. Different league from the off. Poon arrived on stage wearing his trademark cape and growled his way through the set in trademark fashion. All credit to the band for continuing in almost pitch blackness when the lighting failed early on. This is going to sound strange but speeding up the tempo slightly from the last time I saw them has worked dramatically well; they still play monolithic doom as it is now known, but it now has more cohesion and sounds heavier too. Thoroughly enjoyable throughout, tight musically with Chris grinding out the riffs mercilessly and Daz hitting the kit phenomenally hard. Maybe the "claw" can usurp the "horns" as the doom metal fans signal of approval - go and see them, it's way too difficult to explain!! Have to wonder what they would sound like with a vocalist in the Candlemass style rather than Poon's growling though - not a criticism, purely a thought...

Headliners saved the day. I won't be following the first three bands careers with anything other than indifference I'm afraid. I Am Colossus genuinely surprised me today and I wish them all the best for 2008 and beyond.