Winter Storm - Scruffy Murphy's - Friday 25 June 2010

 

A sauna-like Scruffy's was the scene of the crime for a somewhat different night of entertainment to the Chopmeister's usual extreme metal mayhem preference....

Dakesis, curiously, were on first. As it turned out they had time constraints, hence the early appearance. All the usual components of a Dakesis performance were present - tight as a band, lengthy soloing, over the top showmanship, and cheesiness galore - as they set a scarily high standard for the two following acts.

Jack has left the band handing the sticks over, as it were, to Adam. He's technically a very good drummer, and looks very compact. Perhaps not as flamboyant as his predecessor but that may come in time. He's learnt the material well and will undoubtedly blossom into the role. A split bass skin early on was a hindrance but didn't put him off his stride. Otherwise it was business as usual albeit that they continue to look more assured with every performance.Surely it's only a matter of time for them?

Picking highlights is tricky, however the band tore into "Liar", whilst the set piece ballad "Broken" contained vocals which had an unusual level of tenderness. For me the latter song was the pick of the bunch, which is saying something as I normally hate ballads with a passion!

Dakesis are natural entertainers and committed crowd pleasers - time to see them on bigger stages working larger crowds methinks. Set list; "Shield Of Achilles", "Trial By Fire", "Liar", "After The Storm", "On Wings Of Steel", "Broken", "Into The Light", "Valhalla".

 Submerged contributed a set that was on the boundary between power metal and female fronted gothic rock. Indeed for the majority of the set they were more than slightly reminiscent of Nightwish, Within Temptation, or Lacuna Coil.

Tight as the band were the polite applause was somewhat damning. Curiously the band chose "Nights In White Satin" as their cover and massacred it. Can't dress this up in any way,shape or form as it just didn't work - at all. Their set was mediocre if I'm being polite, although the vocalist can certainly belt out a song. Admittedly I'm not a big fan of this type of music, but Submerged did very little for me during their twenty five minute stint, which seemed much, much, longer....

 Winter Storm therefore were left to round the evening off. The fact that their sound did them few favours (although both Dakesis and Submerged sounded fine) clearly didn't help, but this was a really disappointing performance. Pity because I know for a fact that Hannah is a fine guitarist, yet her efforts were near as damn it inaudible in the keyboard dominated overall sound. Was it the head settings I wonder? Whatever it was I'm struggling to find positives.

As I don't like penning destructive reviews (unless the band genuinely deserve it, and yes there have been a few!) I'll cut this one short. Suffice to say I hope they sound far crisper and punchier when I next see them. For the record... Set list; "Internal Storm", "Firedancer", "Sinner's Saint", "Spirit", "Retribution", "Drowned In Tears", "Prison Cell", "The Embrace".

For more pictures please click here