Life Denied - South Birmingham College - Tuesday 20th May 2008

New venue and two new bands for the Chopmeister to review.

Internal Conflict come from Leicester and comprise Harley on vocals, Tom on bass, Dan on drums and Sean on guitar and would best be described as metalcore or blackened thrash. Good musicians they couldn't really do much with the sludgy sound they got, although I did feel that they needed another guitarist (confirmed by the band when we had a chat after their set - and now sorted!). With a good sound, in the right venue they would be murderous, especially as a five piece. Set tonight was I Against The Fray, Lamb Feasts Upon The Jackal, Scar Your Sons, Koresh, No Turning Back, Without Face, Monarch and The Awakening. Songs were well performed and well structured, I need to see them again to form a considered opinion though due to the poor sound quality.

I Hate You More. Didn't fair any better on the sound front, which, as they play chunky metalcore, was always going to be a problem. Jay hits the snare as hard as anyone on the circuit yet you couldn't hear the top end of the kit. Guitars and bass were nowhere near crisp enough either. Has to be said they looked a little lost on a stage this big, but soldiered on well. Other than giving the setlist can't add much more really. Crossed The Line, Retrospect, Shame Will Be My Forgiveness, Decide, Shattered Existence (calm down Jay - got carried away with the intro!), Bloodshed, Chokehold and Unlock The Hatred didn't get the chance to pummel as they normally do. Band were joined on stage by Jay from Hellfire during Unlock The Hatred; I'd like to see this happen again when his screams could be made out in the mix! Well timed as ever, sound quality (or lack of it) let them down.

Life Denied. First chance I've had to see them, they play intricate death metal/ grindcore. Poor sound quality destroyed them. Highlight of the set was a manic performance from Scott, especially his disappearance from the stage and re-emergence from behind a curtain on the other side of the stage several minutes later. By the way, thanks for the setlist Scott. The vocalist Giles asked me not to do this review and I promised him I'd keep it very brief. Basically I need to see them again with a reasonable sound to be able to judge them (I'll keep an eye on your schedule fellas). For the record, songs aired were Why?, Stranglehold, Pain Divine, Chemical Castration, We Remember, Hell Of Your Own Creation - Part 2, Stench Of Rotten Lies, Hell....Part 1 and Helpless.

Great venue, 600 plus capacity with high stage and enormous drum-riser. Good lighting rig and PA. Difficult to tailor the sound when there were only about fifty people rattling around in the hall, and let's face it the muffling effect of more people may well have helped. That said all the bands suffered with a just about unplayable sound, with not much (if anything) being done to try and improve it. I've seen I Hate You More a lot and know what they can do. Internal Conflict and Life Denied will need reviewing again though as this was the first time I'd seen them and genuinely couldn't hear what they were trying to play. Let me know when you are next playing fellas and I'll come and see you.